Tamil cinema has had more than its share of rich girl-poor boy love stories and of late, the sub-genre of the rich girl-rowdy boy love story has had a number of entries too. But Dishyum proved that a movie in the genre can still be made interestingly and Chithiram Pesudhadi confirms the fact. With the mismatched but familiar pair of a rowdy hero and a girl from a different social strata, the debutant director crafts a film that is engaging, entertaining and suspenseful.

Thiru(Narain) is short-tempered, rude and has no hesitation when it comes to beating up someone. These characteristics bring him to the notice of Annaachi('Kaadhal' Dhandapani), who promptly hires him and entrusts all important jobs to him. Charumathi(Bhavana), a woman for whom social service is a part of life, bristles at the very sight of Thiru and two have some unpleasant run-ins. But Thiru falls for Charu and when she realizes that he is ready to change himself for her, she reciprocates his feelings too. But their romance soon runs into some roadblocks.

An important part of any movie in this genre is the way the romance between the hero and the heroine is fashioned. When it is difficult to believe, it lessens our involvement in the rest of the movie while a believable romance makes us care for the characters and what they go through. Chithiram Pesudhadi gets it right. It follows the "modhal before kaadhal" tactic, which is far better than the "love at first sight" tactic. The run-ins between Narain and Bhavana happen naturally and help defining their characters. Narain falling for her then is a bit abrupt but its smooth sailing after that and her reciprocation, which is usually the toughest part of such stories, is developed naturally.

The supporting characters play an important role in making the romance engaging. The relationship between Bhavana and her father is portrayed well. He is a dad who has given her a lot of freedom but she is a daughter who knows her boundaries and doesn't step beyond them. There is honesty in their relationship and so they have nice conversations rather than cliched arguments. When the hero is a rowdy, the other rowdies tagging along with him are usually there to walk in slo-mo behind him and get hit or killed. But even these rowdies get fleshed-out characters here. They care about the lovers and their responses to the romance lead to some good smiles. Even a character that I thought was present for the sake of an item number gets a back story.

We've seen enough love stories to understand that its never smooth sailing for lovers. Even if parental opposition, religion or caste don't come between them, the two will have some kind of a misunderstanding. So it comes as no surprise that the lovers in Chithiram Pesudhadi too face a big issue. But the film doesn't keep harping on just this and make us wait for them to get back together. It introduces a nice and unexpected plot point that complicates the issue.

The suspense about the key issue is maintained surprisingly well. It is always at the back of our minds and keeps us involved in the film. More importantly, the reveal at the end is not disappointing. The actual happening is a little difficult to digest but the consequences are not. It turns out to be something that validates everything that happened before rather than some silly misunderstanding that could have been resolved simply by talking. The actions of everyone until then make perfect sense and so it is a truly satisfying conclusion.

Narain looks the part of the rowdy though his abrupt shouting seems a little artificial at times. Bhavana looks a lot like Trisha (she's is a little fatter though). She handles the heavier scenes very well and her crying, a sore point of many new actresses, appears very natural. There are a number of short songs scattered throughout the film. Songs are quite catchy on the first listen and I will definitely be looking for them on the web. Even the item number(with Malavika), though an unnecessary insertion, turns out to be a different kind of gaanaa song and is quite catchy.