Starring: Siddharth, Amala Paul, Suresh
Directed by Balaji Mohan
Rating: ***
Break-ups aren’t fun in real life. But in Kaadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Yeppadi (How to Mess Up in Love), the real fun begins after one. After a year-long engineering college campus love, Arun (Siddharth) and Parvathi (Amala Paul, sparkling with dusky realism) split up. You know they are going to patch up sooner or later. But “that long silence” between breaking up and making up is peppered with a series of incidents and a slew of stereotypes about love, relationships and all the goofiness associated with it. Every character either resembles you, or someone you know. Every episode from Arun and Paro’s dating tale could well be straight out of your own love story. The language and humour are real; the milieu predictable. Post break-up, there’s a guy trip to Pondicherry that ends in a night of drinking, ramblings and bonding. But in that couch of familiarity and predictability lies the film’s spirit. Woven into a full feature from a 10-minute short film by debutant director Balaji Mohan, the rom-com is a refreshing reminder that men are from Mars and women from Venus. Paro wants to go shopping; Arun is in the mood for a frisbee toss. He agrees reluctantly—fearing Paro’s “secret weapon of tears”. Another time, frisbee wins out. Incessant calls from Paro go unanswered; when he calls back, the damage’s done. Not about to coax and cajole, he flings his mobile and it goes off. She leaves out the next day. Sounds familiar? You bet. Doesn’t matter.
