A veteran director of more than 35 films in Malayalam, Anil Kumar makes his debut in Tamil with Serndhu Polama. The plot is set in New Zealand and the entire film is shot there. The story includes elements of friendship, romance, suspense, crime and vendetta. But the ingredients have been weaved in haphazardly, and a simple plot bogged down by a meandering screenplay and lackluster narrative.
The film has an interesting beginning. It has some pleasant visuals, and a handsome lead pair. But with the screenplay diverging to different tangents, the interest in the happenings is soon lost. It opens on a group of adolescents in South Island, Abhishek, Sherin, her brother Thomas, Tony and a couple of others, who share a deep friendship. The plot shifts to the present and re-introduces each of them at different points as the story progresses. The friends have separated over the years and their lives would converge towards the end, the equations changed. There are flashbacks within flashbacks, a tad tiring.
We are first introduced to Abhishek. He is in an inebriated state and given a lift in a car by a stranger (Ramaiah). Abhishek was on his way to South Island, to stop the marriage of his girlfriend Juli. And it’s through his narration, that we get to learn most of his story. The romantic interludes between him and Juli being brief and lacking depth, Abhishek’s depression and desperation is difficult to fathom. His back-story includes his meeting his childhood friend Sherin who had accompanied him part of his way to South Island. But their scenes of the journey are more of a fun ride, with various misadventures, but nothing exciting. The merry song shot on the duo is out of sync with the mood and feel. It’s as if Abhishek had forgotten his mission and his girlfriend’s impending marriage! His later continuation of the journey with Ramaiah includes constant stops at the homes of Ramaiah’s various girlfriends, each time the man getting into a problem. This whole scenario in the name of comedy and humour is off colour and unsavoury.
There is an old murder to be accounted for. The narration takes a thriller mode with another back-story with a racial angle, gang wars and fallouts. The culprit is finally exposed, the finale weakly etched. Serndhu Polama is at the most a sight-seeing trip of New Zealand for the viewers. If only the exotic locations were backed by a sound and solid script.