Ilayavan finally answers the question, are there any requirements to satisfy in order to become a hero in tamil cinema? And the answer?(drumroll please...) NO! Following in the not-so-glorious footsteps of Manoj(Taj Mahal) and Hamsavirdhan( Maanaseega Kaadhal) comes Sathyan, whose sole qualities for the hero slot are provided by his genes. He is a nephew of Satyaraj and the son of the producer. He is also the biggest drawback of this movie which at places, especially the flashback, shows sparks of something better.

Bharathi(Sathyan) is the typical tamil cinema college student. He meets Janani(Kousalya), who works at the railway reservation counter, and soon falls in love. But she rejects his love resolutely. Doggedly pursued by Bharathi, she finally tells him the real reason behind why she refuses to even think about marriage. But her reason only makes him more determined to wed her.

It is tough to sit through a bad movie but Ilayavan proves that it is no less difficult to sit through a tolerable movie with a hero who looks like Sathyan. As far as I can tell, he can't act, fight or dance. His voice and dialog delivery just add to his sorrows and he talks with a curious mix of whining and crying that is irritating. His repeated "I love you"s to Kousalya near the end make one laugh. To add insult to injury he gets an introduction befitting Rajnikanth with the director taking an inordinate amount of time focussing on his hands, shoes and other parts before showing us his face. Almost everyone else overacts their way through the movie with Kousalya, 'Thalaivaasal' Vijay and Vaiyapuri leading the way. Sivakumar has a thankless role.

The director has banked on the revelation about Kousalya's past to be the big surprise but hasn't fashioned the preceding portions with an eye on maintaining this surprise. Kousalya's actions make it obvious what this 'twist' is and from that point the movie loses interest. Srividya's identity is another little surprise that is spoiled by the way Kousalya addresses her in the beginning.

The single bright spot of the movie is Kousalya's flashback about her romance with Karan. Karan's wooing of her is both cute and funny and the scene where he feigns a serious illness raises some genuine smiles. The whole sequence is handled with a clean, nice touch that is sadly absent the rest of the movie. The sequence ofcourse ends in tragedy that faithfully follows the unsaid rule about the plight of heroines looking for a second lease of life in movies(Meena in the recent Rhythm comes to mind). In contrast, the passing of love notes through the reservation coupon is the only innovative aspect of Sathyan's wooing of Kousalya.

Not much else in the movie makes sense. Sivakumar's plight when he is hidden from sight ends in a damp squib as the reason is revealed. His frequent venturing out of the room and then returning when Kousalya refuses to budge are quite silly. 'Thalaivaasal' Vijay's drug problem helps insert a fight sequence and then he appears out of the blue in the climax. Knowing the propensity of tamil directors to degrade scenes in college classrooms, the only consolation is that there are no scenes set in classrooms.