Vikraman, the resident 'feel-good' director of Tamil cinema, proclaimed loudly that he was delivering a film different from his usual style and more in line with the tastes of today's youth in Chennai Kaadhal. The difference is obvious in the story, which is a youthful love story rather than Vikraman's usual family stories. But 'different' unfortunately hasn't equated to 'original', since Vikraman has picked an age-old love story to mark his new style.

Gautham(Bharath), to the chagrin of his dad, is unemployed but isn't bothered by it and simply hangs out with his friends. He falls for Narmada(Genelia), who lives in a hostel, and after some obstacles are cleared, Narmada reciprocates his feelings. Gautham soon learns that Narmada's dad(Radharavi) is a powerful, ruthless dada who isn't about to let his daughter marry someone of her choice.

Considering its a love story, the story arc is quite predictable and Vikraman follows it rather faithfully. Bharath is introduced as a playful, jobless youth(his acts following the very familiar line that his dad utters to him, are quite funny though the sequence goes on for a bit too long) and the mistaken identity bit adds something different to the romance. But everything feels rather old-fashioned(for instance, Bharath's comeback to Genelia when she talks about the equality of men and women is something Kamal said in Vikram, I think) and that is something Vikraman hasn't been able to avoid inspite of the new genre.

The story Vikraman has picked may be different for him but is definitely not different for us! The story of young lovers whose romance is threatened by the girl's dad may be a departure for the director. But we have seen enough movies(the latest being Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam) where the girl's dad or brother opposes the romance and tries his best to break it up. So a sense of deja vu is unavoidable when it is revealed that Genelia's dad is a rowdy and the feeling never goes away since there are not too many ways in which the story can be narrated.

But inspite of the familiar story, individual segments do work and keep us interested. Some tension is generated(though it isn't exploited fully) by the turn of events once Bharath and Genelia arrive in Mumbai and some of Bharath's ideas are clever(I especially liked the final one when his leg is stuck in the railway tracks). But Vikraman takes the easy way out by making one of Bharath's friends a mimicry artist. It is a little frustrating when his mimicry is used every other scene to get the plan to work.

Bharath gets to indulge in a bit of heroism here - cracking jokes, performing improbable stunts and walking in slo-mo with a hand gesture that is repeated frequently. He is convincing in the role and is likeable. Genelia looks a little stiff and doesn't share much chemistry with Bharath. One of the changes Vikraman has made to indicate his new style is to go with music director Joshua Sridhar rather than his favorite, S.A.Rajkumar. But Joshua disappoints and only Silu Silukkum... and Angel Angel... pass muster.