Youth is a 2002 Tamil romantic comedy drama film directed by Vincent Selva. It stars Vijay with Shaheen Khan, Yugendran and Simran. Music by Mani Sharma. It was released on 19 July 2002.
Shiva, a cheerful cook, takes it in his stride when his cousin Aruna runs away from their wedding rather than marry him. He moves to Chennai with her brother Prabhu to find work and there rescues Sandhya from a gang of goons, sparking a warm bond. His hopes are dashed when Sandhya announces her engagement to the software engineer Pratap and tells Shiva she sees him only as a friend, while Aruna's own troubles pull him back into family drama.
Vijay plays Shiva, a good-natured cook who quietly sacrifices for others. Released between his action ventures, it showed he could still sell a light family romance and the 'Aal Thotta Boopathy' number became a fan favourite.
Figures are trade estimates reported at the time and may vary.
Remake of the Telugu film Chirunavvutho (2000), whose story was written by Trivikram Srinivas.
Shaheen Khan reprised the heroine's role from the Telugu original, and has played a 'Sandhya' in three of her four films.
Working titles considered included 'Velu' and 'Prince'.
Mani Sharma reused three tunes from his Telugu films Annayya, Chiru Navvutho and Kushi.
Simran appears in the item number 'Aal Thotta Bhoopathi Nanada', whose title refers to Chennai's old Hall's Garden area.
That tune was later reused for 'Calcutta Pan Vesina' in the Telugu film Raghavendra (2003).
'Sagiyea Sagiyea' was filmed at Niagara Falls, Toronto and Ottawa in Canada.
A ₹12 lakh waterfall set was built at Vauhini and AVM Studios in Chennai for a song.
A song with about a hundred dancers was shot on a large set in Hyderabad.
Director Mysskin worked as an assistant director on the film.
Former manager P. T. Selvakumar later claimed fans were encouraged to dance in theatres during the hit song for publicity.
The Hindu was positive, noting how effortlessly Vijay carried the romantic style, though it felt Shaheen Khan lacked screen presence. Cinesouth called the screenplay second-rate and said the film relied on Vivek's comedy, a folksy hit song and Vijay's fan base.
The 'Aal Thotta Boopathy' number remains one of the best-remembered dance songs of Vijay's early-2000s films.