Publisher: timesofindia June 23, 2021
So you fall in love with a girl. You think she loves you but then one day, she tells you that she loved you because she thought you were rich and now wants to dump you because she cannot accept a middle class guy as the man of her dreams. You try to reason with her and tell her that love — and not money — drives life but she isn't in a mood to listen to you. Worse, she humiliates you in public and walks away leaving you stranded literally in the middle of the road. What would you do? If you were a sensible, thinking individual, you would either thank your stars that you did not end up marrying someone who was clearly not your type or you would give it back to her and walk off with your head held high. But Karthik (Jayam Ravi, who tries too hard to make us feel this is fun), the protagonist of Romeo Juliet, is definitely one-of-a-kind. He is so fixated on his girlfriend, Aishwarya (an ill-fitting Hansika, whose exaggerated expressions and bad lip sync never allow the character to seem real) that he goes after her with vengeance to win her back in the most ridiculous manner possible. He gatecrashes during her engagement to Arjun (a stoic Vamsi Krishna), a multi-millionaire, blackmails her by saying that he will inform Arjun of her previous love affair and then forces her to find him a girl who is quite like her! And, by the time she has finally understood what true love is all about (thanks to Arjun, who is such a control freak that he even hires a handwriting coach for Aishwarya because he doesn't like her handwriting!), humiliates her in public — quite clearly a tit for tat — before accepting her. But, we are not supposed to delve into the morality of his actions or feel offended at the insensitivity of the characters (quite a few characters use rape in the context of amusement). And also not feel sorry for Nisha (you can't help but feel sorry for Poonam Bajwa, who plays the third wheel), the girl who Aishwarya fixes him up with and who genuinely loves him. Because, you see, Romeo Juliet is a romantic comedy and we have to take all of these in the right spirit. So, even though Karthik is essentially harassing Aishwarya, we should root for him and see all his actions as 'fun'. Finally, here is a film that could prove to be a worthy challenger to Valiyavan for the title of the Most Preposterous Movie of the Year. That said, Romeo Juliet does begin interestingly. The titles play over romantic scenes from the films of popular stars from MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar to Dhanush. The songs by D Imman are peppy and catchy enough. And Aishwarya, at least initially, seems different from the run-of-the-mill heroine roles we see in our films. In a refreshing twist, it is she, the heroine, who stalks the hero; she even takes the first step and proposes to him by gifting a ring. She is not one bit bothered about admitting that she holds money over everything else. And she is quite clear that she doesn't want to be a martyr wife. When Karthik pleads with her to not break the relationship and tells her that he will achieve anything if she is with him, she retorts, 'Nee saadhikkaradhukkaaga ellaam ennala kalyanam pannikka mudiyadhu.' But then, this is a Tamil film, and the heroine is expected to be tamed by the hero and so, the director turns this somewhat fascinating character into a cliche.