I'm a fan of movies that revel in the fun atmosphere that exists in large families. The love and affection between the family members and the fun they have together lend themselves to feel-good movies that keep us smiling. That is the main attraction of Mahesh Saranya Matrum Palar but the romance and the sentiments are handled well too.

Mahesh(Shakti), who is studying in Chennai, is summoned back to his home since his sister(Saranya) wants his thumbs-up for her prospective groom. Once Mahesh OKs the groom, the wedding preparations kick off. Meanwhile, Mahesh begins to tell his sister about his romance with Saranya(Sandhya), a playback singer and as the story proceeds, Mahesh's entire family becomes caught up in it.

The director uses a few tactics to keep us engrossed in the film and fortunately, those tactics are effective. As Shakti narrates his story to his family, the film moves ahead in two parallel tracks with one focusing on Shakti and his family - the present, so to say - and the other following his time with Sandhya. The approach of making the two tracks alternate serves two purposes. One, it keeps our interest from lagging in either of them and two, it allows the tracks to jump from one event to another without feeling disjointed. The expectation that the two tracks will dovetail at the end also adds some suspense to the proceedings, as does the story sequentially moving through all the locations that were earlier shown during the opening credits.

While both the tracks are sweet and interesting, the one with Shakti and his family ends up being the more interesting of the two. There are obviously more characters here and the affection they - particularly Saranya - have for him is shown well. With the camaraderie between the family members and the gradual expansion of the size of the group listening to Shakti's story, the proceedings manage to convey the atmosphere of fun that is usually present in a house where there's an impending marriage. As for the Shakti-Sandhya romance, Shakti falling for Sandhya is somewhat cliched but the way she falls for him and the manner she expresses it in are still cute.

With nothing much of note happening in both tracks, one does get the feeling that they drag on for more time than needed. But the crisis when it happens, does turn out to be a substantial one with difficult choices for all those involved. More importantly, the subsequent explanation of events is emotional(the death of one of the characters is very poignant because of the way it happens), isn't completely predictable and it validates the behavior of the participants. The film eventually gets too much closure and a little open-endedness would've been welcome (the end would've had a greater impact if Shakti's family hadn't come to know about events). But the end does allow for closure on a couple of other things(like Saranya's gift and the reason for Shakti narrating his story in the first place) and so all things considered, the ending is good.

Shakti gives us the same impression he did in his debut film Thottaal Poo Malarum - well-rounded with good dancing and stuntt skills but not special enough to stand out. He has more than a passing resemblance to Vijay and some of his expressions and dance movies only emphasise the similarity. Sandhya gives a very artificial performance with exaggerated expressions and voice. But she does get better as she calms down. The big supporting cast is adequate with Saranya Mohan once again playing the sweet, loveable younger sister. Vidyasagar delivers a melodious soundtrack