2.5 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: K. SUBASH
ACTOR: PRABHU DEVA
ACTRESS: KEERTHI REDDY
MUSIC DIRECTOR: DEVA
STORYLINE:
Poor Janakiraman (Prabhu Deva) and wealthy Sandiya (Keerthi Reddy) become friends near the beginning of the movie. As their friendship grows, Jani's friends (Dhamu, Jappan, Balu, and Arun Sarrat) begin to think it's love. To top it off, Jani's mother (Sujatha) believes the same, and all of them together get Jani loving her.
When Jani goes to Sandiya to declare his love to her, she shows him pictures of a lot of prospective grooms and asks him to pick one out for her. Hiding his feelings, he looks through them, and picks a minister's son (Anand) out for her.
Jani then goes through the hero's usual torment of loving a girl and not being able to tell her so and making all kinds of sacrifices for her, such as hiding the death of his mother until after her betrothal. Nearing the marriage though, Jani learns that the husband he has picked out for her is actually immoral and has a venereal disease, and goes to try to break up the marriage.
COMMENTS:
It's a watchable movie not because of a great storyline (let's face it, not many Tamil movies have great storylines) but because of the execution. K. Subash (no affiliation with this website) manages to pull off some very funny scenes. The scene where Prabhu Deva explains why he wants to cut the "pusari" is hilarious and has been nominated for Best Comedy Scene.
In addition to that, there's Dhamu and Vivek to add to the fun, and as we would see clearly later this year in "Swayamvaram," Prabhu Deva doesn't make a bad comedy actor himself. The first half of the movie is immensely watchable, but the second half, unfortunately, sinks into dismal masala and sentiment.
Oh yeah, why does Sujatha like dying roles? She dies in every movie.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
The music should bring fans to their feet -- a lot of the songs are spectacular with a rousing beat. Music director Deva has outdone himself especially with the song "Thirupathi Alumalai Venkatesa" which had me humming the beats along the entire time. The best song, though, is the absolutely excellent "Oh Vennilaa."
RECOMMENDATION:
Watch it on video.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN