1 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: KATHIR
ACTOR: GUNAL
ACTRESS: SONALI BENDRE
MUSIC DIRECTOR: A.R. RAHMAN
STORYLINE:
Gunal plays a young college-bound student who goes to North India to study. There he meets the principal (Nasser), and Nasser becomes Gunal's idol. While he's not studying, our young hero goes to Internet chat rooms and talks with a girl, screen name Malar, real name Roja (Sonali Bendre). They fall in love on-line.
Eventually, their true identities are revealed to one another, but circumstances keep them both from expressing their love to one another (in one dim-witted move, Gunal writes his phone number on the back of her love letter and gives it to a friend).
But before he can tell her about his love, it's revealed that Roja is none other than Nasser's daughter. And Gunal also hears Nasser say he wants Roja to get married to a rich family. So, Gunal, in the main tradition of the 90s, sacrifices his love.
But Roja has other ideas. A firm believer in the "I can't love one guy, marry another" policy, during her marriage to another guy (in which Gunal comes and sings the obligatory sentimental song), she drinks poison. Does she survive? Well not even Kathir knows the answer to that one.
Chinni Jayanth and Goundamani perform the comedy, while Manivannan plays a man who listens to Gunal's tale.
COMMENTS:
The story is overwought with sentiment and makes you feel like socking Gunal. Gunal has a handsome face, but lacks the quality that makes him a "hero." Sonali Bendre seems to be just another glamour doll (as if we don't have enough of those). So why did she get a Best Actress nomination? Severe lack of competition in that category.
There are also too many loose threads. Why does a dedicated college student chat the day away on the Internet? Why is he suddenly able to afford a CD player when Roja tells him the name of her favorite CD? Why do all those dumb coincidences happen? Why do all heroes want to give up their love? Why do all heroines like drinking poison? Why did I come to see this movie? (Well, for that one, I can blame Sugi, my cousin -- I WILL GET HIM FOR THIS.)
During the title credits, Kathir also makes a big deal about orphan kids who can't study. That has nothing to do with the movie, either.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
The one good thing about the movie was the music. A.R. Rahman is having an exceptionally good year, and his hits "O Maria" (in which Ramba makes an appearance), "Dandiya," and "Kadhalenumm," rocked Tamil Nadu for quite some time. Oh yeah, watch the Blockbuster baby blatantly copied for the "O Maria" sequence. But A.R. Rahman, as much as I don't want to admit it (I detested plenty of his popular earlier scores such as "Rangeela" and "Kaadhal Desam") proves time and time again he's a talent to be reckoned with, especially in the moving background score...
RECOMMENDATION:
Wait for the video to see the songs. If you don't care about songs, skip it altogether.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN