This Tamil typhoon-drama is a high-decibel catastrophe. Everyone screams, fights and abuses throughout the lengthy tedious tortuous film,edited like an extended reel on the phone.
And all of this in the name of a rural “realistic” family drama featuring two of the most talented lead players of the South. Both Nithya Menen and Vijay Sethupathi have the stamp of quality embedded on their career. How did they get conned into being part of this hideous headbanger? If you are sensitive to noise pollution, avoid this at all costs. It will scar your nerves and wound your eardrums for a lifetime.
Every character speaks his lines as though the world is hard of hearing. Vijay and Nithya—we forgive you for this combined trespass—play Aagasaveeran and Perarasi the poster-couple for abolishing the institution of marriage. They abuse and hit at each other like Tom and Jerry.
Sadly, the two actors, usually so inviting, are no fun to watch. Their attempt to make light of the ludicrous plot is embarrassing.
I never got the chance to master their names’ pronunciation. The non-porous pacing of the storytelling , the near-suffocating ambience—almost like a two-hour long trailer–allows no room for any kind of ponderous peregrination .
It’s like being in one bullfight after another: yes, that awful! Or maybe worse: like stepping into cowdung repeatedly.
Making the experience even more alienating is the non-linear movement of the plot with one common thread: Aagasaveeran and Perarasi are constantly fighting while their respective families add fuel to the fire by butting into the couple’s quarrels like chorus singers in a choir of cacophony.
Initially, their wedding is called off when Perarasi’s brother Porchelvan (R K Suresh) discovers that Aagasveeran and his family have a criminal past. But the couple doesn’t give a damn as to what their families think of the alliance. They just want to be together even if they have to kill one another to stop their families from doing the same.
The problem here is the deflection of marital passion into a free-for-all. There is an incessant flow of verbal and physical abuse between the couple.Normalizing abuse seems the director’s task on hand The couple’s mutual hostility extends into their families who squabble ferociously.
Director Pandiraj treats the marital theme with a virulent animosity that spreads its venom towards an the institution of marriage. As a couple who can’t stay together and can’t live apart Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen are loud and hammy, especially the latter whose vaudeville performance gave me the heebie-jeebies. It is terrifying how awkward a good actor can be when performing in a bad script. Not everyone is Sridevi.
