Review – Pyaar, Prema, Kadhal

Film : Pyaar, Prema, Kadhal

Director: Ilan

Cast: Harish Kalyan, Raiza Wilson, Anand Babu, Rekha, Raja Rani Pandian, Panju Subbu, Munishkanth, Deepz and others

Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Cinematography: Raja Bhattacharya

First things first. Pyaar, Prema, Kadhal is one refreshing entertainer that cannot be missed.

The film is so good that it is hard to believe that its director Ilan is making his debut in Tamil cinema with it.

It’s a difficult story to narrate and requires a great deal of tact. But Ilan seems to have done it with considerable ease.

Sri, short for Sreekumar (Harish Kalyan), is all that which you would use to define a ‘decent’ person in today’s day and age. He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, is a one-woman man, an obedient son and a sincere worker. In short, he is a man who believes in conforming to societal norms and practices.

The 26-year-old is madly in love with Sindhuja (Raiza Wilson), a lady who works in an office in the adjoining building. Although they work in two different offices that are in two different buildings, Sindhuja’s seat in her office is next to a window that is exactly opposite to the window, next to which Sri sits in his office.

It is only Sri who is in love. Sindhuja isn’t even aware of his existence. The young man goes early to office just because it gives him that much more time to admire Sindhuja. As luck would have it, one day, Sindhuja joins Sri’s office. What’s more, she is allotted a seat right next to him. Sri’s joy knows no bounds when he sees Sindhuja sitting next to him. However, her presence is too overwhelming for him to open his mouth about his desire to make her his life partner.

Sindhuja, meanwhile, is the exact opposite of what Sri is. She is the daughter of Vivek (Anand Babu), a western dance teacher, who believes in bringing up his child with ‘freedom’. The young lady is therefore a modern, ‘progressive’, ’empowered’ woman, who believes in living life on her own terms. Nevertheless, opposites attract and Sindhuja begins to take a liking for the naive, innocent nature of Sri.

She takes the first step of introducing herself to Sri and then, the ice between them melts. They begin to work together and their proximity only makes the mutual attraction they have for one another to grow. One night, the two begin to make out and eventually, it results in intercourse.

The next morning, both individuals arise, feeling satisfied about the happenings of the night before. But it is here that the problems begin. Sri considers what happened the night before as Sindhuja’s expression of love for him. He wishes to take it to the next step, which is marriage. Sindhuja however looks at the act as just the meeting of a physical need and decides to leave it at just that. She tells him that she “likes” Sri but does not want to marry him.

Sindhuja’s stand shocks Sri, who finds it hard to come to terms with someone having sex just for meeting physical needs. Eventually, after bitter fights and tears, middle ground is reached when Sindhuja says she is okay with a Live-in relationship. This is something that Sri’s traditional family will not accept. Meanwhile, Sri’s parents, unaware of his fling in the office, are worried about not being able to find him a proper, traditional bride to his liking. Sri is in a dilemma. On the one hand the girl he loves wants to have a live-in relationship. On the other, his parents only want him to have a traditional wedding. Caught between the two, he comes up with a plan that will keep everybody happy. He decides to have a live-in relationship with Sindhuja in secret. What happens next is what Pyar, Prema, Kadhal is all about.

The film hits out strongly at the importance accorded to the institution of marriage in society and gently indicates that as women become more and more empowered, the institution of marriage and family will soon be a thing of the past. Although the film shows the couple getting back together in the end, it drives home the point that ’empowered’, career-oriented women will put themselves ahead of anything and everything, as all that matters to them are their wishes and their interests. Without compromise from both partners, the institution of marriage cannot exist. This message is neatly and subtly packaged in the film. Pyar Prema Kadhal shows beautifully how women are now more than ready to sacrifice marriage and family for the sake of their careers. The film also very gently, in the course of narrating an interesting story that primarily deals with interpersonal relationships, underscores the fact that concepts like chastity are no longer significant.

One other thing that the film does is that it showcases the discordance between the genders when it comes to evolution. While men deeply believe and continue to insist on following the traditional system of marriage to have a family, women seem to have ‘progressed’ to the next stage. The film highlights the fact that more and more women are open to having a live-in relationship and career-oriented women look at children as distractions that could focus their energies away from achieving their ambitions or goals.

The film has some steamy sequences but is at no point obscene. This shows the maturity of the director and the actors who have played the lead roles.
Both Harish Kalyan and Raiza Wilson, who were part of the first season of Bigg Boss (Tamil), have done a fantastic job in the film.

Harish looks the smart boy with his roots firmly grounded in tradition while Raiza is the strong, modern, aggressive, ambitious, progressive empowered woman of today. She does not believe in any rules laid by society and puts herself and her interests over anybody and everybody else’s. Both actors come up with sterling performances to breathe life into their characters.

The film also has good performances coming in from veteran actress Rekha, who plays Sri’s mom and from actor Anand Babu, the son of legendary comedian Nagesh, who makes a comeback with this film after a long absence on screen.

This apart, Deepz, a comedian making his debut, impresses with his measured acting.

The film has exceptionally good music, scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja, the son of maestro Ilaiyaraaja. Incidentally, the film has also been produced by Yuvan Shankar Raja. All the songs in the film are mellifluous and make one long to hear them on repeat mode. What adds to the charm of the songs is the manner in which they have been picturised. Full marks to cinematographer Raja Bhattacharya whose visuals present a feast for the eyes.

In short, Pyaar, Prema, Kadhal is one good romantic entertainer that is bound to leave you both laughing and thinking.