Miss You Film Review

A year after his last lead role in Chiththa, Siddharth makes a return as a lead star in Miss You, the third directorial of N. Rajasekar (Mapla Singam and Kalathil Santhipom). Ashika Ranganath, last seen on the Tamil screen in Pattathu Arasan, plays the female lead. The supporting cast includes Karunakaran, Bala Saravanan, Lollu Sabha Maaran, Jayaprakash, Ponvannan, Adukalam Naren and Sharath Lohithaswa.

Those who have seen the trailer for this film should note that the trailer does the movie a grave injustice. The trailer gives the impression of an ordinary love story with the usual components, but Miss You is much more than just a love story.

As the title suggests, the film deals with the separation of a couple – Vasu (Siddharth) and Subbulakshmi (Ashika Ranganath – after a major altercation between the two. Unlike many other love stories, the incident does not involve a misunderstanding or poor communication, but a fundamental difference in principles. This clearly makes reconciliation very challenging – especially when a strong bond exists between the two families.

What makes this film so effective is the brilliantly written script by Ashok R – who also co-wrote the screenplay with N. Rajasekar. While the screenplay could have been tighter, this is made up for by a script that deals with the fiery intensity of the break-up and the multiple ramifications of the break-up in a very realistic way. What makes the script so palatable is its high dose of organic humour laden with puns, wit and some punchy one-liners.

Siddharth once again delivers an electrifying and very spirited performance as the highly principled and somewhat dogmatic Vasu. Ashika Ranganath combines good looks, vulnerability, strength and realistic emoting in a very memorable performance as Subbulakshmi.

Karunakaran, Bala Saravanan, Lollu Sabha Maaran and Sastika Rajendran as Vasu’s support base are all impressive, largely because of the realistic scripting which gives their screen characters strong authenticity. Jayaprakash and Ponvannan, despite their limited screen presence, both play endearing and enduring characters while Anupama Kumar and Adukalam Naren provide excellent support. Sharath Lohithaswa does an adequate job of the power-drunk minister.

A film as good as this deserved a better soundtrack and background score, but Ghibran is surprisingly off-form. This means that the songs drag the narrative to a crawl.

KG Venkatesh’s cinematography is quite ordinary and the efforts of editor Ponraj are highlighted because of the carefully constructed screenplay.

Many Indian critics trashed the movie, the characterisation and the script, but I found a lot to praise and want to caution viewers that the job of the director is not to meet our expectations of the character or the story, but to display his creative art independently. It is by no means a flawless film, but its overall impact and level of acting make this a must-watch film.

Miss You scores 7 points out of 10.