'Engeyum Kadhal' (Tamil, Romance)
Director: Prabhu Deva
Cast: Jeyam Ravi, Hansika Motwani, Suman, Raju Sundaram
A love story set and shot entirely in Paris, ‘Engeyum Kadhal’ has the fresh appeal which recent movies were devoid of. Prabhu Deva, whose earlier films in Tamil were action centric, has directed a romantic caper with the refreshing pair, Jayam Ravi and Hansika Motwani.
The plot is centered on the contrasting attitudes of them towards love — while one hates love, the other believes in the magic of love and romance. Apart from this lead pair, it’s only a handful of characters throughout the movie.
Kamal (Jeyam Ravi) is a business tycoon who believes in the maxim, ‘work while you work and play while you play’. He dedicates eleven months of hard work in India followed by a month of holiday, when he lives life to the hilt abroad.
In contrast is Kayal (Hansika), born and brought up in Paris. Sentimental and a romantic, it takes no time for her to fall in love with the handsome stranger holidaying in Paris. Jeyam Ravi looks dapper in some well-cut clothes and his role is fun filled and a light one. It doesn’t seem to require much practice.
Hansika cuts a far better picture in this film than her lackluster appearance in ‘Maappilai’. Bubbly and lively on screen, she has also revealed her flair for comedy. Kayal’s father (Suman) runs a private detective agency. One of his clients, suspicious of his girlfriend has her followed, and the trail leads to Kamal’s hotel suite. A sympathetic Kayal alerts Kamal and the duo strikes a friendship. While Kamal carries on his dalliance with various other women, Kayal falls madly in love with him. Pained by his attitude, she takes a few steps to grab his attention.
There is Raju (Sundaram), Kamal’s buddy, whose ‘funny’ escapades with women are weird and painful to watch. Prabhu Deva makes occasional appearances, like a sutradhar. His scenes with Prakashraj (who plays himself) will make you smile. Each time Prakashraj offers to enter the story and help out the lovers, Deva ticks him off with a “You’re not even part of the film’s cast, so keep away!”.
The narration peps up only at these places and in one or two finely sketched scenes. Otherwise, it’s a flat bland narration, the script lacking punch and fizz. Harris Jayaraj’s songs too barely register (like ‘Ko’).
The director has exploited well the locales of exotic Paris and the result is the film has a colourful glossy look. But the style scores over content. What is dampening is the predictability of the sequence of events. ‘Engeyum Kadhal’ has a running time of just about 125 minutes.
But it’s probably the monotony of it that makes it seem like a longer journey.