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Some stories keep coming back, more so in Tamil cinema. It could be because of the dearth of creativity or taking comfort in familiarity, but these old stories keep on returning like a bad cold. Sometimes, it works like Atlee’s Raja Rani, a modern rehash of Mani Ratnam’s Mouna Ragam. It could be the treatment or a few good scenes or performances that overshadow the film’s redundancies. But those are the rarest of rare scenarios. Mostly, you get something like Romeo, which in a sense is another iteration of Mouna Ragam.
Leela (Mrinalini Ravi) is an aspiring heroine hailing from a southern Tamil Nadu village. She has been a struggling actor in Chennai, waiting to get a break along with her three friends who also aspire to be a part of the film industry. To her family at home, Leela is a corporate employee in the city. Whenever she is upset, she likes to drink and take the edge off. On the other hand, Romeo of the film, Arivu (Vijay Antony) is a 35-year-old simpleton, who hasn’t fallen in love as he was busy making a living in Malaysia. While he has amassed wealth, he has lost his youth. Always dressed in a checked shirt that is carefully tucked in and denim pants, he is a living caricature of a 35-year-old virgin. He now wants to fall in love, and when he meets Leela, Cupid strikes. When Leela’s big secret is revealed at home, she is forced to tie the knot with Arivu. Thus, begins the journey of Romeo trying to woo his wife by all means possible.
It appears the filmmakers didn’t have confidence in the film and introduce multiple conflicts in a rather straightforward story — in case if one arc fails, the other might hit. Though dated, Romeo already had a solid conflict. Yet, we get some convoluted drama where Arivu starts pretending to be Vikram, a fan of Leela. Over the phone, Vikram keeps providing words of wisdom, which makes Leela dependent on him. Arivu worries that she is falling in love with his alter-ego. But even this track doesn’t seem to be enough, so we also have a backstory to Arivu, which is about a lost sister and his pyrophobia. Then there is a film within the film gimmick, where Arivu ends up producing Leela’s film about a husband and wife. Though director Vinayak Vaithianathan ties it all together in the end, it lacks the flow and fun of the first half of the film, when things are simple.
The first half feels more organic as it relies less on contrivances and is more fun. Vijay Antony’s self-referential meta jokes and his affable presence made the film enjoyable. VTV Ganesh and Yogi Babu don’t do much, but they help a bit. There are even a good few laughs. The film turns unbearable in the second half when it starts messing with what’s called ’emotional beats’. Arivu keeps on giving to a person who can’t even stand the sight of him. Her anger towards this poor altruistic saint is unjustified; so is the love of Arivu. His reason for doing everything for someone who doesn’t give two hoots about his existence is ‘love’. And there is nothing about Leela that warrants unbridled love. The film purports an idea of love that is unconditional and all-giving, a concept more dated than the film itself.
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