# Marina (2012 film)

Marina is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by Pandiraj and starring Pakkada Pandi, Gautham Purushoth, Sivakarthikeyan and Oviya. This film marks the debut of Purushoth and Sivakarthikeyan. The music was composed by Girishh G and the movie was released on 3 February 2012. It won 2 Tamil Nadu State film Awards for Best Dialogues and the Special Jury Award for Best Film.

## Plot

Ambikapathy (Pakkada Pandi) is an orphan runaway who escapes from his cruel uncle to Chennai and eventually ends up at Marina Beach. He earns his livelihood by selling drinking water packets and later poached chickpeas to people visiting the beach. His calm and mature manners win him the admiration and later the friendship of other boys employed at the beach. Ambikapathy dreams of being educated, so he works in the day to save money for schooling whilst trying to study at night on his own. His desire to be enrolled in a proper school slowly begins to rub off on the other children at the beach. An old man (Sundararajan) and postman (Jithan Mohan) are the guardians of sorts for these street-children. The beach also attracts many lovebirds; one such couple is Senthilnathan (Sivakarthikeyan) and Swapnasundari (Oviya).

## Cast

* Pakkada Pandi as Ambikapathy
* Gautham Purushoth as Kailasam
* Sivakarthikeyan as Senthilnaathan (Senthil)
* Oviya as Swapnasundari (Swapna)
* A. Govindamoorthy as Sevelappan
* Jithan Mohan as the postman
* Jaya Shri as Annamma
* Sundararajan as the old man
* Attakathi Arumugham as the singer
* Senthi Kumari as Swapnasundari's mother
* Sathish as Makudu, Senthil's friend
* Sathish Kumar as a vendor
* Ramesh Thilak as a courier boy
* V. Jayaprakash in a guest appearance as the school owner

### Special appearances in the promotional song by

* Vikram
* Prakash Raj
* Sasikumar
* Ameer
* Sneha
* Vimal

## Production

Like Pandiraj's debut film Pasanga, Marina too revolves around children, focusing on the street-children at Chennai's the Marina beach, who peddle snacks and knick-knacks to survive. The film is said to be inspired from Mira Nair's critically acclaimed Hindi film Salaam Bombay! (1988). Pandiraj approached Sivakarthikeyan to play the lead role and he signed the project. Sivakarthikeyan prepared for the role by paying close attention to Pandiraj's instructions and visiting Marina Beach extensively to study the surroundings, while revealing that he hoped that his natural talent of humor would come through onscreen.

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Marina, composed by the debut music director London based musician Girishh G, was released on 9 January 2012 at the Marina Beach. The song "Vanakkam Vaazhavaikkum Chennai", penned by Na. Muthukumar, which talks about life in Chennai, would feature several noted film personalities.

## Critical reception

Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com rated Marina 3/5 stating that it is "worth a watch." The Times of India gave the film the same rating and wrote that "Director Pandiraj does, and comes up with a fairly engaging screenplay. He details with some depth some of their lives, and wins hearts all the way — much like in his debut film ‘Pasanga’. His dialogues are crackling with wit and humour and he draws the best performances from his ensemble cast. On the contrary, Sify's critic dismissed the film as "boring."