Meenakshi Sundareshwar

Meenakshi Sundareshwar (2021) : Movie Review -

We have seen lots of films made on long distance relationships in Bollywood but Meenakshi Sundareshwar is different for one big reason. Have we seen any film made on long distance relationship set in post marriage scenario? Probably No. That's where Meenakshi Sundareshwar is different and that's the most interesting thing about it. The story is a mix of modern thoughts of young generation and traditional features followed by a typical family, which makes it amusing sometimes but mostly boring.

The film is about newly married couple Sundareshwar (Abhimanyu Dassani) and Meenakshi (Sanya Malhotra) and their complex relationship torn by long distance bonding. Meenakshi and Sundar are in love but their personal ambitions somehow makes it difficult for them to live together. The screenplay looks stretched because the story does not have anything as big as to carry a long narrative of 140 minutes. The soul of the story was good enough to make a two hours film, but here those extra 40 minutes makes it lose the grip. Rest, there is nothing much wrong, nothing new either. The idea is loyal and sweet which makes it watchable but at the same time some vulgar, youth oriented jokes harms it.

The film is led by Abhimanyu and Sanya mostly because the supporting cast is too big to fit into long space. Abhimanyu Dassani looks good, i mean i didn't hate him much here. His language, the accent, those expresions in tense scenes everything seems reasonable. Sanya, on the other side, runs a riot of her own. That carefree and happy-go-lucky girl is very well played by her. You'll love her in those Thalaiva mimicry scenes and dance scenes. Like mentioned above, the supporting cast is too big but everyone does pretty enough according to roles and situations.

Meenakshi Sundareshwar has too many songs unnecessarily added in the final cut. Not that the songs are bad, they are decent but that hampers the pace of the film. Nevertheless, Justin Prabhakaran's music is good enough to play on your jukebox. The technical aspects of the film aren't noteworthy and viewing the film on small screen or mobile phone adds more to its lowering. What works in the film is simplicity of the character and the flow of storytelling. What it lacks is the pace and that little boost of intelligent writing in the conclusion part. The conflicts are outdated. The characters who are supposed to be matured behave immaturely and therefore all the conflicts look bad.

Director Vivek Soni has handled the script without making any big damages. To keep that natural flow of relationship was very much needed and he knew exactly what to do. However, he fails to do something new which makes this one a forgettable affair. As a whole, Meenakshi Sundareshwar is sweet but it has limits to its own lukewarm vision. They don't want cross the boundaries and make a film that will stand tall against mediocrity hence, fails to make an impact. It's still watchable and i think that's too much to ask from a dustbin called Netflix.

RATING - 5/10*

Sameer lodaya

The movie is only meant to see the beauty of Madurai

The story started well but then it got lost and the makers did not know how to conclude it was going slow and was getting dragged..strong emotions of love story was not present

Sanya and Abhimanyu played their characters very well and were looking good..the traditional touch of South Indian was shown well..songs and background scores were good and climax was nothing new

It's meant for ott viewers.

Started off quite good, then the writers took a break from good writing and continued writing anyway. Promising plot ends with nowhere to go with.

Could have been less pathetic with shorter run time. It was a stretch without a good reason.

A newly wed south Indian couple is forced to carry on a long distance relationship as hubby has to move from orthodox temple town Madurai to a happening, modern cyber city Bengaluru. The sweet nothings through the lap top does not help to keep the relationship live. There are the usual strict elder males and curious aunties. To make things worse, the IT firm in the big bad Bengaluru city where our hero( Abimanyu Dasani) works, accepts only bachelors due to heavy and time sensitive work load. ( The super strict boss makes this amply clear in his speech to the rookies). The new bride ( Sanya Malhotra) makes unsuccessful efforts to join him and soon the misunderstandings and the friction begin. When the communication between them breaks down he ruefully says that "communication is like oxygen in a relationship".

This movie is a case of post marriage slow burn and uneasy period of adjustment which at times tests the patience of audience with its slow pace, sweetness and excessive simplicity. Yes excessive sweetness and simplicity can be a pain at times. The movie focusses a bit too much on the orthodox south Indian family and the atmosphere of the sleepy temple town of Madurai to a point of distraction. The narrative is painfully slow most of the time and the misery of the confused, timid ,and awkward couple does not help in any way. (At times it looks like an idli- sambar mix gone wrong.) The good point of the movie is the pleasing display of romance between a pretty heroine and a handsome shy hero, both trying desperately to make the marriage work. The aspect of Sanya being a crazy and diehard fan of Rajnikanth is shown very well. The movie has lovely music and excellent cinematography which brings out Madurai beautifully.

This film is about Meenakshi and Sunder whose cute happy marriage life gets affected when Sunder shifts alone to a new city for his job.

Lets come to the point.

GOOD :-

1. Brilliant performances. Both Sanya and Abhi look very nice and have made sure their interactions don't get boring and their conversations are sweet . I really loved that part when Meenakshi was talking to Sunder's dress that was so sweet.

2. Humor wherever present works well.

3. Music works well with the film.

Now the NEGATIVES:-

N number of flaws/no-sense scenes --> First, how bizzare was the way the leads got engaged . Mtlb kuch bhi? Second, There is a song in a train that looked cringy . Tamils singing a pure Hindi song is the last thing i see in a Tamil background film. Third, who TF makes a person sit under a dangerous fan just to watch it fall on him? Fourth, bachelors like Sunder living in an apartment that looks like some CEO's apartments. How man? Fifth, Meenakshi randomly starting to dance on the road, stuff like this happens only in films.

Overall, sweet couple relation but bogged down by so many flaws and inconsistencies that cant be ignored at all however can be given a one time watch.