# Oh My Kadavule

Oh My Kadavule (transl. Oh My God) is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language romantic fantasy comedy film written and directed by Ashwath Marimuthu in his directorial debut. The film stars Ashok Selvan, Ritika Singh and Vani Bhojan as the leads while Shah Ra and M. S. Bhaskar play supporting roles. Vijay Sethupathi and Ramesh Thilak make extended cameo appearances. The film had its theatrical release on 14 February 2020, Valentine's Day. Oh My Kadavule was selected for official screening at International Indian Film Festival in Toronto, held in August 2020. Critics lauded the movie for it's performances (mainly of Sethupathi, Singh, and Selvan), story, and humor. It was remade in Kannada as Lucky Man (2022) and in Telugu as Ori Devuda (2022).

## Plot

Anu, Arjun and Mani are best friends since childhood. During a party, Anu tells the other two of her father Paulraj looking for a groom for her. She suddenly asks Arjun if he'd like to marry her, to which he agrees. One year later, Anu and Arjun are seen sitting in family court for final hearing to obtain divorce. A man sits behind Arjun and predicts that he won't get his divorce on that day as his wife will faint and be rushed to hospital, then he provides him a visiting card and disappears. To Arjun's shock, all the events predicted by this strange man turn out true. Arjun rushes to the address mentioned on the visiting card. There, he encounters the man, who introduces himself as God. Arjun explains his problems to God.
Arjun, after marriage, continues to treat Anu as a friend and things are smooth until he starts working in Paulraj's toilet manufacturing factory as a quality control checker. Arjun hates this job, but gets used to it. But he is unable to see Anu as anything more than a friend and is totally bored by the monotony of his life. One day, he meets Meera, his school senior and childhood crush, who now works as an assistant film director. They strike up a friendship, with Meera encouraging Arjun to explore his passion for acting and requesting him to go to an audition. The audition goes very well. Later at a pub, Meera tells Arjun about her failed film-making attempts and a past break-up. Arjun consoles Meera and hugs her, but this is noticed by Anu, who is already sad at Arjun not reciprocating her feelings and assumes they are having an extramarital affair. Anu and Arjun have a nasty quarrel, which ends with Arjun asking for divorce.
Back in the present, Arjun blames God for his current situation. So God gives Arjun a second chance to rectify the mistake with a golden ticket with three conditions – The ticket should always stay with Arjun, he should tell nobody about this ticket and if he does, he will die. Accepting the conditions, Arjun grabs the ticket and time travels to the night where he accepted Anu's marriage proposal.
This time, Arjun rejects Anu's proposal. Therefore, Anu decides to marry Matthew, the groom chosen by her father. Meanwhile, Arjun decides to pursue Meera, feeling that she is the right person for him. They strike a friendship, with Arjun removing all barriers which caused Meera's film-making attempts to fail in the original timeline. Arjun also decides to pursue acting as a career and Anu manages to convince his parents on the same. Meera soon starts to reciprocate Arjun's interest for her. Arjun also gets a chance to perform in an audition and is selected for final audition. He goes to tell Paulraj about this news and gets into a conversation with him. Paulraj tells Arjun that he hails from a very backward village in Tirunelveli and his mother had died 50 years ago by snake bite, due to lack of toilets. He then left village as a teenager, with the mission of eradicating open defecation in his area. This led to him creating his latrine company and achieving his goal of bringing toilets to his native village. This revelation makes Arjun realise his mistake of ridiculing their business.
Anu learns that Arjun likes Meera and there is fair chance that Meera might reciprocate his love too. So Anu offers to help Arjun to propose Meera, asking him to make a video for Meera's upcoming birthday. As a result, they go on a bike ride to Kerala, which is Meera's home state. By this time, through various instances, Arjun had started to realise how sweet and loving Anu is, and how supportive Anu's father was. During the trip, Arjun realises that he actually loves Anu. While on the Kerala trip, Arjun and Anu come across Meera's ex-boyfriend Krishna, who has also not gotten over her. Arjun decides to reunite Meera and Krishna. Meera reconciles with Krishna on her birthday.
Arjun attends Anu's wedding with Matthew with a heavy heart. Unable to express his feelings for Anu, Arjun walks out of the church with Mani. At this juncture, they see Anu running out of the church without getting married. They meet her in their usual hangout pub, where she reveals her love for Arjun. But Arjun again refuses to marry her as he does not want to hurt her again. When confronted by Anu and Mani, he blurts out about the second chance and the golden ticket. Immediately the ticket flies away from Arjun and in a bid to catch it, he gets hit by a lorry, killing him.
Arjun finds himself with God once again and pleads for one final chance; this time God states that no more final chances will be given to him and sends him away, asking him to take care of his own problems. Then Arjun realises that he is back in reality; on the day his divorce hearing is taking place. He rushes back to the court, where Anu is ready to give consent to the divorce. This time, Arjun refuses divorce and confesses his love to Anu. Anu accepts Arjun's love and reunites with him. It is revealed that God has given Arjun yet another chance.

