Several movies have set up a problem well enough, only to fail to
maintain the same pace while the problem is being resolved.
Hello falls prey to the same symptom. The first half
is well structured and entertaining but the movie slows down
in the second half with the number of contrivances the director
has to introduce to keep the story moving, hindering him.
Chandru's(Prashanth) only aim in life is to find a girl and fall
in love. To this end, he loiters around busstands and his
friends' STD/ISD booth, saying hello to the girls who pass by.
Both his friends (Charlie and Vaiyapuri) have girlfriends and
taunt him regarding his inability to get one for himself.
Chandru's friend Gayatri(Sujitha) promises to bring him a girl
who would act as his girlfriend and improve his image in front
of his friends. But when she doesn't show up, Chandru points out
another girl in the temple as his lover. But this leads to some
unfortunate incidents in the girl, Sweta's(Preeti) life. Chandru
then tries to find ways to make amends for his mistake.
The director has resorted to several artificial situations to
move the story forward. As a result, there is no involvement in
the happenings and instead, just some nagging questions. For
example, when Prashanth is so desperate for love(to the extent
of talking to the girls to come to make phone calls), how does
he jump into a friendship with Sujitha right from the word go?
It is also tough to believe that one's friends could be so
non-understanding of a situation. Right from teasing Prashanth
about not having a girlfriend to pestering him to bring her out
inspite of his explanations, their behaviour is unbelievable
and irritating. When a guy says that calling his lover would
create problems for her, are there friends who would pester him
to call her at home at midnight? While in this particular case
it is for the sake of comedy, situations like this abound in
the movie.
Inspite of these, it is to the director's credit that the first
half is pretty engaging viewing. Aided by some nice comedy
(Manivannan's reactions to Prashanth's phone calls are hilarious),
it moves along pretty fast. The coincidences multiply in the
second half and the proceedings slow down also. The story here
bears similarity to Kaadhale Nimmadhi
with Preeti proclaiming her innocence but her family members
not believing her. The screenplay twists and turns to create
situations where Prashanth and Preeti can meet. Her feelings for
him are developed too quickly to make an impact and her reasons,
especially in the light of her character and the explanations she
gives to her family members, are not credible enough. The climax
is short, which is a blessing since we know exactly what is
going to happen.
Prashanth adds nothing new to his role. His performance in
the climax is sincere. Newcomer Preeti looks pretty and acts
well too. But its Sujitha who catches the eye as their mutual
friend. With the added advantage of a nice character and
down-to-earth dialogs, she makes her girl-next-door role
sparkle. Ranjit is the typical hot-headed brother of Preeti.
Deva comes up with an extremely catchy song in Salaam
Gulaamu.... Though reminding one of an old Chandrababu
song, it's tune stays with us. Indha Nimisham... is a
soothing, melodious number.
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