Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi’s Tamil rom-com Kadhalikka Neramillai offers us a womb with a view. It is a bit of a conundrum about the pleasures and pitfalls of IVF pregnancy. It has the seeds of a satisfying romcom. But it partially squanders away the opportunity in trying to be extra-cool and progressive.
Early in the shallow but agreeable show, the heroine catches her husband in bed with another woman. This rom-com trope, prevalent in Hollywood films of the last millennium, isn’t really applicable to cinema or real life today.
Who is so indiscreet as to have extra-marital sex with the door unlocked? Karan (John Kokken) in Kadhalikka Neramillai does. Shriya (Nithya Menen) catches him. Shriya decides to go ahead with her planned pregnancy without her husband.
“Why do we need a man to be a mother?” Shriya pointlessly reasons with her partner-in-crime, a cousin who is part of the script only, so that Shriya can express her thoughts.
What transpires from this point is the crux of the pleasant but inconsistent film, considerably compromised by the kind of convenient coincidences that we would see in the Hindi adaptations of Gulshan Nanda’s novels in the 1970s. For example, Shriya’s sperm donor turns out to be the man she falls in love with. If you can swallow that, then there is no other major hurdle in enjoying the fun version of a womb-with-a-view movie.
What works wonderfully is the chemistry between Shriya (Nithya Menen) and her co-star Sid (Ravi Mohan). There is a welcome departure from the portrayal of protagonists committed in other relationships, waiting for the screenplay to bring them together. These two adults don’t behave like love-struck teenagers. The presence of Shriya’s son in the plot gives it a harmonious dramatic advantage. Sid befriending Parthiv, without knowing he is his own son, is a cinematic cliche used here with some restraint and maturity.
The film falters when attempting to act “cool” and all-knowing. A bit more spontaneity in the life-changing actions of the salient characters would have gone a long way in achieving what the director seems to aim for: a mature film with sensible characters struggling with what is right for them as compared with what they are told is right. In this respect, Shriya’s ongoing battle with her outraged mother (Lakshmy Ramakrishnan) rings truer than some of the other chic chicanery in the screenplay.
There is nothing really wrong with Kadhalikka Neramillai. The actors are calm and in control of their characters. But I got this nagging feeling that this could have been a far better film than it actually is, if only it didn’t try so hard to be cool.
