Musthafa Musthafa | High Quality Audio | Kadhal Desam | AR Rahman

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Kadhal Desam is a 1996 Tamil language action romance film written and directed by Kathir and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film starred Abbas, Vineeth and Tabu in the lead roles, while S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vadivelu, Chinni Jayanth and Srividya played other pivotal characters. K. V. Anand was the cinematographer for the project and A. R. Rahman composed the film's soundtrack and score. The film opened in August 1996 to positive reviews from critics and became a box office success. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Prema Desam. It was also remade in Bangladesh as Narir Mon, starring Riaz, Shakil Khan and Shabnur respectively.

Kathir while writing the script "wanted some drama rather than plain love and so wrote a story of warring colleges and two boys in them". He narrated a five-minute plot summary to Kunjumon who was impressed with it and insisted Kathir to change the film's title to Kadhal Desam instead of its original title Kalloori Saalai.

Mumbai model Abbas was enjoying his holidays in Bangalore during his holidays and hanging out at a cybercafe near Brigade Road, when he bumped into director Kathir, who asked him to act in his Tamil film. Initially reluctant due to his limited knowledge of Tamil, he opted out and left for his college in Mumbai. A year later, Abbas received a call from producer K. T. Kunjumon asking him to come over for a screen test as a result of Kathir's insistence. Vineeth was signed on to play another lead role in the film due to his association with Kunjumon, having previously worked in the 1993 Shankar-directed film, Gentleman. Tabu was signed on to make her debut in Tamil films and worked on the film alongside Mani Ratnam's Iruvar. Then struggling actor Vikram had dubbed his voice for Abbas, while Baahubali-famed dubbing artist Sekar dubbed the voice for Vineeth. A. Karunakaran, who became a successful director in Telugu cinema started his career as clap assistant with this film.

Kathir mentioned that he dreamt of a "beautiful place full of young people" and was inspired by College Road in Chennai, with a setting by the beach which formed as "opening visual idea" for the film. Since it did not exist, he ordered it to be created for the film, costing Rs. one crore (ten million rupees). The film also managed to convince Pachaiyappa's College and Loyola College to give them rights to use their college names in the films, focussing on the rivalry between the institutions. Filming mainly took place in and around the cities of Chennai, Ooty, Mudumalai, Bandipur, Mumbai and Vishakhapatnam.

The film went on to become a large commercial success. The climax of the film broke a taboo in the Tamil film industry, where a love triangle would be decided with a happy ending. Post-success, Abbas revealed that he felt that "Mustafa Mustafa" song catapulted him to stardom and enjoyed a strong female base after Kadhal Desam. However, a critic from Indolink.com suggested that "Katheer's direction lacks the punch and innovation. The narration is slow, incoherent, and shaky", though mentioned there is "reasonably good acting by Vineeth, Abbas is OK for a newcomer and Tabu looks ravishing".

The film won A. R. Rahman his fifth consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Music Director in Tamil. K. V. Anand also received the Screen Award South for Best Cinematography for his work in the film. The film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Prema Desam and became an equally big success. The Hindi dubbed version, Duniya Dilwalon Ki, however, did not perform as well.

The success of the film prompted Rahman to collaborate with Kathir again in Kadhalar Dhinam (1999) and Kadhal Virus (2002). As a result of respect for his first director, Abbas made a guest appearance in the latter film. The film triggered off a string of youth-based stories in films with Minsara Kanavu and Ullaasam featuring similar story lines.

The soundtrack for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics penned by Vaali. The soundtrack was also released in Telugu as Prema Desam and in Hindi with the title Duniya Dilwalon Ki, with lyrics written by P. K. Mishra and Mehboob Kotwal.

Kathir revealed that first song to be recorded was "Kalloori Saalai", he wanted it to be a fast number, but wanted it to start the song "with a melodious line". Rahman asked for a dummy lyric for it which started with "Inbathai karuvakkinal penn", which Vaali liked and retained it for the final cut as well.

For the song "Musthafa Musthafa", Kathir wanted a song on the lines of old song "Paravaigal Meethu" which was about friendship. Rahman gave him the tune during a flight travel which Kathir liked it.