## Cast

* Ashok Selvan as Arjun Marimuthu
** Jay Adithya as young Arjun
* Ritika Singh as Anu Arjun (née Paulraj, voiceover by M. M. Manasi)
** Amrutha Dhivanand as young Anu
* Vani Bhojan as Meera
* Shah Ra as Mani, Anu and Arjun's childhood best friend
** Master Jagannath as young Mani
* M. S. Bhaskar as Paulraj, Anu's father
* Vijay Sethupathi as Kadavul (Extended Cameo Appearance)
* Ramesh Thilak as Kadavul's assistant
* Gajaraj as Marimuthu, Arjun's father
* Sujatha Babu Ramesh as Arjun's mother
* Santhosh Prathap as Krishna, Meera's boyfriend, a boxer
* Abhishek Vinod as Mathew, Anu's ex-fiancé
* Aditi Dinesh as Swathi, Mani's wife
* Saranya as Krishna's sister
* Gautham Vasudev Menon as himself (Guest appearance)
* Seema as a Judge (Guest appearance)

## Production

The film is Ashwath Marimuthu's directorial debut. Vani Bhojan made her feature film acting debut through this project while Vijay Sethupathi was signed to play a cameo role. Filming wrapped in October 2020. In February 2020, Gautham Vasudev Menon was announced to be portraying a cameo role as himself. During the same month, the Telugu remake rights were acquired by PVP Cinema.

## Themes and influences

The plot aspect of what would happen if Arjun rejected Anu and showing two different outcomes of the same scenario was compared by several critics to It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Sliding Doors (1998) and its Indian remake 12B (2001).

## Soundtrack

The music was composed by Leon James, with the lyrics for the songs were written by Ko Sesha. The audio rights were secured by Sony Music India. The first single "Friendship Anthem" was released on 8 November 2019. The lyric video of the song features 1,000 photos of common people with their gang, accommodated in the song. In an interview with The Times of India, Ashwath Marimuthu shared his hope that the song would become popular as a friendship-themed song like "Mustafa" from Kadhal Desam (1996). The second single "Haiyo Haiyo" was released on 22 November 2019. The third single "Kadhaippoma" was released on 3 January 2020. The fourth single "Ennada Life Idhu" was released on 29 January 2020. The remaining two songs, were released along with the complete soundtrack album on 7 February 2020.
Sruthi Raman from The Times of India gave a positive review for the album, in which "Kadhaipoma" as a perfect meet-cute song, in which Sid Sriram injects his characteristic charm in the song, which brims with beautiful acoustics. Reviewing for "Friendship Anthem", Raman stated "the song paints a nice picture of a long-standing friendship. The crisp song is rendered by Anirudh with peppy notes. Also tracing the friendship along with Anirudh in the song are Leon and MM Manasi." For "Ennada Life Idhu", Raman stated the song as a bright number by Santhosh Narayanan and Leon, ruing the complexities of life. Raman also stated "Kadhal Kozhappudhey begins with sharp tunes of jazz and goes on to shine in Sanjeev T's voice, which stands out with its conversational lyrics." She also reviewed about Haiyo Haiyo song in which Leon's voice sounds crisper in its remastered version.
All lyrics are written by Ko Sesha

### Background score

The original background score of the film was released on 26 February 2020. It features 30 original compositions from the film with two additional songs.

## Release

The film was released on 14 February 2020, Valentine's Day, and received a U/A certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification after the director refused to cut what he felt was "the most important shot in the film". The film's distribution rights for Tamil Nadu were bought by Sakthi Film Factory. The film began streaming on ZEE5 from 24 April 2020.

## Critical reception

M Suganth of The Times of India gave a rating of 3.5 out of 5, stating "Despite some conventional turns, Oh My Kadavule is a refreshing romance." Janani K of India Today gave 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "Director Ashwath Marimuthu's debut film Oh My Kadavule is an endearing romantic comedy that gives treats its characters with utmost respect." S Subhakeerthana of The Indian Express gave 3 out of 5 stars to the film stating "This Ashok Selvan and Ritika Singh film largely works because of the fantasy spin and the fun treatment to the subject matter—but the writing is problematic." Sify gave 3.5/5 to the film stating it as "A breezy feel-good romantic entertainer."

## Remakes

The film was remade in Kannada as Lucky Man and in Telugu as Ori Devuda by the same director, both released in 2022.