Aptly titled, most of the action in the film takes place on the national highway between Bangalore and Chennai. Manimaran (a former associate of Vetrimaran) makes his directorial debut, with his mentor penning the story-dialogue, and co-writing the screenplay with him. A love story with plenty of action to go with, it’s about how a youngster fights against various odds to save his love.
Set in Bangalore, the story opens with the alleged kidnapping of Rithika, the daughter of a powerful minister of Karnataka (Avinash). The culprit is her classmate Prabhu, a Tamil student. The enraged minister assigns encounter specialist Manoj (Kay Kay) to track down Prabhu and bring his daughter back. There is not much suspense here since the cop, like the audience, soon finds out that the couple-in-love were on the run to escape the wrath of her father. As Manoj sets out to track them, the trip would turn out to be a revelation for him too. The couple and their friends shift from cars, vans, bikes and train, with the cop and his team in hot pursuit. It’s a battle of wits, with both sides anticipating each other’s moves and trying to be a step ahead. The scenes of tracking Prabhu through his mobile locations are initially interesting, but get tedious after a while. A couple of fun moments are generated by the cop who is given charge of tracing Prabhu’s calls, and by Prabhu’s friends who chip in their bit.
The earlier part moves at an engaging pace. It’s the second half that meanders, the scenes repetitive. The screenplay lacks imagination and coherence, and the narration consistency.
The assault on a discotheque on Valentine’s Day by Hindu fundamentalists is a piece from real life. Otherwise, the director seems not too comfortable with the urban milieu. Language is again a confusion. The characters speaking a smattering of different tongues irrespective of their background, is a distraction.
Sidharth plays Prabhu with quiet efficiency. Debutant Ashrita seems a paler version of Taapsee, her performance too lifeless. The dragging dialogue delivery doesn’t make it any better. Creating maximum impact is Kay Kay, the talented actor from Hindi films. As the arrogant smart cop Manoj who makes it a personal issue to catch Prabhu, the actor is splendid. Manoj constantly attending calls from his wife in the midst of tense chases and fights seems contrived.
However, their conversations do prepare one for the cop’s predictable volte-face, leading the story to a forced ending. Nothing really novel or exciting in the road-trip here!