Tamil Movie Review

Director Lingusamy tells us a simple love story with a road theme, leading us on a slick journey of romance, action, suspense and thrills, with some peppy music thrown in.

Karthi turns full-fledged commercial hero in this film, where he plays Shiva, a jobless engineering graduate and a carefree guy who hangs out with employed friends and stays with his sister Priya in Bengaluru. Shiva encounters Charu (Tamannah) at a bus stop and is smitten by her charms. It’s love at first sight for him.

He happens to meet her on a couple of other occasions and even misses an interview appointment, thanks to a sudden glimpse of Charu. One day,

when Shiva’s waiting at the railway station to pick up the owner of the car he uses, he’s surprised to see Charu approach him, accompanied by a man, to ask if he can take them to Chennai. She’s mistaken him for a driver! When the man leaves the car to pay the bill at the gas station, Charu urges Shiva to drive away quickly, leaving the man behind she requests him to take her to Mumbai.

The story picks up momentum at this point and races along till the interval.

An elated Shiva loves the idea of spending time with her, oblivious that there’s trouble brewing from a group of thugs who are after Charu and from another pack of hooligans who have their own agenda with Shiva. The rest of the story is as full of twists and turns as the couple’s journey.

After all those uncouth roles he played earlier, it comes as a whiff of fresh air to watch Karthi’s performance in Paiyaa. Clearly, he relishes his role. His versatile expressions, skilful dancing (he’s improved a lot in that department) and his convincing action sequences enhance his portrayal. But there is still a tinge of village accent in Karthi’s diction, which doesn’t match the character.

As usual Tamannah is vivacious and looks her glamorous best. Milind Soman has been wasted in an insignificant role. Jagan in a cameo provides

comic relief. Yuvan Shankar Raja is the real ‘Raja’ of the movie. His thumping music exudes the right mood, with Thuli Thuli and Adada Adai Mazhai being the pick of the lot.

Madhie’s camera work warrants mention, especially in the song sequences with Rajeevan’s artwork complementing it all.

While the first half is racy, after interval it moves at a more leisurely pace. Some of the stunt sequences, like for instance the one before interval and the one in the climax, are cliched and repetitive.

And why does the director depict Karthi as someone who does not even speak a word of English despite being an engineering graduate? The filmmaker, who adheres to his single-plot style of narration for most of the film, should be applauded for coming out with a clean, light hearted family entertainer. On the

whole it’s a smooth ride, with a few bumpy spots in between. Paiyaa, produced by the Thiruppathy Brothers and presented by Dayanidhi Alagiri, fits the holiday release slot snugly.

One can best describe this as a faithful remake with almost everything in the original recreated well in Tamil. Three cheers to director Kannan, because in Kanden Kadhalai he has faithfully followed the footsteps of Imtiaz Ali and in the process made an impressive remake of Jab We Met.

Sakthivel (Bharath) and Anjali (Tamannah) come across each other in a train to Madurai. The youth, defeated in both his business and romance, takes the journey with no particular destination, no aim in mind. A soft-spoken Sakthivel meets Anjali, who is his direct opposite.
A sequence of events leads to Anjali missing the train after she decides to help Sakthivel. As a result, she starts to blame Sakthi and tells him in no uncertain terms that as he is responsible for her predicament, it's his duty to ensure that she reaches her destination -- her native place.

The first half is all about their journey from Vridhachalam to Theni. Thanks to Anjali, Sakthivel slowly develops interest in his life and becomes self-confident again. Her grandfather (Ravichandran), her father (Nizhalgal Ravi) and her uncle (Azhagam Perumal) greet Sakthivel effusively and urge him to stay for a week.

In the mist of all this bonhomie, arrives Mokkai Perumal (Santhanam), Anjali's `morai' mama who wants to marry her.

But the bubbly Anjali decides to elope instead, to Ooty, with her boyfriend Goutham Menon (Munna). She asks Sakthivel for help. When they elope, the whole family thinks Anjali has walked out of the house to marry Sakthivel, who carries on with his life and brings his business back on track. Till he gets the news that Anjali is not married to Goutham.

The rest of the plot plays out between Anjali, Sakthi and Munna -- no prizes for guessing whom she finally decides to marry! It has no complex storyline, no thrills or spills, it's just a feel-good story with entertaining elements all through. Kannan has given Imtiaz Ali's story the perfect local flavour. Tamannah plays the role enacted by Kareena Kapoor, while Bharath essays Shahid Kapoor's role.

Bharath seems to have strictly followed Shahid Kapoor in his mannerisms and costumes. He impresses in the first half as a soft-spoken, dejected youth. Tamannah, who played a bubbly young girl in Anandha Thandavam has plunged enthusiastically into a similar role here and man ages to come up trumps. Santhanam is the scene-stealer. Munna as Goutham Menon, despite appearing briefly, gives a neat performance.

If the USP of JWM was the Punjabi family around which the story revolved, KK is woven around a Thevar family in Theni.

Vidhyasagar's music is average when compared to the tracks in the original. P.G.
Muthiah's cinematography captures the beauty of Ooty. The movie is a bit slow as it begins but be patient if you want to enjoy some magic moments in the second half.

Tamannah plays as Thevar girl in the film. while Kareena played as Punjabi girl in Jab We Met, Tamannah who had also undergone an image makeover for this role, she even have watched Jab We Met atleast four times.


But i guess Tamannah cannot match the peppy character which Bebo did in the original movie.
Although it is a remake, she claims that she and Bharath will bring a fresh perspective to the film, thanks to director Kannan’s effort and encouragement. The two songs shot so far have come out brilliantly. Though she has done her best to live up to Kareena’s performance in Hindi lets see how it is. A few of the sequences for the film were shot in the dense forests of Pollachi,

where a woodhouse was erected. After the shooting wa over, Kannan the director of film gifted the woodhouse to Forest Department to support tourism so that it may be easy for the forest department people to keep a watch on the wild animals. Speaking about the movie, producer Dhananjayan of Moser Baer is very happy that Kannan completed the first schedule, which is 27 days ahead of what was planned initially. With
this 50 per cent of the talkie portions are over. The remake will have several interesting changes to help get a regional touch”.