At heart, Kushi is just a simple love story. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl fight. And so on. Director Surya tries to introduce something new by bringing fate into the equation. So we see two babies being born in two far apart places while a voice booms in the background about how they are going to fall in love in the future. The babies have two meetings, once as babies and once as kids. But once they meet as adults studying in the same college, the movie reveals itself for what it really is. A a familiar love story with all the duets, mushy dialogs and tiffs that are a part of any such story.

Kushi is the second movie of S.J.Suryah, who brought us Vaali, last year's blockbuster. But it looks like he has been affected with the second movie jinx too. He has followed in the footsteps of Ravichandran who followed up the hit Kannedhire Thondrinaal with the recent dud Sandhitha Velai. While the initial proclamation of fate playing its part in the love lives of two babies raises some interest(apart from effectively killing any suspense about the path the movie is going to take!) , we soon realise it is nothing more than a ploy to make a love story seem different. The only novelty the movie has to offer is in the reason for the young lovers' separation. Its not the usual religion or caste or parents' opposition but their own egos.

Shiva(Vijay) and Jennifer(Jyothika) are the star-crossed lovers. Shiva was born in Calcutta while Jennifer was born in the village of Paimpozhil. After some encounters when they are too young to be aware of each other, they finally meet in college in Madras. Though having feelings for each other, their own egos prevent them from expressing these feelings and finally even cause them to fight and split. But the need to unite another couple, whose union is being opposed by the girl's father, forces them to work with each other.

In movies like Karpoora Mullai and the recent Kaakkai Chiraginile, I criticized the director's decision to relate the entire story in a flashback since it killed, right at the beginning of the movie, any suspense as to how the movie is going to end. By disclosing that the two babies are going to grow up and fall in love, Suryah does the same here. So, even though the initial portions, where Vijay and Jyothika follow completely different paths with no apparent way of running into each other, are designed to make us wonder when and where the two will meet, there is no suspense since we know that they are going to meet and fall in love.

The movie is not without its nice moments. The first face-to-face meeting between Vijay and Jyothika at the temple is very nice. The subtle expression of the development of romantic feelings in their hearts has also been brought out nicely by their actions. Vijay's ploy when he walks Jyothika home after his car breaks down is especially sweet. Their fight is also something new since it is based on them not revealing their true feelings to each other. There is also a nice scene where everyone else becomes motionless as Vijay and Jyothika cross each other for the first time.

The need to unite two lovers, the guy being Vijay's friend and the girl being Jyothika's friend, is a credible ploy to keep Vijay and Jyothika together. There is also the 'other woman', Mumtaj. Her scenes, especially the Kattipudidaa... song and their meeting in her house are extremely vulgar. The climax, which has Vijay and Jyothika travelling to different train stations, is long drawn out. The director could take some pointers from Kaadhal Koattai(which too had its final scene in a train station) on how to make a climax memorable even when the outcome is known.

Vijay isn't strained too much, which is a good thing since he struggles to show any kind of emotions on his face. His bungee jump is admirable. Jyothika, on the other hand, overacts in most of the scenes. Her exaggerated facial gestures(like when she says sorry for mistaking Vijay) are irritating. Though she looks cute, she is rather stout and her choice of dresses does nothing to hide the fact. Vijayakumar is excellent as the outwardly stern but ultimately soft-hearted father. The scene where he asks Jyothika to find the girl Vijay complained about is the funniest scene in the movie. Vivek is forgettable. Shilpa Shetty shows up for a single song sequence. The director himself appears in one scene as a man who changes the course of Vijay's life. Deva is upto his usual ways, finding inspiration for his songs everywhere from old MGR songs to Michael Jackson songs. Luckily, the songs sound pretty good. Photography is grand and eye-catching and the locales, especially the location of Vijayakumar's house, are gorgeous.

With the movie reportedly being a flop, it has not given much kushi to Vijay, Suryah or the producer. Not surprising since it doesn't give much kushi to the audience either!