3 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: VASANTH
ACTORS: ARJUN, RAMESH ARAVIND
ACTRESSES: MEENA, JOTHIKA
MUSIC DIRECTOR: A.R. RAHMAN
STORYLINE:
Kartikeyan (Arjun) is a widowed photographer whose wife (Jothika) died in a train accident. He comes to Bombay to work for Indian Express with his parents (Nagesh as his father). Here he meets Chitra (Meena), who is the widow of Ramesh Aravind, who died in the exact same train accident as Jothika. Kartikeyan and Chitra initially argue, but after a while, come to respect one another, and when they eventually reveal their histories, they become close friends. Kartikeyan, who was adamant about never marrying again, becomes agreeable to marriage, as long as Chitra is his bride.
Nagesh sets off to see Chitra and asks if she is agreeable to marrying Kartikeyan. Still recovering from her husband's death, she says no. Eventually, she changes her mind, but into the picture comes Lakshmi. Lakshmi was Ramesh Aravind's mother, and did not approve of Chitra as her daughter-in-law. Initially, she was in a rage over the marriage, but now, more repentant, she comes to Chitra and says, "Please come with me. I am so lonely."
Chitra leaves with her mother-in-law and her adopted son Shiva (Master Aditya), going away from Kartikeyan. The ending decides whether Kartikeyan and Chitra will get together or not.
COMMENTS:
For the first time in what seems like a long time (probably since the release of "Alai Paayuthey" and "Mugavari"), I felt satisfied with a movie. OK, so "Rhythm" is no masterpiece and has quite a few flaws, but it is entertaining and keeps us hanging until the end, and what more could a viewer want? Let's start with "Rhythm"'s flaws. The scenes with Chitra's neighbor are unnecessary, and are tacked on for Arjun to have a fight scene. The two songs without the main characters seem unnecessary, but they are only there because neither Arjun, Meena, nor Jothika can dance, and the dancers in those songs can do that. A scene where Master Aditya cries in the barber- shop seems sentimentally insipid. The train crash is not graphically convincing. Ramesh Aravind suddenly looks old and fat and wears a fake-looking wig. Nagesh and Vayapuri are criminally underused. Jothika's acting is better than in "Kushi", but she still needs a lot of work. The movie drags on near the ending, even though the audience knows exactly how it will end. OK, for a movie with all these flaws, you'd think it'd be a one-star. But "Rhythm" has a lot of good points that override the above thoughts. For example, in the ultimate age of sentiment, this is a basically unsentimental movie. The characters are realistically picturised, the acting is realistic, and the screenplay is well-written. The story is different, and the beat of the movie is good. If "Nerukku Ner" was Vasanth's version of "Agni Natchathiram", "Rhythm" is Vasanth's version of "Mouna Raagam", "Alai Paayuthey", and "Aanantha Poongatrae" all combined. It's all combined very neatly to produce a good-looking package, though.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
"Nathiyae Nathiyae" is excellent, and so is "Thaniyae." "Kaatrae Yen Vaasal" and "Haiyo Pathikkichu" are okay. "Kalakalavena" is pretty poor.
RECOMMENDATION:
Watch it in the theater if you're the least bit a fan of Tamil movies. If not, wait for the video.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN