The trend in Tamil movies these days seems to be shifting towards low-budget movies with new faces rather than big-budget extravaganzas with established stars. We are seeing a lot more of such movies lately. Unfortunately, most of these movies have displayed a lack of quality with the freshness seen in the actors not being seen in the story or the script (Five Star was a notable exception). University is another movie that falls into this category. It features a new director and new stars but the story and sequences are simply rehashes of other movies.

Gandhi(Jeevan) is a loner; an introvert with an inferiority complex arising out of ill-treatment at the hands of his stepmother in his younger days. His routine is to call numbers at random out of the phonebook and attempt to make idle conversation with them. At the other end of one such phone call is Shanmathi(Gajala), who is on the brink of suicide as a result of her father stifling her aspirations to be a pop singer. Gandhi manages to talk her out of her decision and her gratitude gradually turns into friendship and then into love, all over the phone. Shanmathi now yearns to meet him but little does she know that the college guy who makes a bad impression on her with each accidental meeting and who she utterly despises is none other than Gandhi.

University is little more than a mix of two other successful movies, Kaadhal Koattai and Thullaadha Manamum Thullum. While the concept of falling in love without seeing each other is from the former, the latter had the theme of the heroine falling in love without seeing the hero(there it was based on his singing) while her actual meetings with him showed him in a bad light. If we also look at Hollywood, University is a remake of You've Got Mail with email being replaced by the phone. But both the sections are lacking in depth in here. There is no believable reason for Gajala's gratitude for her unseen savior turning into love. At the same time, her reactions seem too extreme considering the minor incidents(like he spilling water on her) that mark her meetings with Jeevan.

The movie feels stretched throughout the first half as Jeevan's attempts to meet Gajala are thwarted by accidents. Gajala's later plans to uncover her lover are interesting and more time could have been devoted to these sections. Unfortunately, while the plans themselves are OK, the way they are disposed off(like in the case of the watch with the alarm) are silly and unimaginative. The actions of Vivek's friend, who is asked to act as Gajala's lover in order to ferret out the real lover, are a nice twist. The climax too is low-key and not stretched out.

The director, unsure if these two storylines will engage the viewer, turns to Vivek to save the movie. This is one of the few times I can remember where the comedian has more screen time than either the hero or the heroine. His participation in the proceedings actually increases as the movie proceeds and overwhelms the main stories at several points. Unfortunately, the comedy does not count among his finest. Instead of witty dialogs and comic sequences, we get only gimmicks like take-offs on Rajnikanth and his movies. While these are occasionally funny, they seem more like mimickry programs(which we have seen him do before) than comedy sequences. There are only a couple of his usual, incisive, socially conscious dialogs(like the 'poster' culture) but they are the most successful in making us laugh.

While long-haired Jeevan is definitely unconventional in looks, it is the lack of acting abilility that is more disconcerting. There are several scenes where he appears lost and expressionless. Gajala(recently seen in Ezhumalai), who looks like a mix of several other actresses, is cute and performs adequately. There are very few other recognizable faces in the cast. Raghuvaran makes a late entry as pricinpal and delivers a key dialog to Jeevan in his own style. The songs are surprisingly catchy and youthful though their picturisations are not imaginative.