Rom-com Formula Gone Wrong
It’s yet another movie about a youngster who loafs around with his friends, gets into trouble, falls in love and finally manages to get his life in order. Lack of depth in characterisation and situations in the movie alienates the viewer from the happenings on screen.
Oru Modhal Oru Kadhal is about Karthik (Vivek) and his travails that take him from Chennai to Bangalore and then to Delhi, in search of his true love. After the disappointing end to his first love affair, Karthik, an aspiring film director, sets out to Bangalore for a temporary job, which is to train a group of students in film making and help them direct a short film for a competition. We don’t get to see much of the training or the making of the short film. But soon, out of nowhere, it is announced that the group, thanks to Karthik’s guidance, has won the competition. The scenes in the classroom are worse than what one gets to see in below average Tamil films with a college campus backdrop.
Expression comes easy to Vivek (previously seen in Suryanagaram, Nanga). The only problem is that he goes overboard with making a fool of himself in every situation. Particularly, in the scenes with his students, some decorum and dignity would have helped. He falls for Anusha (Megha), a Punjabi student.
The second half is a Meet the Parents kind of situation, where Karthik goes to Delhi and meets his ladylove and her Punjabi family, a boisterous, cheerful and stereotyped lot. Oh, and there is the usual Punjabi dance number too. There’s barely a moment or two in the film that manages to amuse the audience. The rest is money gone down the drain. Oru Modhal Oru Kadhal is a debutant director’s efforts gone awry.
Film- Oru Modhal Oru Kadhal (Tamil)
Director- Keerthi Kumar
Cast- R Vivek, Megha Burman, Pyramid Natarajan, Meera Krishnan