With first Aanandham and then Run, director Lingusamy proved that he could fashion a successful entertainer out of both a family film and a masala flick. For his third venture, his first with Ajith, he picks student politics as the theme. While he is able to keep his reputation intact while portraying politics entering the life of a student, he is unable to keep the movie entertaining once the student enters politics.

Vasu(Ajith), a senior in college, is the son of a teastall owner(Vijayakumar). He and Bhuvana(Trisha), a schoolgirl, fall in love. Under the urgings of his friends, Vasu competes in the election for the post of college chairman. But politics enters the college campus since his opponent is the son of the local MLA Varadharajan(Saranraj). The college election doesn't go exactly the way Vasu had imagined but When the public election is announced, he files his nomination against Varadharajan, who is determined to continue his five-time winning streak.

Ji does most things right in the first half. One such thing it does right is the romance. The encounters between Ajith and Trisha, like his chase behind(and in front of her!) on the cycle, are cute and make both their characters quite endearing. And it is nice the way Lingusamy subtly uses the function happening during their first meeting to convincingly clear a misunderstanding much later in the movie. The affectionate relation between Ajith and Vijayakumar is also portrayed well without going overboard. Vijayakumar's character is shaped very well with both his initial stance against politics and his explanation of his support when he learns about Ajith's brush with politics making sense.

The way politics finds its way into the college campus is also well portrayed through the college elections. Things move at a fast pace and not always in the way we expect them to. The free-for-all between Saranraj's son and his gang and the college students is picturised very well. Shades of Ram Gopal Verma's Shiva (dubbed as Udhayam in Tamil), which was a trendsetter in portraying student politics daringly, are seen here. Lingusamy even pays homage by fashioning Ajith's first move against the rowdies similar to Nagarjuna's famous yanking of the cycle chain.

Once Ajith decides to contest the public elections, Ji turns into a rerun of Surya's episode in Aaydha Ezhuthu. We get a sense of deja vu as we see Ajith's pep speech to his friends, his promises to the public or his method of campaigning. His meeting with Saranraj, his challenges to him and Saranraj's apprehension at his popularity all also parallel the encounters between Surya and Bharathiraja in Manirathnam's film. Apart from making the proceedings less interesting, this also makes them more predictable. Another disappointing corollary is that the romance, the best thing in the first half, is relegated to the sidelines. In fact, the episode where Ajith unwittingly starts off a religious tradition by trying to catch Trisha's attention, is hilarious and makes one wish romance had occupied a more important place.

Unlike Aaydha Ezhuthu, Ji provides closure to Ajith's stint in politics. But it does so in such a longwinded way that we wish that the movie had ended much earlier even if in an open-ended way! The movie drags on after Ajith's flashback with one anticlimax(like the episode in the train) after another proving very frustrating. And after all this, the movie ends without telling us the direction of his life.

Ajith plays a likeable character after a long time. He is charming in the romantic portions and generates quite a few laughs with his facial expressions. But he definitely needs to take care of his body, which appears quite flabby. He is also intense at the right places though his low-key voice lessens the effectiveness of a few key scenes. Trisha is along for the ride and looks cute. Though she still doesn't have a lot to do, it is still a big step up from Thiruppaachi. Saranraj adds nothing special to the role of the wily politician. Venkat Prabhu and Krishna, the familiar faces among the friends, are adequate. Vidyasagar disappoints with a very average soundtrack. Vamba Vilaikku... and Thiruttu Rascal... both contain parts that sound like parts of numbers from Kaadhal while Kiliye Kiliye... begins like an old Ilaiyaraja number. Ding Dong... is a pleasing number that is also picturized in a casual way.