APRIL MATHATHIL

Grade: B+

 

“April Mathathil” comes from debutant director Stanley, an erstwhile assistant to Director Sasi (“Sollamale,” “Rojakootam”).  This is a reasonably good movie that has a routine story bolstered by a nice screenplay and beautiful little directorial touches but is let down at several places by scenes that are unnecessarily overplayed.  Hence the movie lacks that knockout punch that differentiates an above average movie from a really good one.

 

The movie’s start is quite uninteresting.  Gayathri Jayaram’s meetings with Shrikanth, the latter’s trip to a women’s college (why he couldn’t get help from peers in his own college, is never explained!  One could reason out that he might have felt uncomfortable doing so in his own college but his costumes and appearance suggest that this is just a minor, insignificant subplot to gain sympathy for him) to seek funds for education, and then “donating” the rest of it to the college are all amateurish and raise unintentional guffaws.  But the movie improves leaps and bounds once it shifts focus on the Shrikanth-Sneha friendship and their gang of friends.  The friendship is developed in a very sweet, natural way and the camaraderie exhibited by their gang of friends strike the right note.  Sneha’s anger at Shrikanth not asking her for financial help and the latter’s explanation is very realistic and adds plausibility to the characters.

 

The group of friends spending their 10-day break with a day at each of their homes is a very novel, interesting idea but the director overdoes it a bit.  Nevertheless, Sneha’s reaction to her friends’ suggestion of staying at a hotel (instead of Shrikanth’s small house) adds gloss to her very likeable character.  The director brings out the contrast very well in the scenes at Sneha’s palatial house.  The way Sneha calmly explains to Shrikanth about her loneliness is extremely well done. 

 

It is with Sneha’s father announcing her marriage that the movie begins to lag a bit.  Sneha’s family friend whining (!) about his love for her is an irritating aspect while its an enigma why Sneha never spoke about her marriage with Shrikanth.  It doesn’t ring true since they seem to discuss everything under the sun.  Shrikanth constantly complaining to his friends about Sneha deserving a man better than him is annoying (but true!  Sneha deserves an Aravind Swamy or a Maddy just because they don’t sulk as much as the Shrikanth character!!).  But the director throws in a neat little twist in the form of Shrikanth’s brother.  Sneha helping him out at the restaurant is underplayed but very effective and the way it makes Shrikanth change his mind, is done very nicely.  Sneha’s roommate is another unsentimental, balanced character that could’ve been developed better but the way she advises Sneha to not mistake Shrikanth (for not conveying his love for her in front of that family-friend-whiner!) rings true and breaks the cliché of the heroine’s friend not being more than a prop.

 

The movie’s climax is one of its weak points with Shrikanth’s overacting and the usual bridegroom who has nothing to do except to sit next to Sneha for awhile and of course, would never get a chance to even speak a line of dialog, let alone marry Sneha!  (Shrikanth should get the Video of “Moondram Pirai” and watch Kamal’s performance in the last scene to get a clue on how to enact a crucial scene in the rain without making a clown out of himself.  That’s what bothers me when heroes mess up these scenes.  I say to myself, “Oh God, you don’t deserve the girl. You overact too much!”  Well, maybe I am jealousJ).

 

The performances, like the movie, are a mixed bag.  Shrikanth’s body language, facial expressions and dialog delivery all lack polish.  He still seems a bit uncomfortable in front of the camera whereas Sneha delivers the goods with a very good performance, creating a well-rounded character.  She casts an aura of plausibility and calmness that is lacking in most of these new heroines.  The girl who plays Sneha’s aforementioned roommate acts well whereas Shrikanth’s friend (I think his character’s name is Sampath) overacts in most of the important scenes.  Gayathri Jayaram should use her salary from this movie to get a new make-up man and a new costume designer!  Anju Mahendra (one of the sidekicks in “Sethu”) does a hilarious parody of “Top Ten Movies” in the beginning but is sidelined as the movie progresses. 

 

M.V. Pannerselvam’s (“Housefull,” “Rojakoottam”) camerawork is impressive, as usual.  Yuvan Shankar Raja tunes in a couple of delightful numbers that linger even after the movie is over.  R.K.Nagu’s sets are colorful.

 

Overall, this is a good one but could’ve been a lot better.