When a movie is saddled with a familiar story, no surprises and predictable
proceedings, it is upto the director to fashion the movie in a way that keeps
the viewer in his seat. And in that respect, debutante director Gautham has been
successful. He packages a love triangle in an entertaining package with a charming
lead pair, a little bit of mixed identities and a believable romance and provides
Madhavan a chance to redeem himself in front of his fans, who may have abandoned him after
Ennavale .
Rajesh(Madhavan) and Samuel(Abbas), poles apart in personalities, are sworn enemies
in college and part the same way. Rajesh falls in love with Reena(Reema Sen) but
learns later that she is all set wed Rajiv, who lives in the US and is supposed to
arrive in a week to see her. Rajesh shows up at her doorstep as Rajiv(whom she has
never seen) and proceeds to steal her heart in the five days he spends with her. The
gig is up for Rajesh when Rajiv, none other than his old enemy Sam, arrives from
the US. A shellshocked and cheated Reena now hates him while Rajiv gets ready to
wed her.
At the heart of the movie is the eternally famous love triangle of two men being
in love with the same girl. So the onus lies on the director to fashion enough
interesting situations to help us forget this basic premise of the movie. He does
this through some interesting characterisations and a youthful romance. The director
doesn't take the easy way out by making Abbas the bad guy. He is as good as(in some
cases, even better than) Madhavan and this makes the love triangle slightly
interesting. The meetings between Madhavan and Reema after she knows the truth
are marked by some sharp dialogs and Reema's character gains some respect during these
scenes. But the stale climax follows every cliche that usually closes out such a love
triangle faithfully and is a disappointment.
Ofcourse, with the majority of the movie dealing with Madhavan taking Ajith's place,
suspension of disbelief is an essential part of enjoying these portions. Questions
like why Reema's parents are never seen until absolutely necessary are not likely not
to be answered even by the director and the sheer number of coincidences needed for
the ploy to work(they care of just one - disconnecting the telephone to Reema's house)
constantly reminds you that none of this can be taken seriously. On the other hand,
the romance is handled well with the right amount of charm and minimum fuss and
sentiments. The scenes where the couple go out to eat and Madhavan's attempt to
give her a surprise on her birthday are cute and funny.
Vivek raises some laughs as Madhavan's friend. He has his best lines during the
conversation with the lorry driver and then the police after his accident. The
director has attempted to portray a grandfather-grandson relationship that is more
of a friendship but goes overboard as the movie goes on. Nagesh's urging of Madhavan
to find a girl is funny initially but his reactions to Madhavan and his friends ganging
up on Abbas and his other advice after Reema rejects Madhavan do not ring true and
worse, decrease the respect his character earns until then.
Madhavan discards(not completely though) his loverboy role in his first two films to play a rowdy character.
Surprisingly, the role suits him well and he is impressive during the initial altercations
with Abbas. (Is his stylish way of lighting the matchstick at various places an attempt
to earn him some male fans too?!). Reema Sen looks really cute and pretty and acts well
too. Abbas has an extended cameo and is adequate. Music is by newcomer Harris Jayaraj,
A.R.Rehman's assistant, and the influence is obvious, especially in the background
music. Vaseegara... is the pick of the songs though the picturisation does not
do full justice to it. Verenna... and Venmathiye... are the other good
songs.
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