Cast –Â Prakash Raj , Sneha , Tejus , Samyuktha , Thambi Ramaiah , Urvashi, Elango Kumaravel
Music –Â Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematographer –Â Preetha
Editing –Â Kishore Te
Direction –Â Prakash Raj
Story/Plot :
Kalidasan (Prakash Raj) is an archaeologist and a lover of food. He doesn’t just eat, he savors it. He is in his mid 40’s and a bachelor by choice. Â Gowri (Sneha) is a dubbing artist. Naveen (Tajus) is Kalidasan’s nephew who comes Chennai to spend some time. Meghana (Samyuktha Hornad) stays as paying guest in the same place where Gowri is staying. It all starts with a wrong call given by Gowri to Kalidasan. What follows is the comedy of errors.
Character/Acting :
Prakash Raj as Kalidasan – Prakash Raj is at his best as a foodie and a man who is going to midlife crisis. There are five scenes in the movie where you can see the best of Prakash Raj - Ecstasy while having eatables in Cake Making scene, frustration while talking to a woman stranger, shyness while preparing to meet his love of life, agony while leaving the tribal man and delirium during the Pre-Climax car scene. And the expression he gives while saying “Enake Villian Ah ?”
Sneha as Gowri – After a long gap, Actress Sneha is back to movies, and she plays her age as a spinster. She showed lot of agony in her expression as she tend to be depressed most of the time.
Tejus as Naveen – Debutant Tejus is satisfactory.
Samyuktha Hornad as Meghana – New actress fits the bill.
Thambi Ramaiah – Gets a different and vital role as a cook. He is very good indeed.Â
Elango Kumaravel – is partly good
Technical Aspects :
Music by Ilaiyaraja – He has given an average songs but a fabulous background score. If you are an Ilayaraja fan, you will have good time during the songs in this movie. The way ‘Title song’ pictured is excellent.
Cinematography by Preetha – Awesome work
Editing by Kishore Te – very routine
Direction:
It is Directed by Prakash Raj – This film is an official remake of Malayalam Super Hit Salt and Pepper which was released in July 2011. This film is remade in 3 other South Indian languages and released after 3 years. A vital screenplay technique used in this has already been used in a few films that were released in the gap of 3 years. Prakash Raj’s direction is partly good.
In few scenes he succeeded and in a few other scenes he didn’t get the emotion work. The story is not a regular one and it has niche areas. Prakash Raj has always been a producer with elite taste. He handled all the scenes involving him and Sneha well, but didn’t get it right in making the love story of youngsters work. Â That’s the reason why most part of the film looks slow till Prakash Raj tries to get in touch with Sneha again. The beauty parlor backdrop for heroine is not impressive. However, the backdrop for Prakash Raj is very good.
Overall Effectiveness Of The Film:Â
Un Samayal Arayil – This film is a romantic comedy with the backdrop of food. And you might feel hungry while watching this film as so much of variety of food is shown in the film. First half of the film is average, second half should have been well handled.
Plus – Dialogues, Prakash Raj Performance, tribal man role, title song, cinematography.
Minus – slow screenplay, Editing.
