Rameswaram

Actor Jeeva has been showing interest in doing ‘different’ films. He chose to stay away from playing the ‘cliched’ hero running around trees, romancing and aiming guns at the baddies.

But the passion to do different roles seems to have taken away his focus. It was evident in Rameshwaram, which features Jeeva in the role of a Lankan refugee. 

The movie dwells on romance between a Lankan refugee and a daughter of a rich landlord in Rameshwaram. The ethnic issue in Sri Lanka forms the backdrop. Unfortunately, a slow narration and predictable sequence of events take away the sheen from the movie.

With a tanned look and long hair, Jeeva fits the role of a Lankan refugee well. He has given the right expressions and shouldered the major burden in the movie. Since the movie harps too much on romance, the travails of the Lankan Tamils narrated in a few sequences by Jeeva fail to stimulate the audience.  

Bhavana plays a bubbly young girl, who runs around romancing Jeeva. Unlike contemporary heroines, she occupies more screen space.

Lal, Bose Venkat and Manivannan also form part of the cast.

The movie begins with Jeeva, a native of Jaffna, seeking refugee on Rameshwaram coast with his grandfather Manivannan. A rich and an influential man in the village Lal provides them shelter.

Jeeva manages to win the sympathy of Bhavana, Lal’s daughter. Slowly she falls in love with him. But trouble enters in the form of Bose Venkat, a tough policeman in Rameshwaram whose wedding is arranged with Bhavana. False cases are foisted against Jeeva and he is targeted for loving Bhavana.

Does he manage to overcome all odds and marry Bhavana forms the rest of the story.

Gurudev and Vettri have caught the locales of Rameshwaram well. The seashore, the temple of Rameshwaram and the life in refugee camps have been captured well by cinematographers Gurudev and Vettri.

Niru’s music is just okay.  Editor Suresh Urs is caught napping at several places.

The movie has shades of Nandha and Kannathil Muthamittal. Had Selvam managed to make the movie more crispy  with a slick narration, the end product could have been really different.