PremiumRomeo Movie Review: Vijay Antony’s attempt to win over Juliet is formulaic and momentarily
Romeo Movie Review: Throw in some Kavalan, Mouna Ragam, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and what may come as a surprise but Jigarthanda, there is Romeo for you, presented in the fashion of a romantic comedy film
Romeo
Last Updated: 10.43 AM, Apr 30, 2024
Romeo story
Arivu is a Malaysia return, who falls in love with Leela, hailing from the same village as him. Much to the displeasure of Leela who is a struggling actor and hiding the fact from her oppressing family, Arivu’s proposal to marry Leela is accepted by the latter’s family. But given, marriage is the only option for her to move back to the city and pursue her passion, Leela is forced to agree. What follows is the story that has no rewards for guessing: all the attempts a noble man takes to make her fall in love.
Romeo review
Let’s get one thing straightened out first. Romeo is a film that seems to know it falls under the generic film that loyally sticks to the template. Throw in some Kavalan, Mouna Ragam, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and what may come as a surprise but Jigarthanda, there is Romeo for you, presented in the fashion of a romantic comedy film, aptly tailored to the tastes of the family audience. Arivu, played by Vijay Antony, does not seem much of a departure from the multi-hyphenated yet composed personality that he is in real life. Arivu is benevolent, soft-spoken and caring, all those qualities that can make the audience take his side easily. The film, too perhaps wants to feel the same, when he is often portrayed as the victim in the marriage he initiated with the girl of his dreams, when Leela is the one whose choice and opinion don’t matter. But even as Romeo attempts to not villainise her, her couple of drinking stints do help so.
Romeo is a film that wishes well for its characters, even if they go through a roller coaster of emotions. Arivu is a man who can go to any length to make his girl happy, but also a man whose childhood trauma comes lurking here and there. The trauma, in fact, plays a larger part, in reconnecting the leads during the climax, which seems to bring the film within the brackets of being a family-friendly emotional film. Vijay Antony and Mirnalini Ravi play their parts well, and in their standalone sequences, exhibit what their respective characters go through. It is almost as if the actors are playing the parts inspired by their real selves, with Mirnalini playing the role of an aspiring actor who has had her fair share of social media fame, while Arivu quotes reference of Vijay Antony to justify falling in love with a much younger girl. But when the leads come together, the writing isn’t hefty enough for us to root for them.
Romeo also adds itself to the long list of relationship films which agrees to the notion that sacrifice is the ultimate symbol of love and one has to give up and go through the cycle of loss and pain, in order to pass the test of true romance.
All that said and done, I reiterate, Romeo is a film that can be called harmless and well-intended. It’s a film that tries to wish well for its characters. None of the roles get cancer, nor do they lose something forever. There is a clear scene line that disowns slapping a woman as a masculine trait, and a character going to lengths to reverse the tragedy that happened to the other, however, far-fetched it seems to be. You want to buy these aspects for the goodness the movie tries to profess. But not wholeheartedly because they aren’t deep enough to really get these emotions sinking in.
Romeo verdict
Romeo is a film that largely relies on its momentous events. There is a strong quotient of emotions, and why the hero and heroine have to get together. There is a meta-narrative too, and when these two coincide, there are no brownie points you get for guessing. The film could have avoided deriving conflicts from a topic it just wanted to brush up on - the casting couch. But probably the writer thinking it would be the most convenient induction of fights and sacrifice, paving the way for confrontation, makes the film lop-sided. Romeo is a film that is a collection of a lover boy’s constant efforts to pursue his Juliet. Even though the film is formulaic, it gets uplifted by the performances put up by Vijay Antony and Mirnalini. Their characters are vanilla, and sometimes it makes up for the purity in simple love. On the other hand, much more writing about these characters would have tapped into the potential this flippant love story has.