Oh Kadhal Kanmani (Oh my love!) - Yuppy Romance with Heppy Incarnations!

In Indian cinema, hardly anyone does it better than Maniratnam when it comes to milking subtle but impactful emotions from day-to-day existential relationships. Watching the delicate threads that run across relationships through Maniratnam’s glasses is a pleasure to say the least. Be it the mother and son relationship as depicted in ‘Thalapathi’ or that unforgettable breezy romance between the garrulous Manohar (Karthik) and the more pragmatic Divya (Revathi) in Mounaragam or the imbalance in relationships brought forth by Anjali, a mentally retarded kid to her family or the immature post-marital relationship between Sakthi (Shalini) and Karthik (Madhavan) as depicted in Alaipayuthey or the lovely kid Amudha’s (Keerthana) estranged relationship with her adopted parents in ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’  - all these construe for his deep understanding of the nuances that exist in relationships and his thirst to bring forth the same on screen with raw nerves but without much commercial compromises.

Now to keep up with the so called ‘selfie-generation’, the director has managed to look at the currently prevalent romantic relationships that are more aspirational than rooted to reality. As a result the place of happening cannot be Chennai as it would be a sin (and who wants to face the wrath of the so-called moral policing goons) and so it has been tactfully transposed to Mumbai where only beef consumption is banned.

The movie opens like Shankar’s big budget graphic extravaganza with animated characters running around in a video game. Soon we are introduced to Aadhi (Dulquar Salman), a game developer and Thara (Nithya Menon), an architect. Both have high flying aspirations and they are the typical yuppie people whom one can stumble upon in every cosmopolitan city. They get on with a live-in relationship and agree to not get into anything serious. But we know what’s in store with respect to the very predictable screenplay. They end up happily getting married thanks to the partial impact of the parallel relationship that exists between Ganapathi (Prakash Raj) and Bhavani (Leela Samson), quaintly painted characters with Mani’s bold strokes.

This movie can also be taken as a journey that we set forth with the lead characters. We tend to laugh and cry with them and we are also left to empathize with their endless dubious quandaries of settling down in life. One of the problems I felt with the screenplay was that it never meant to be serious at any point. It just went on with its own pace to unwind and at the end of it, everything was as predictable as the next morning’s sunrise. There were hardly any twists or turns and some of the things that were offered to relish were the different supporting characters that were portrayed and their equations with the storyline, which I felt was too little for an engaging narrative.

Nithya Menen was impeccable as Thara and slipped into her role without any qualms. Her chemistry with Dulquar was terrific. Dulquar on the other hand maintains his garrulous outlook but does very little to set himself apart or to match his performance with his co-artist. Prakash Raj's character as that of a doting husband and strict guardian was somewhat rehashed, but we can grab it with both the hands as it was sweetened further by Leela Samson’s character that was thoroughly refreshing.

Music by the ace composer was used minimally and skillfully by the ace director. I wish some songs were fully picturized, especially the ‘Naane Varugiren’ number which was my pick of the lot from the album. Even though I liked the way the songs were picturized, sometimes the pacy frames (as in ‘Mental Manathil’ song) leave us with a sore eye. That said, I cannot be without lauding PC Sriram’s cinematography that yielded crisp and colorful frames for the most part.

The movie had some gems buried deep inside but you need to be patient to dig into it and that is the tricky part. Had there been more impactful scenes with some more twists and turns, this movie would have scaled higher and would have gone further to strike a chord with the audiences who still have their ‘Alaipayuthey’ memories firmly rooted in their subconscious psyche for all things that sound ‘Mani Ratnam’.

Verdict: Worth a Watch!

Rating: 2.25 / 5