3.5 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: S.J. SURYA
ACTOR: AJIT KUMAR
ACTRESS: SIMRAN
MUSIC DIRECTOR: DEVA
STORYLINE:
Shiva and Deva (Ajit Kumar) are twin brothers. Deva the older is deaf and mute and runs a very successful company. Younger brother Shiva runs around jobless and having fun. Shiva sees Priya (Simran) many times on the street and falls in love with her, but as a previous prospective Romeo (Livingston) discovered, Priya has certain rules for the man who's going to love her such as 1) he should have once been a drunkard and a smoker but now should have quit and 2) he s hould've previously loved another girl but been dumped by her. So Shiva, hearing all of this, makes up a whole lie about how he used to love a girl named Sonna (Jothika) and how she had dumped him and Priya falls in love with him. Eventually, the truth is discovered, but Priya forgives him and the two plan to be married.
Enter brother Deva, who also saw Priya in North India, and also fell in love with her -- but more in love with her body than her. When he finds out Shiva and Priya are in love, he becomes a maniac, and after their marriage, tries his level best to stop them from conjugating their marriage. He wants Priya for himself.
Brother Shiva though won't listen to Priya's accusations against his brother. The climax comes when Priya and Shiva go on honeymoon to North India where Priya's friends are (her friend's husband played by Rajiv) but Deva follows. Deva and Shiva fight and Shiva is wounded and sent away, and Deva pretends to be Shiva to attain Priya.
COMMENTS:
A very well-done movie abutted by some great performances. The first half of the movie goes on one track and the second goes on another. The first half is a love story, but done more interestingly than the usual "boy-meets-girl, boy-falls-in-love, girl-falls-in-love" tradition. The entire storyline with Jothika (Nagma's little sister) is hilarious, and whenever Priya digs herself deeper into Shiva's lies, you feel like laughing out loud. Ajit and Simran are very charismatic together.
The second half of the movie, far more sinister, is where every main actor is allowed to try out their acting abilities. This was the first movie I was amazed at Ajit Kumar's acting -- he executes both characters of Shiva and Deva with panache. They act differently, they walk differently, they look differently, they cry differently. Ajit made the normally unacceptable character of Deva come to life and seem believable, and pulled off the good-guy-turned-murderer role with much more talent that Vijay would show later this year in "Kannukul Nilavu."
Simran also proves she isn't just a glamor doll in the second half of the movie. She pulls off the tortured sister-in-law but loving wife role very well and is very convincing.
The comedy track is executed by Vivek, who wrote his own comedy for this movie; the comedy is mediocre.
S.J. Surya has pulled off a very good film.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
The music is very well written and composed and several tunes are hummably pleasing. "April Maadhathil" was a hit with Indian teenage girls, and the dancing choreography for that song is very well done. "Oh Sonna" also has a bouncy tune, and "Vannil Kayuthae" and "Inru Muthal Iravu" were also well done.
RECOMMENDATION:
Definitely watch it in the theater.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN