HI Review - A familiar yet definitely watchable family-friendly love flick!

Ashwin Ram

Premise:  Kavin is so desperate for a woman with whom he can shower his love on, Nayanthara is someone who does not believe in the concept of love. They both elope from their native for their own reasons and live under the same roof in Chennai. What happens when their family finds out their whereabouts form the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction: The innocent nature of Kavin’s character is established well right from the first scene, his apt lookset also enhances his role. Nayanthara in a homely backdrop, that too in a feel-good family subject makes it fresh. Vishnu Edavan’s dialogues are neat, proves the fact that he is basically a lyric writer. Starts slowly from the hero’s point-of-view, picks up only when the leads meet each other. Their combination scenes are light-hearted, something that we would consume with a constant smile on our faces. Them becoming good friends is the crux of the first half, yet told in an engaging way with neat scenes. The simplicity in the flow is its biggest advantage, Vishnu Edavan’s direction is also promising, especially the whole ‘Rasgulla’ song sequence is composed, plus montages are also his strengths. One issue is that, Nayanthara in certain angles and portions seem to be like Kavin’s elder sister, there could have at least been a voiceover for the age-gap, just to convince the audience. Shouldn’t have been a matter of concern for Nayanthara the star as well, she is someone who acted a couple of years elder to STR back in 2006 in Vallavan. There is an eccentric fun element in the interval that stages the fate of the whole second half, a scene taking place in a brothel in the first half leads to the big escalation, but that particular point was not organically brought into the subject. The second half again takes time to settle, and many situations are overly cinematic. However the humour is present throughout and makes it a decent mainstream watch. The emotional blocks towards the end are generic and have some old-school elements, hence didn’t really create a solid impact. Thankfully they don’t become too cringey, sticking to the limits and those portions are for the family audiences to own.

Performances: Subtle performance from Kavin with some naughtiness in the later half, his presence is so good that we easily tend to relate to his character. Nayanthara looks naturally beautiful, carries herself with easing grace and witnessing her as a next-door-girl after ages brought real joy. They both have given their best efforts in dubbing and have made the Coimbatore slang sound authentic. The supporting artists have generated enough fun into the flow, Sathyan helps to an extent with his nagging attitude. While Adithya Kathir strikes big time with his dialogue humour, he earns so much applause and makes the films more commercial. Meaty roles for Prabhu, Radhika and the late Bhagyaraj, they all have done their part.

Technicalities: Jen Martin once again delivers likeable music, his consistency with Kavin contributes as well. Pleasant songs with ample variety. The background score is in sync with the situations, tagging along fluently, just that some portions could have left silently rather than producing non-stop tunes. Cinematography is colourful, what is expected from a genre as such is rightly served. The edit pattern is accessible with zero complications, the film doesn’t bore much, but some places of the second half felt a bit stretched, which could have been taken care of at the edit table.

Verdict:  A simple film that meets the expectations of engaging the viewers, doesn’t carry any extraordinary writing. Has a cute and subtle first half, followed by a cinematic latter with a passable emotional finale. Yet the humour keeps the momentum alive.

HI - A familiar yet definitely watchable family-friendly love flick!

Rating - 2.75/ 5.