In the Ramayana, Vaali had his eyes on his younger brother Sugreevan's wife. That forms the basis for
the title and story in this modern-day adaptation.
Deva(Ajith) and Shiva(Ajith) are the twins. Deva, the elder, is deaf and dumb. But he is a genius,
an expert at lip-reading and the head of a successful advertising company. Shiva loves and trusts his
brother.
Priya(Simran) wants to marry only someone who is an ex-smoker, an ex-drunkard and ditched by a girl
but still pining for her. Learning this, Shiva invents an old romance between him and Sona(Jyothika,
former dreamgirl Nagma's younger sister) and finds his way into Priya's heart.
Deva meanwhile chances upon Priya and becomes obsessed with attaining her. His obsession continues even
after his younger brother gets married to the girl of his dreams and he devises various means of getting
close to Priya and keeping Shiva and her separated.
Priya realises the not-so-honorable intentions Deva has towards her but Shiva refuses to believe her and
has full faith in his brother. He even goes as far as to take Priya to a psychiatrist.
To get away from it all, Shiva and Priya go on a long-delayed honeymoon. But Deva shows up there too
leading to the climax.
Acting takes centre-stage in this movie. Ajith is terrific as the villainous elder brother. With his
boyish good looks and the handicap of being deaf and dumb and so not being able to utter any villainous
lines, it is doubly tough for him play the villain but he carries it off with aplomb.
He is good as the younger brother too, first in love with Simran and then torn between his faith in
his brother and his
love for his wife. Heroes these days seem to have fun with the acting oppurtunities provided by playing
the bad guy. And what better to do this than a double role where they keep their image intact with the
hero's role too!(Karthik recently did this, though less successfully in
Chinna Raja). Simran is impressive too.
The romance between Ajith and Simran(and Ajith and Jyothika!) is a delight and though it gets a little
tiring towards the end, it is novel and helps the first half pass quickly. In the second half too, the
director succeeds in fashioning interesting sequences showing the elder brother's lust for his younger
brother's wife and the younger brother's refusal to believe his wife because of his trust in his older
brother. But the denouement is rather long-winded.
Vivek's comedy track evokes genuine laughs at several places. Deva has tuned some pleasant numbers with
April Maadhathil... being the catchiest. Deva impresses with a menacing tune whenever the older
Ajith is upto his villainous ways but sadly, his background score at some of the other high-points evokes
laughter.
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