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Rediff.com  » Movies » Rameswaram a half baked romantic tale

Rameswaram a half baked romantic tale

By Pavithra Srinivasan
Last updated on: December 01, 2007 00:52 IST
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The distance between Rameswaram and Yazhpanam is 36 miles, says the map that unfurls upon the screen. The distance between the movie and any vestige of realism is about 1000 times that much.

Produced by ITA Films' S N Raja and directed by S Selvam, Rameswaram, Jeeva's latest offering to hit the silver screens starts off with a bang -- but ends up tearing a giant, gaping hole in the silver screen.

As the first few shots of wide, sandy stretches of Rameswaram fill the big screen, with hordes of Sri Lankan refugees trickling onto Indian shores from the war-torn island, you sit up, eagerly awaiting a brilliant story that will gradually unfold amidst a backdrop of hard-hitting realism. What you get, however, is a half-baked romantic tale so full of clichés that Cringe Effect sets in within ten minutes.

A dark, gloomy Vedharanyam, with waves battering the land. A swimmer thrashes in the sea and is washed up on shore. The police are on his trail, a bullet pierces him as he runs – and he's caught, branded a terrorist, while the photo of a beautiful girl in his shirt-pocket mentions the rendezvous for a supposed terrible deed; and then its flashback time.

Sivanandha Raja alias Jeevan (Jeeva) is a broody, sullen young man who sets foot into Rameswaram as a refugee, his heart filled with unhappiness and simmering with the wrongs done to his people. Held in great affection by Kanagasabhai Vathiyaar (Manivannan, insignificant in a tiny role), he tries desperately to fit in life here, on a new soil, but his heart's pain will not let him be.

Even the words Ilankai Agathigal Mugam (Ilangai Refugee Camp) anger him; he furiously smears them with paint and writes Pulam peyerntha Thamizhargal (Displaced Tamils) in their place. Though the refugees have been given food and shelter by the local bigwig (Lal), life is difficult, with the victims of war trying to pick up the threads of their life; the scenes of mangled men, women and children is heart-wrenching.

But there ends reality. Vasanthi (Bhavna) soon walks into the camp, wearing the most ravishing pavadai-dhavanis and the occasional salwar -- and soon sets her sights on Jeevan when she sees him playing a harmonica. There seems to be no reason for why she does so -- possibly the fact that he's the only half-way personable young man in the camp may have influenced her reasoning.

Understandably, Jeevan tries to brush her way citing the irreconcilable differences between them. The more he turns away, the more she pursues him. Jeevan cannot help but be influenced by her regard -- and he capitulates, after a fashion. Naturally, Vasanthi's father and her cousin Saravanan are against her marrying a penniless refugee, and put up a stiff resistance. As the tension escalates onscreen, ribald remarks fly in the theatre and you are wondering why the final fate of these star-struck lovers should be of any importance.

It's quite impossible for Jeeva to perform in any but an excellent fashion, and here, you must admit, he does try. B S Sridharan's sonorous and patriotic dialogues and the trite screenplay don't offer him much scope, though. True, he's a refugee and his heart is understandably sore from his experiences -- but barring a fleeting shot of explosions, there's nothing else mentioned, not even the shadow of war.

Everything is explained through staccato words or hinted at; there's no feel of the horrors they must have witnessed.

And what's with the pseudo-Lankan accent? No one in the film can carry it off well. The occasional Incha, Vaaran and Kathaikkarom have no way of forming a complete Sri Lankan Tamil vocabulary. Manivannan is the only one who tries; but he, obviously, is a little unsure of his delivery and pussyfoots most of the time.

Bhavna is required to be a pretty young girl in love, and she does it remarkably well. Had there been a reason of some sort for her falling in love, it would have improved her performance, but there isn't.

She's reduced to smile and simper to get him to notice her. And the scenes between her cousin and Jeevan, instead of being hard-hitting end up reducing the audience to laughter. Why, for example, does Saravanan try to arrest Jeevan and force him to go back home when the latter is ready to leave on his own accord?

N Niru's music has echoes of Yuvan Shankar raja and Harris Jeyaraj. Nethirundhom Engal is sweet and brings home the sorrow of a refugees' life; the rest don't stay on at all.

Have your fill of beautiful Rameswaram, should you watch it. There's very little else to recommend it.

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Pavithra Srinivasan