Premise: Vikram Prabhu is a 33-year old, but still unmarried. Finally a girl says yes for arranged marriage and the entire family is set for the engagement. Unfortunately they get stuck at the bride’s place after the function due to COVID lockdown. The situations they all face before the happy wedding form the remaining story.
Writing/ Direction: Starts as an extremely generic flick, even the actual story feels clichéd when seen from a particular perspective. The placement of the timeline being 2020, COVID situation and the story taking place in the rural side add value to the intended end goal of the movie. The first half is quite flat, as it moves on a predictable note with only a few engaging moments. The pace is sluggish and the idea about most of the characters are very minimal. Everything lits up when the situation brightens, in that case the interval block brisks the flow by setting the second half promisingly. And the latter springs a surprise by being better than the expectations. There are around five solid scenes that keep the momentum very much alive, sensibly written and beautifully performed stretches. In fact, the last hour is filled with memorable situations where we get to clap for the happenings. The liveliness of the film is its biggest strength, many relatable characters and we naturally tend to root for Vikram Prabhu. His character is very well staged, by standing for what is right, the character eventually realizes and spreads a much-needed message at the end. However the humour felt very blunt, the situations had the potential but the aspect’s execution was underwhelming.
Performances: Quality performance from Vikram Prabhu, he has understood his character to the fullest and has enacted with such clarity, which is very evident on-screen with the dynamism he has displayed. Both the debut heroines Sushmitha Bhat and Meenakshi Dinesh have done so well, plus their contrasting characteristic nature helped the narrative. A fun cameo by Sathyaraj that takes the story ahead and a meaningful one by Rio Raj that delivers an additional message apart from the in-built one the story carries. Tailor-made role for Aruldoss, every family will have someone dominating and loud like his character, single-dimensional yet man has given it so much life.
Technicalities: Likeable songs from Sean Roldan that neatly fit in the shoes of the subject and locality. The background score missed to create a strong impact, the newness was missing as well. A tune which was on the lines of the famous ‘Chuttamalle’ was repeatedly used. Neat camera work by keeping things simplistic, adapting to the nature of the subject. Seamless editing and the runtime is also a crisp 125 minutes, still the film felt lengthy due to the slowpaced screenplay.
Verdict: The first half takes its leisure time to kick start things, the flow was on the flatter side till the halfway mark. While the latter is the backbone by being so good with enormous topical scenes. And, the climax that sends us off with a smiling face.
LOVE MARRIAGE - A Neatly Made Sensible Rural Drama!
Rating - 3/ 5.