"Enakku 20 Unakku 18"
"Enakku 20 Unakku 18" ... logical at times and otherwise too.
THE NATURAL way in which romance blossoms on a long train journey, in Sri Surya Movies' "Enakku 20 Unakku 18," is new to Tamil cinema. The lead pair's initial wariness that soon allows room for mutual attraction is enjoyable. And with that dignified opening young writer-director A. M. Jothikrishna raises your hopes.
You've watched the besotted hero chase the heroine and vice versa, till irritation, insult and acrimony from one side finally lead to love — a formula that our films rarely do without. In "Enakku... " Sridhar (Tarun) and Preethi (Trisha) are interested in each other after the chance meeting on the train and later run around in circles looking for one another. The passion with which each searches for the other kindles your interest, but the fire is completely missing once they come face to face.
A high point of "Enakku ... " is when Sridhar and Preethi go to the cricket stadium in the hope of finding the other only to be caught in a bomb explosion. The entire place goes up in flames and with that it is intermission time. But sadly the suspense fades into a whimper in a few minutes.
Trisha looks glamorous and appealing and also gets her expressions right, if you can forget her insipid reaction in the scene she sees Sridhar whom she has been yearning to meet, after months of waiting. The role of a pining lover suits Tarun. Shreya as Tarun's friend who remains a friend till the end is a chic import from the Telugu screen. For a change Kalairani, who is Sridhar's mother, does not have to wail much in "Enakku ... " Devadarshini's is a neat portrayal. Archana Puran Singh as the fashion conscious mother of Preethi is exasperating. Her unintelligible lingo that is supposed to be in the Tamil tongue is confounding — much worse than the anglicised accent of our television anchors. A dubbed voice would have mitigated the suffering of the audience. Vivek's comedy is on predictable lines — sometimes funny, at other times crude.
R. Ganesh's camera works wonders capturing the gondolas of Venice and the colosseum in all their glory. Together with A. R. Rahman's melodious number and the graceful movements of Tarun and Trisha the sequence is a visual treat that reminds you of a similar one on a more elaborate scale in "Jeans." Special effects have been used with taste in "Enakku ... " and artwork (Thottatharani) is another appealing aspect.
Jothikrishna's portrayal of college girls is not in very good taste. And what is perplexing is that a Mumbai bred city girl seen in trendy outfits most of the time and presumably with a modern outlook agrees to marriage just after a year in college! None in the fashionable household finds it odd to bundle off a teenager into matrimony in such hurry.
Certain scenes have appreciable depth while some are downright superficial and predictable, so much so that categorising this Jothikrishna creation is tough. Absorbing in parts, spontaneous in spurts, natural at times and clichéd now and then "Enakku 20 Unakku 18" is more a medley of sorts.
MALATHI RANGARAJAN
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