With debuts like those of Manoj( Taj Mahal ) and
Prithvi( Kai Vandha Kalai not too far off in the past, a
new hero being introduced by his director-father doesn't inspire much confidence. Thankfully,
Sakthi, son of P.Vasu, fares better than the aforementioned sons. He is fairly well-rounded
as an actor and acquits himself creditably. But he is let down by his father, who fails to make
his debut stand out and presents him in a cliched and familiar love story.
Ravi(Sakthi) and Anjali(Gauri Munjal) are classmates in college and soon fal in love.
Ravi's father(Nasser) is a tutorial college professor and that is a problem for Anjali's
mom Periyanayagi(Sukanya), a rich businesswoman. When Ravi vows to web Anjali come what
may, she sends Anjali off to Mumbai to live with Periyanayagi's brother Vandiyar(Rajkiran),
a dada. But Ravi is not willing to give up so easily and follows Anjali to Mumbai.
Sakthi and Gauri playing with each other through small games and puzzles initially provides
a different start to their romance. Though it is pretty clear that the puzzles are little more
than a way of stretching out the romance, they are cute and even a little interesting (the
Mugathai Eppodhum... sequence is blended nicely into the proceedings). But as the puzzles
get more complicated (like the whole pincode puzzle), we aren't sure if they are falling in
love with each other or helping each other prepare for the GMAT! So its not even clear exactly
when the lead pair goes from testing each other to actually falling in love.
But inspite of those initial games between the young lovers,the movie soon reveals itself
to be a love story of the oldest variety - the rich girl and the not-so-rich boy. Such love
stories usually have one of the girl's parents frowning upon the status of the boy and here
its Gauri's mom. We predictably have enough sequences preceding this to show us exactly how
strict Rekha is and the dictatorial style she employs with respect to bringing up Gauri It is
a familiar tactic to let the youngsters gain our sympathy but the characters here are such
familiar caricatures that the tactic doesn't work too well.
The basic love story, even if old, is atleast generic enough to not remind us of any
particular film. But the subsequent plot point of Sakthi worming his way into Gauri's
fiance's house is so much like the plot of last year's Chennai
Kaadhal that an immediate sense of deja vu sets in. The story does proceed a little
differently but the fact that the fiance's father is Raj Kiran (who has been in some
high-profile movies like Kireedam recently) rather than a no-name
actor or an actor who usually plays a bad guy, tells us exactly how this segment will proceed.
So there are no surprises in that either.
Sakthi makes a good even if unspectacular debut. He remind us of Vijay quite a bit in looks,
dialog delivery and dancing style. He doesn't seem to have any camera-shyness and delivers
what the role asks for (the fact that it doesn't ask for much isn't his fault!). Gauri isn't
particularly impressive. Her emoting skills are adequate but dancing is certainly not her
strongpoint. Raj Kiran plays the strong and silent dada role - one he is quite
experienced in after movies like Nandhaa and
Sandakkozhi . Nasser and Sukanya add nothing special to
their cliched roles. Mugathai Eppodhum... stands out among Yuvan's numbers in
melody, lyrics and picturization. It is very catchy, has lyrics that fit perfectly with
the situation and is picturized in a simple but appealing way. One of the other duets
is picturized almost exactly like the Kaadhalikkum Aasai... number in
Chellame .
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