Yuvaraj Dhayalan’s Irugapatru is a film that literally preaches what the title means. The film asks you to tightly hold on to your significant other. This is definitely debatable and we will get to that later. To the films credit, though it definitely is preaching, it isn’t on your face and Yuvaraj Dhayalan opts for a clever narrative style that involves a therapist. So, whatever the preaching is, more often than not, it doesn’t stick out like a message, as everything is through conversations between characters. And more importantly, none of these conversations come across like shoehorned messages. They feel like real conversations between real people.

Irugapatru revolves around marital relationships. The plot is centered around three such couples. Sharaddha Srinath plays a therapist, and the film opens with her talking about relationships. As I said, it is literally lecturing but having her play a therapist ensures (at least to an extent) that it doesn’t entirely feel like one. But when a voiceover (the director’s I suppose) does the same just before the end credits roll, it definitely is lecturing.

Yuvaraj Dhayalan definitely deserves credit for what he has accomplished with this film. Irrespective of whether you agree or not to what the film says, he holds your attention with his narration and his ably supported by a terrific cast. All of them are believable and each of the six actors who play the three lead couples, have at least one scene where they make it count. Abarnathi as the gullible wife makes you take notice instantly. This is a character that could have easily become exaggerated or come across as wanting for sympathy, but Abarnathi is so believable. Vidharth is as subtle as always and he keeps it simple even in those two scenes where he breaks down. There is a scene where his emotions are akin to what Naani goes through in Jersey. Shradhha Srinath is as believable as the therapist, as she is as the loving wife. The same person who is the confident and mature therapist in her profession, becomes almost becomes kid like and yearns for admiration and acknowledgment at home. But this difference never happens through a demarcated boundary or something. It appears seamless. You feel it is the same person. You also feel the difference in her when put in two different situations. And Vikram Prabhu is a real surprise. You get to know exactly what he is going through in a character that is actually keeping a lot within and trying to avoid expressing it. This is probably his best performance to date. Sri and Saniya Iyappan are adequate, but you wonder if they don't come across as authentic as the other two couples. But that they play a relatively younger couple could be seen as a reason for this and it also sort of helps that the three couples are quite different from each other.

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