Siva Manasula Sakthi

Starring: Jeeva, Anuya, Uravasi, Santhanam
Direction: Rajesh M .
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production: B Srinivasan.

Vikatan Talkies has forayed into films with what looks upfront like a potential winner because of its timeless theme coupled with the perfect timing of its release. Siva Manasula Sakthi, supposed to be a sweet and simple love story that is the perfect Valentine’s date. Many films in the years gone by have made hay in the Valentine’s sunshine. But will SMS go the same way remains to be seen.

SMS tells the story of Siva and Sakthi, a couple who fall in
Siva Manasula Sakthi
love with each other after a prolonged series of scuffles. Prima facie, there is nothing new in the plot. The story of a couple who initially hates and despises each other and finally falls in love has been told many times, it is the presentation that has to save the day. The movie begins on a train where the couple meets each other for the first time; they lie to each other about their occupations, it is hard to figure out why? But, in the course of time the lies are exposed and both Siva and Sakthi want to settle scores with each other. In the scenes that follow, they go for each others’ necks, giving each other all kinds of troubles, trying to humiliate the other. This goes on for quite a long time and after a point gets tiresome. The portion where the movie falters big time is the point where Siva and Sakthi fall in love. It is hard to see how tender emotions replaced the furious and angry ones that were present not very long ago; the transformation is not smooth. Then, the regular love story begins but their ego keeps surfacing time and again, so does our frustration at the repetitiveness of the whole affair. Finally, they agree to get married, but Siva places one last condition to Sakthi. You might think that it would be a test of love and commitment, but no, it is as ridiculous a condition as it can get. What is more ridiculous is that Sakthi agrees to it. However it turns out that Siva was playing his trump card to get the better of Sakthi. How all their egos are brushed aside and they finally settle down to happy domesticity is the culmination of the story.

If it is a love story there are a few elements that must be spot on for the film to work. The love story must captivate and endear, here it hardly looks genuine. The lead pair must share a chemistry that makes everyone wish for something similar in their lives; here that vital chemistry is totally absent. In short, what should have been a love story becomes tasteless in a 2 hour something celluloid depiction of all things that a love story should not be made of. Towards the final parts of the movie you desperately want it to end, even after the movie is over the director decides to serve us a few more frames, this time showing us the couple’s post marital squabbles.

When the story and presentation are a big let down, there is not much that you can expect from the artistes to do to save the movie. Jeeva walks through a role that has too little for him to do, it is a waste of his precious talent. The young actor would be better off selecting better scripts; he is in need of a hit. Debutante Anuya hardly does anything to impress. Urvashi does not have anything at all; one would expect more footage for an actress of her caliber. Santhanam too is another case of under utilization, but there are a couple of scenes where the humor is enjoyable, one of the very few saving graces of the movie. Then, at many points in the movie the director has pulled spoofs on some of our favorite scenes in Tamil cinema. Though not excellent, they have come out fairly well. The surprise packet of the movie is Arya in a guest appearance. Though just a mini cameo, he adds color to the movie.

Taking about saving graces, Yuvan Shankar Raja is the silver lining of SMS. His re-recording is good, two songs, ‘Oru Kal oru kannadi’ and ‘Eppadiyo mattikutten’ are delightful to hear. But his efforts are wasted by some uninspired film making. There is not much else to mention on the technical front. Dialogues at many places have double edges which justifies the U/A tag for a love story. Also, the movie seems to have given a lot of importance to product placements that at times you feel like watching an ad on screen.

Overall, SMS was supposed to be a sweet and endearing love story but it is far from what is intended to be, the only thing attractive about the movie is the contraction of its title ‘SMS’ which is the love mantra for the current generation. At the box office, despite being released during the best time of the year for romance, it will probably join the list of movies which tried desperately to be soooo sweet but ended up flat on its face.