Once More is a romantic drama starring Arjun Das, Aditi Shankar and debutant Sona Olickal in the lead roles. The film is directed by Vignesh Srikanth and the music is scored by Hesham Abdul Wahab. The project is produced by Million Dollar Studios.

Premise: Arjun Das is in depression for eight long years, as he is still unable to get over his past relationship. Aditi Shankar steps in and falls in love with her, the protagonist’s mind slowly gets better and they proceed to get engaged, that is when his ex-girlfriend enters his life once again and the drama unfolds from there.

Writing/ Direction:  The intent is poetic and to make it as realistic as possible, but many aspects of the filmmaking do not justify the approach. Plenty of basic continuity issues like the person navigating says to take a left and the person driving does not follow it, but it is just left as it is, there are many minor errors as such. Montages are one of the key factors in a romantic flick, they are so basic and blunt here, we don’t tend to feel the love at all. Literally Aditi Shankar’s likeable attitude holds the first half to an extent. Arjun Das is truthful to his character graph, but there are no brisk scenes to make it an engaging watch. The screenplay is unhurried, the pacing predominantly feels sluggish because the story does not move forward. We get introduced to a couple of characters in the very first scene, there ain’t not much change in the script till the interval until a third person steps in. The past activities are open, only the reasoning awaits and we tend to anticipate in the later half. But the flashback is haphazard, again the progression is on a pause. At least one person was jovial in the first half conversations, the backstory lacks that too, as both are conversing in the same subtle Mani Ratnam tonality which offers boredom. Up until the two-hour mark, there is no answer as to why Aditi Shankar loves Arjun Das and Sona Olickal broke up with Arjun Das. Both the closures are made in the per-climax, at least the former reasoning sounded valid, but the latter is vital for the whole drama and the justification given is so silly. It has the potential to be a solid short film, but the package needed a lot more substance to be a mainstream film. Stretched out way-too-much, especially towards the end. The climax is good, the way Arjun Das finally gets a clarity on how to deal with his relationships. Some pieces of writing regarding clueless breakups, the process of going through depression are sensibly done. There is a lot of scope for trimming, the first half had two characters who try to heal the protagonist, the director could have stuck to either the therapist or the church father and not both. Same way, the last 30 minutes is overly dragged, Sona Olickal appear in instalments, it could have easily been done in a single stroke.

Performances: Arjun Das has brought out the grief his character is going through organically by  being tight and stubborn. But the issue is in the flashback when he is happy, it does not get translated on-screen, he doesn’t really loosen up his body language, the variation that his character arc demands is completely missing. Aditi Shankar is naturally jovial and it reflects in her expressions, she does put some smile on our faces. Not a bad debut for Sona Olickal in terms of performances, but there is no depth in her role, despite being the reason for the conflicts in both the past and present timelines. No importance for any of the supporting artists, they are just physically present in the frames.

Technicalities:  Such a soulful album from Hesham Abdul Wahab, his soundtrack is the selling factor, especially ‘Idhayam’ and ‘Vaa Kannamma’ songs are standouts. He has put his utmost efforts to hearten the proceedings, he succeeds in spots too, but the emptiness in the flow just shows. Underwhelming camera work, the colours tone is dull, certain shot compositions are flat that the music feels separated. The pacing is intentionally unhurried, but at least the editor would have suggested to cut down on the runtime to around two hours, most part of the story staggers at the same spot.

Verdict: A slow-burn romantic drama that has a worthy core plot, the movie falls short being developed into a full-fledged flick and feels it would have been apt for a short film. Gets better towards the tail end, but it's too late by that time. Single guys might relate.

ONCE MORE - A romantic drama with a simple plot that runs at an unhurried pace!

Rating - 2.75/ 5.