DeAr Review - A Distant and Disjoint Drama!

Ashwin Ram

DeAr is a romantic comedy drama flick starring GV Prakash and Aishwarya Rajesh in the lead roles. The film is directed by Anand Ravichandran of Sethum Aayiram Pon fame.

Premise:
GV Prakash and Aishwarya Rajesh are a newly married couple. A rift between them arises when GV Prakash goes sleepless for continuous nights due to Aishwarya Rajesh’s snoring problem.

Writing/ Direction:
Snoring is very natural and common, GV Prakash is a light sleeper and it’s a practical reason to say upfront as to why he finds it difficult to adjust with his partner snoring aloud. But the issue is handled in a very cinematic way right from the beginning. The treatment is exaggerated with age-old ideas such as the protagonist having several dreams and nightmares about it, a bar song abusing the lead lady, etc. The main conflict gets diluted amidst the flurry of subplots the film focuses on like separated parents, a dominant brother, etc. Also the family drama that drives the core idea is filled with boring sequences with nothing new to offer. It isn’t a terrible film, there are a few pleasing moments like how Ilavarasu who plays the heroine’s father deals with the whole equation, Aishwarya Rajesh’s character is sensible at times, but sadly these points don’t wipe away the shortcomings. Many scenes feel disjoint and so as the family, the situations are extremely scripted and it was hard to feel the bonding. The way-too-many timeline jumps made way for an incoherent narrative.

Performances:
Dull performance by GV Prakash, he has tried his best to emote seriously at many places but he visibly struggles to do it in a promising fashion. Aishwarya Rajesh on the other hand has taken the film on her shoulders and has acted commendably. Importantly, there is absolutely zero chemistry between the lead pair, maybe that is what the director intended for obvious reasons. Ilavarasu shines among the bunch of supporting artists. Even though there are quite a few other skillful actors on board like Rohini, Kaali Venkat, Thalaivaasal Vijay, etc. the lack finesse in writing their characters missed out on the, scoring on-screen.

Technicalities:
Technically quality is so timid except for the decent camera work that is presented with a pretty subtle choice of colors without going too glossy. Monotonous songs that completely mismatch with both the visuals and story backdrop, background score also fails to create an impact. Crisp editing was required to make it a watchable flick as the engagement was missing mainly due to the deviations and extensions that are unnecessarily added. Poor work by the art department as the frames look empty and the props that exist feel so fake.

Bottomline

The topic taken demands to be handled in a grounded manner. To cover up for the lazy writing, the spineless dramatic elements that are additionally added takes away the focus from the main subject.

Rating - 2.25/ 5