Among two-hero subjects, which seem to be real popular today, love triangles are the
easiest and simplest to bring to screen. While Minnale was
an example of how the right treatment could still exploit the well-worn suject in an
entertaining manner, newcomer Muralikrishna displays his inability to provide the same
kind of treatment in Paarvai Ondre Pothumey. With the hero and heroine in love,
the 'loser' in a love triangle is usually positioned to earn our sympathy. But the
character here is given psychological overtones but the difference doesn't do much for
elevating the quality of the movie.
Vinod(Kunal) and Manoj(Karan) are the best of friends. Manoj is an orphan who has risen
to become a rich hotelier by dint of his hard work while Vinod is poor and lives with
his mother and sister. Vinod owes a lot to Manoj as he makes makes Vinod a manager in
his own hotel and provides him with several luxuries. Neetha(Monal) moves
into their neighborhood and both Vinod and Manoj fall for her. But she reciprocates
Vinod's love only and this naturally creates a fissure in the friendship. The situation
is aggravated when it is revealed that Manoj has psychological problems.
The movie proceeds along predictable lines initially with the friendship between
Karan and Kunal. Their 'Freeze' and 'Relax' routines seem rather childish for a
game played between two grown-ups. It is also pretty clear that the game is going to be
used at a key point in the story and we are not disappointed. Monal's introduction
does nothing but increase the predictability quotient as the story develops into
a cliched love triangle with Karan obsessing about Monal while she romances Kunal.
There is neither passion nor cuteness in this romance with a couple of flimsy
situations forming the basis. And these are situations where Kunal first lets Monal
down with regard to her college seat and she later returns the favor by abandoning
him in the middle of the road!
The way Monal expresses the way she feels towards Karan is shocking enough to make his
extreme reaction believable. It is only from here that the movie shows signs of being
different from the love triangles preceding it. Karan's psychological problems add a
new dimension to the proceedings as he ignores Kunal and Monal after learning about
their closeness. But the initial interest soon wanes as the movie is dragged for quite
a while on the basis of this cold war between Karan and Kunal.
The encounter in the under-construction building is picturised well with Karan exhibiting
the ferocity needed to make the scene quite tense. The ending too does the job with
respect to glorifying friendship.
Kunal has had some time since Kaadhalar Dhinam
but he hasn't spent the time honing his acting skills. His baby face struggles to
display emotions, whether romantic or sentimental. Karan makes up for him with a
good performance, though in his case the problem is going to the other extreme.
This is Monal's first film but there's nothing in here to change the opinion I got
of her in Badri . Dhamu and Vaiyapuri struggle to make us
laugh but atleast the comedy is clean. Newcomer Bharani shows sign of promise with
some catchy tunes.
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