# Chirunavvutho

Chirunavvutho (transl. With a Smile) is a 2000 Indian Telugu-language film directed by G. Ram Prasad, with a story written by Trivikram Srinivas. The film stars Venu, Prema, debutante Shaheen, and Prakash Raj. The music for the film was composed by Mani Sharma. Upon release, Chirunavvutho became a commercial success.
The film won three Nandi Awards, including Best Feature Film. It was later remade into Kannada as Premakke Sai (2001) and Tamil as Youth (2002), with Shaheen reprising her role in both remakes. The film was also unofficially remade in Hindi as Muskurake Dekh Zara (2010).

## Plot

The story revolves around Venu, who is an orphan and a talented chef. His philosophy is to live happily with a smile (Chirunavvu) all the time. His uncle wants to marry him with his daughter Aruna. Aruna runs away from the house during the marriage by discriminating against him as a low life chef and he can not be suitable for her.
Venu goes to the city to find a job. There, he meets Sandhya. During a night party, her soft drinks glass was adulterated with alcohol and she was about to be raped. Then Venu saves her from the goondas. Sandhya becomes close to Venu, and both of them are fond of each other. During her birthday party, she announces that she will soon marry Pratap. Venu becomes upset. When asked about his disappointment, Venu tells Sandhya that he loves her, for which she says apologies. Venu believes that Sandhya still loves him. Venu pursues his quest for the love of Sandhya. Meanwhile, Sandhya observes the characters of selfish Pratap and smiling Venu.
Venu gets a call from a police station where Aruna was saved by the police when she attempted suicide. Her lover cheated Aruna after elopement. Venu gets her back to his home and heals her emotional wounds. Sandhya observes Venu and becomes an admirer. She feels that Venu is her best friend. Later, it revealed that Pratap is Aruna's lover who cheated her for the sake of Sandhya's property.
Sandhya, caught in confusion, asks her mother about her definition of love. Her mother advises: "It's better to marry a person who loves you than marrying a person whom you love."
Those words changed the mind and heart of Sandhya, and she decides to return to Venu. Sandhya turns a runaway bride and goes to Venu's house with marriage costumes. But Venu, who has his own attitude and wisdom, makes Sandhya return to the wedding. Then he takes Pratap into a room and blackmails him to reveal about Aruna for the dropping out on marriage and gives him a check of 1 crore (which was given by Sandhya's father to Venu to forget Sandhya) and marries Sandhya with the support of Pratap and Sandya's father will. Later, Pratap lies to Sandhya's father that Venu emotionally blackmailed him to marry Sandhya or else he would kill himself. That's why to support his love, he's sacrificed her. Then her father tells him that if he has another daughter he would marry her to him and then the film ends when Sandhya's father cancels the check which he had given to Venu in front of jaw-dropped Pratap.

## Cast

* Venu as Venu
* Shaheen as Sandhya
* Prema as Aruna
* Prakash Raj as Pratap
* Chandra Mohan as Venu's uncle
* Giri Babu as Sandhya's father
* Priya as Priya
* Sunil as Sunil. Venu's roommate
* L. B. Sriram as Venu's roommate
* Brahmanandam
* M. S. Narayana
* Gundu Sudarshan
* Nutan Prasad
* Ananth Babu
* Rajitha
* Vajja Venkata Giridhar as Venu's friend

## Production

The film was initially titled as Chirunavvu (transl. smile). A few scenes were inspired by the 1997 Italian film Life Is Beautiful.

## Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Mani Sharma. Three songs were shot in Canada.
| S. No. | Song title | Singers | Lyricist |
| 1 | "Andam Nee Pera" | Udit Narayan, Prasanna | Bhuvana Chandra |
| 2 | "Hoyyare Hoyyare" | Shankar Mahadevan | Bhuvana Chandra |
| 3 | "Kanulu Kalisaaye" | K. S. Chithra, Hariharan | Bhuvana Chandra |
| 4 | "Ninnala Monnala" | S. P. B. Charan | Sirivennela Sitaramasastri |
| 5 | "Santhosam Sagam" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | Sirivennela Sitaramasastri |
| 6 | "Sonare Sonare" | K. S. Chithra, Shankar Mahadevan | Bhuvana Chandra |
| 7 | "Chirunavvutho" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | Sirivennela Sitaramasastri |

## Reception

Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated the film four out of five stars and wrote, "Treatment and the dialogues are the highlights of this film". A critic for Andhra Today wrote, "Trivikram's story and dialogue deserve full honours. Unlike run-of-the-mill love stories, the writer has given a good story which will be acclaimed even by critics. Dialogues provide a smooth-sail entertainment and one gets the feeling that the movie got over too soon". A critic for Full Hyderabad wrote, "The theme is good and it is handled well" but added that "Venu, with his wooden expression, disappoints. Watch this film if you have nothing else to do".

## Awards
### Nandi Awards 2000

* Best Feature Film - Gold - P. V. Syam Prasad
* Best First Film of a Director - G. Ramprasad
* Best Screenplay - G. Ramprasad

### Filmfare Awards

* Best Music Director - Mani Sharma