While there are just a few basic themes on which movies are built, its the way movies implement them that distinguishes the good from the bad. Manadhai Thirudi Vittaai too has an age-old theme involving a man and two women but delivers it wrapped in an entertaining movie. An interesting romance, large dollops of comedy and a surprising twist make it two and a half hours of inconsequential but interesting entertainment.

Deva(Prabhu Deva), a student at a music college, falls in love with Shruti(Gayatri Jayaram), another student and after a lot of wooing, rebuttals and disappointments, she finally reciprocates his love. Deva runs into an old high school friend(Sriman) and after hearing his sister Indu(Kausalya) sing, Deva wishes to employ her talents on the music album he is producing. But Indu, who has been traumatised by an incident in her past, lives in her own world and has stopped singing. Deva manages to make her get over it and cheer her up but gets a shock when his friend Ranjit(Ranjit) reveals the truth about Indu's past.

I am a sucker for surprise twists in a movie and I typically tend to rate the surprise element in the twist higher than the plausibility of the events behind it. Manadhai Thirudi Vittaai manages to pack a very surprising twist into the proceedings in the second half that shakes things up after a lightweight first half. And as in all good surprises, a scene before manages to lead us on a different track before hitting us with the twist.The explanation for the twist is quite illogical and raises questions about whether its even possible but the twist itself made me forgive that. The movie runs along expected lines after that and concludes in an expected manner though the director has another small twist up his sleeve at that time too.

Romance and comedy dominate the first half and both are successful enough to keep our minds off the fact that the story has not moved forward even after an hour into the movie. Prabhu Deva's wooing of Gayatri has enough obstacles to keep the romance moving and thankfully, traditional characters like non-understanding parents or another college student with an eye on Gayatri don't make up the obstacles here. The romance is lightweight most of the time with some sentiments thrown in(like Prabhu Deva's letters to his mother).

Vivek and Vadivelu inhabit a running comedy track about their attempts to impress a woman and this takes up the non-romantic portions of the first half. The track does have it moments as the two put down each other and invent a flurry of lies to gain her attention. The comparison between Vadivelu's descriptions of his family members and their professions and their actual actual lifestyles are clever. Vivek's best sequence comes at the end. As in Paalayathu Amman, his twist on the dialogs from an old tamil film is hilarious and the ruse he uses to explain the cure for his 'condition' is very clever. There are some funny moments apart from the comedy track too, with the visits of Prabhu Deva and Vadivelu to the doctor and their escape from Gayatri's dog being the top picks.

Prabhu Deva is his usual self but in a welcome departure from his recent movies, does a lot of dancing. Some of his steps in the Holiday Jolliday... and Color Color... songs remind us of his Kaadhalan days. Tall Gayatri Jayaram makes an impressive debut though her dance movements lack grace. Kausalya is adequate. Singer P.Susheela makes an appearance to cheer Kausalya up. Ranjit and Sriman have nothing much to do. Yuvan Shankar Raja moves far away from Nandhaa for his soundtrack. Both the aforementioned songs are catchy and duets like Manjakkaattu Maina... and Sadugudu Aadaathey... are also fast-paced and easy on our ears.