Review: ‘Vanakkam Chennai’ (Tamil)

What happens when two complete strangers are thrown together and forced to live with each other? That’s the premise of this new Tamil romantic comedy starring Priya Anand and Shiva.

Ajay is an university graduate and a gold medallist from a small town called Theni in Madurai. He arrives in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu in south India on a work assignment and rents out an apartment. One day, Anjali, a photographer from London on an assignment in India, lets herself into his apartment with another key.

The pair quickly realise that they have been conned by Narayanan, a trickster, claiming to be the owner of the apartment. Victims of circumstance, they now have no other option but to live together.

Predictably, this cat and mouse friendship grows into an easy camaraderie and then results in Ajay falling in love with Anjali. But there’s a twist — if you can call it one — Anjali is already engaged.

Vanakkam Chennai (Welcome Chennai) is good in parts, though. And there are some cute scenes such as when Anjali and Ajay bond on a trip to his hometown. What keeps the story alive is the performance of the lead pair, especially Anand, who effortlessly slips into her role. Shiva as Ajay is good with his wise cracks that leave you in chuckles. But he falters in the emotional scenes and one finds hard to empathise his pain and disappointment of potentially losing Anjali forever.

Santhanam as the trickster Narayanan makes his appearance in the second half of the story and then takes it upon himself to unite Ajay and Anjali. Characters, such as the talkative Rosy auntie and Urvashi as a lady cop, are supposed to add to the comedy but end up seeming irrelevant.

The film’s still a good way to pass the time though.