When a new director makes his debut film, we expect something new and fresh in his work. Uday Ananthan's straight forward title Pranayakalam already sounds quite impressive and you look forward to the film.

The film opens and you are transported two decades. So far so good. Then comes the bummer, this film, you realise, is just another ordinary love story. Nothing more, nothing less.

It goes like this: boy sees girl in a gift shop and feels 'something'. Later, he confesses to a friend that this feeling is different from all the other attractions of the past.

But when he approaches the girl, he gets a stern rebuttal. He persists, but the girl leaves the decision over her future to her parents. Moreover, they are from different religions (he is a Hindu and she a Christian). He keeps his word and does not cross her path. But now the girl has a change of heart and starts missing him. There begins the love story.

But a word about the implausible elements here. For instance, the girl, despite her reluctance to accept the boy's advances, allows him to come to her bedroom every night and spend time with her! Scared of her strict police officer father played by Murali, she nevertheless has no qualms about letting a boy enter her bedroom!

Newcomers Ajmal Ameer and Vimala, whom we last saw in Time do a good job but are let down by the script. Kids of the new millennium, their story however, belongs to the 1980s. So, their lack of conviction is quite palpable at crucial junctures.

Veterans like Murali, Balachandra Menon and Seema give ample support to the youngsters with their philosophical murmurings and pedantic outpourings.

This film somehow leaves us with a wish for Fazil to come back and make a refreshing love story with newcomers. No one can beat him in that, even several decades since he made his first love story.

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