Chennai: A dark romantic film directed by Ranjit Jeyakodi, the movie stars Harish Kalyan, Shilpa Manjunath, Ponvannan and Balasaravanan in lead roles.
As the title of the film suggests, Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum is a story between king of spades and queen of hearts; a toxic romantic story about two young people who have different perspectives in a relationship.
Gowtham (Harish Kalyan) has a dark history which explains the reason why he is always angry and short tempered; his mother leaves his father (Ponvannan) and him when he is just a young child and this leaves a scar in his heart forever.
Despite having a father and a group of friends by his side, Gowtham still finds something missing in his life. But when Tara (Shilpa Manjunath) waltz into his world, he soon realises that she is all he needs to be happy. However, like every romance story, the movie is cluttered by the usual cliches. Like for example, when Tara and Gowtham start dating, Tara is secretive of their relationship and doesn’t talk about it to her parents.
This fuels up Gowtham’s rage. The couple are often seen bickering and fighting and it leaves the audience mind clouded. Also the chemistry between the couple lacks the right flavour.
Yet the movie does have certain plus points. Gowtham is often seen accompanied by three of his close friends who crack jokes which will leave you in splits. It is Balasaravanan who delivers very subtle simple one-liners which are timely and effective.
As the movie progresses, you realise that just like how toxic the romance is, the plot is also flood by errors. It drags on and on, especially in the second-half. The film takes a darker path when Gowtham succumbs to the euphoria of dope offered by a homeless drug addict (played by the director Ranjith himself). The addict convinces him to ‘remove the pain from his life’ and Gowtham starts hallucinating.
The cinematographer, Kavin Raj and the music director, Sam CS deserve applause for their work. Also, Harish Kalyan as a young man with severe anger management issues is quiet convincing.
In the end, Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum is sure to strike a chord with confused couple, whose relationship suffers from chronic arguments, misunderstanding, parallel perspectives and ideas.