Poovellam Kettuppar is a romantic comedy that fails to come to life as it should. What sounded good as an idea is not fleshed out in the most satisfactory manner into an imaginative screenplay. Add to this the raw performances by Suriya and Jyotika in their first film together and you come out with a feeling that while the basic concept had potential, the film hasn’t quite lived up to it.
The basic problem with the film, directed by Vasanth, is that none of the situations, be it the developing love story between Krishnan and Janaki or the later sequences with them in each other’s house, are innovative or interesting enough. They are functional enough for the story to move on and a little more at times but that’s really about it. True, the film aims to be neat and clean but somewhere it lacks the smaller memorable moments and that extra spark that make up a good romantic comedy. With romantic comedies normally being totally predictable, it is all the more important to get the treatment right but the film falls short here. The comedy scenes with the forgetful doctor are not very funny and ruin potentially interesting sequences like the one at the jewellery store. In fact, leave aside the younger track, the film actually works best when it focuses on the older generation and the conflict of the music directors instead.
The central performances by Suriya and Jyotika as the couple in love but who will not marry without their warring fathers’ approval are just about so-so. Suriya was still trying to find his bearings as an actor when he did this film while Jyotika shows a tendency to go OTT unless controlled. Still, Suriya produces one great moment in the film as he rattles off the names of a 100 flowers to a stunned Jyotika. He does show glimpses of a likeable boyish charm but is awkward as hell in the dances. As mentioned earlier, it is the older generation that comes off much better with fine performances by the seasoned actors Vijayakumar, Nasser and Ambika, who efforlessly steal the show from the youngsters.
The technicalities are adequate enough without being great. The film was a breakthrough for music director Yuvan Shankar Raja and while the songs are not bad at all, they are let down by some absolutely ordinary picturisations. Amngst them, Chudidhar Aninthu is particularly well-composed.
All in all, the film is, no doubt, watchable enough in its better moments but otherwise lacks that extra spark, which would have made all the difference.
Tamil, Romance, Drama, Color