 Clean entertainers have become a rarity in Tamil cinema these days. Full marks to debutant Sree Hari for coming out with a movie that is laced with romance devoid of any clichés and double entendre. What is striking in ‘Karthik Anitha’ is that it is no regular boy meets girl and falling in love story. It is about the tale of friendship, sacrifice with romance as the backbone.
Sree Hari has given a ‘sophisticated’ feel to the film that is set in a residential colony in Chennai. Quite appropriate to the tagline of the movie, it is a neighbourhood love story which today’s youngsters bound to come across. Thankfully the director has ensured that it is no tear-jerker and the hero doesn’t flex his muscles or renders punch lines.
The movie features two newcomers Rathan and Manju around whom the whole movie revolves. Rathan has pleasing looks and does render a convincing performance even though he is a novice. Manju misses out on the looks, but manages it with a decent portrayal. Interestingly Kotta Sreenivasa Rao and Rajan P Dev, who made a name for themselves, doing menacing baddies, settles down for character roles. Both excel in their roles with Kotta Sreenivasa Rao walking away with sympathy.
Karthik (Rathan) is a happy-go-lucky youngster who spends all his time with his neighbour Anitha (Manju). They study together in a college. Karthik’s father Ramachandra Murthy (Kotta Sreenivasa Rao) and Anitha’a father Krishnamurthy (Rajan P Dev) are friends since their childhood. For no fault of his, Karthik incurs the wrath of his college principal and gets suspended from the college. He mistakes Anitha as the reason for the incident and starts to hate her. In contrast, she gets attracted towards Karthik and romance blossoms in her. Turn of events leads to Anitha’s father arranging for his daughter’s wedding with a software professional thanks to the help of Ramachandra Murthy. Meanwhile, Karthik slowly gets attracted towards Anitha. A shocked Ramachandra Murthy develops cardiac arrest and dies. Did Karthik manage to convince Anith’a parents and marry her forms the climax.
The movie has shades of ‘Piriyadha Varam Vendum’ and ‘Kannum Kannum’. But the pacy narration without any lag makes the movie interesting. Lending good support to the script are five catchy songs tuned by Jack Anand. K G Shankar and A Velmurugan does a neat job behind the camera.
Produced by Shankar V Rajan, ‘Karthik Anitha’ is a good, clean entertainer sure to entertain youngsters.
| 
- 
