This arrow misses the heart

This cupid’s arrow fails to strike the heart. It’s like masala dosa without onions. They have convenient names — Mannar, Madana Gopal and Ambujaskshi — so that a wacky title can be whipped up. But it’s mere froth, no substance.

Unlike Pammal K Sambandam, Tenali or Panchathanthiram, this one fails to tickle the ribs. Worse, it drags for more than three-quarters of the duration. And when the word play does start kicking in, the romcom has descended from the sublime to the ridiculous. Madan’s ( Madhavan) cell phone falls into a urinal provoking some mirthful moments. That’s about it.

“Mere paas hai maa,” he quips as his mother (Usha Uthup) plots a twist in his proposed marital tale. He calls her mom-chosen girl his side- dish. He engages a private eye Mannar (Kamal) to shadow the girl (Trisha) he would be marrying. The spook, an ex-Major wants to bale out a cancer-stricken colleague of his. So he needs the money.

There’s another woman who says alimony is sexier than matrimony. “It’s all for fun, let’s go with the flow,” says Mannar. The underlying pathos (with his wife dying in an accident) does little to elevate the proceedings.

If a tight-as-a-tick Madhavan looks seasick, Kamal appears ship-wrecked. This must rank as one of his most rudderless outings. His story, screenplay and dialogue are as interesting as a Manmohan Singh speech read by the good old man himself. Missing are Crazy Mohan’s one-liners that made some of Kamal’s earlier films memorable.

Trisha just struts through and pouts ‘fiance’ with a French accent. Director Ravikumar seems to have fallen into a vat of tequila sunrise on the cruise liner where most of the yawn is set, while the assorted characters are on their own trip. They even sign off with a trade mark Titanic-style spread of the arms!