When critically acclaimed filmmakers embark on a new project, the level of expectations is overwhelmingly huge. Critics and audience alike often spend hours in length discussing about the plot, the cast or the latest development of the filmmaker’s next big flick. Celebrated Tamil cinema legend, Bharathiraja’s newest flick, Meendum Oru Mariyathai, however, fails to feed the audience with delight. It unnecessarily ends as a blot on this ace director’s filmography.
Meendum Oru Mariyathai has a decent plot. Set in London, it’s about a young girl named, Venba (Nakshatra) with suicidal tendencies after facing a personal trauma. She befriends Om (Bharathiraja) who has been abandoned by his son. The duo set out on a journey to know the value of life and in the process get to know about each other.
While the plot appears to be strong on paper, it fails to appeal on the silver screen due to blunt filmmaking in all quarters. For starters, it is the editing that gets on the nerves. Then, its actors who use British accent in an attempt to sound like Londoners. But they end up sounding like someone being coached by a distractingly bad English teacher.
While the dialogues may sound strong in print, it fails to resonate to our hearts as the frequent voiceover take about life, love and other such philosophy ends up as a scene dragger. The songs at times get the upper hand in this sea of chaos but overall falls flat as it goes off the hook with vague editing style. Meendum Oru Mariyathai misses the opportunity to evoke emotions as its cardboard characters sound shallow and underdeveloped.
