With the success of films like Dhill, Dhool and Gilli(not coincidentally, all movies were made by the same director Dharani), the hero, a common man, going up against a man in power has become the most popular theme in Tamil films. 'Junior Sivaji' Dushyanth's second film also tackles the same story but throws friendship into the mix. It is a promising debut by the director but a few noticeable flaws, mainly in the editing and the song sequences, prevent the movie from being completely entertaining.

Karthik(Dushyanth), who lives a life of fun, is forced by his father(Banuchander) to enroll in a medical college in Coimbatore. His attitude undergoes a sea change when four other students, who he had insulted before, save his life and nurture him back to good health. He becomes their close friend and turns over a good leaf. He falls in love with Rakshita(Subha Punja) and during dinner with his friends and her one night, the five friends get into an altercation with another youth. This brings the young man's father Narayanan(Pasupathy), a politician, after them.

For any viewer who has seen some of the recent Tamil movies set in a college, the dread of seeing Dushyanth join a medical college and start teasing other students is unavoidable. But the feeling is thankfully cleared soon enough with the entry of the four friends(and the fact that 'Venniradai' Moorthy does not figure in the cast as either a professor or the headmaster at the college!). Apart from taking the story in a different direction, the presence of these four also keeps away the usual friends(Dhamu and Vaiyapuri come to mind here!) surrounding the hero, helping avoiding a silly comedy track. Inspite of the cliched problems the four face, they are sincere enough to make Dushyanth's gratitude for them and his close friendship with them seem believable.

With all the focus on friendship, romance seems to have been given short shrift. The meetings between Dushyanth and Subha are neither interesting nor cute and there is no strong foundation for their romance. The good thing is that is turns out to be more realistic than usual film romances with her father getting to know Dushyanth soon enough. Her subdued reaction when her father asks him to leave the house with his friends is also different from the norm.

This is a movie that is in dire need of some editing. Many of the scenes(Pasupathy's first scene where he listens to the tape at home and the chase where Dushyanth and his friends are surrounded by other vehicles are a couple of examples) are long drawn-out and test our patience. Some measured snipping would have given the impression of the entire movie being well-paced. But on the positive side, even familiar scenes like Dushyanth's scenes with Pasupathy are handled with skill. Things go get a little repetitive in the second half with one-on-ones between Dushyanth and Pasupathy and the friends being chased by Pasupathy's goons. But the fact that we don't know exactly what is going to happen keeps the tension from flagging.

Dushyanth shows some improvement from his debut Success but not enough to mark him as a hero of promise. Subha's voice and diction are major irritants but she carries herself well enough. Pasupathy adds a new dimension to his characters with his need for constant praise and manages to be menacing in a few scenes. The four boys are adequate though the attempts at comedy by one of them falls flat more often than not. A.R.Rehman's sister A.R.Rehina scores the music but her illustrious brother's skills don't seem to have rubbed off on her. None of the songs make a mark and their picturization is disappointingly unoriginal also.