No, not the song. I'm talking about the movie.
A couple years ago, I somehow found out about this movie, and I wanted to watch it. I could only find the cut version, so I decided to watch the Tamil version, which was uncut but not subtitled. After watching only thirty minutes of the film in five minute segments over the course of a few days, I stopped trying to finish the movie. Recently, I decided to give the movie a second chance. Unfortunately, I did end up watching the cut version available on YouTube. There were no songs, and I believe some other scenes were cut as well because of copyright issues. As a result, I had to watch the video songs separately at the right timestamps. It was a slightly odd experience but I made it work. I couldn't just stop watching the movie again like I did years ago.
Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu is about Varun (Nani) and Nithya (Samantha) and their relationship from their schooldays to their adult life. The movie itself felt a bit chunky to me. Maybe that's because I watched an edited version, but I feel like it would've been like that either way. Each segment of their life just kinda... happened, one after another. From section to section, it didn’t really progress/transition well. It jumped. I would imagine La La Land-style writing would've made for a better transition between segments in this movie.
Unlike typical Gautham Menon movies though, this one didn’t drag a ton in the second half. I was expecting the second half of the movie to be as incredibly boring as ENPT was to me, but it surprisingly wasn't. The story felt timeless and relatable throughout. Varun and Nithya could be anybody you know. It's anyone's love story. That story could've been from twenty years ago or it could happen to someone in ten years. It works so well in any time that watching it now in 2024, twelve years after the film's release, it doesn't feel outdated at all.
Now, I'm not an Ilayaraja hater. I love his music, and I found the tributes to him throughout the movie to be adorable. I just thought the music Ilayaraja composed for the movie to be really really out of place. It was so traditionally Ilayaraja, almost like a tribute to himself, but the dramatic rock beats just didn’t suit the playful vibe of the scenes sometimes. The songs were banger on their own, though. I could see them as songs that the YouTube algorithm brings back to me from time to time.
My biggest problem with the movie (if I could even call it a problem) was the ending. I think it was too idealistic. I know that the point of the movie is that their love keeps bringing them back together even after some petty and not-so-petty fights, but still. Varun was about to get married. I feel like what Matt did in 13 going on 30 would've been a solid ending to this movie. Even a La La Land-type ending would've been amazing. A sad ending to such a story would've been perfect. Perhaps if they didn’t end up together...
Overall though, the movie works. Music aside, ending aside, chunkiness aside, I was watching this movie with interest. There was some light confusion at times because of a few cuts, but it was still good. It wasn't necessarily great, and it's definitely not the best love story of anyone's—not GVM's, not Nani's, not Samantha's—but the way it is just makes the movie work. Maybe that's because of the direction—I'm not too sure. I wouldn't watch this movie again, but it was definitely worth watching once.