Hey Sinamika HD Released

 

For at least the first half of Hey Sinamika, Yaazhan (Dulquer Salmaan), its protagonist, comes across as the answer to the loosu ponnu characters that populate our screens. He is a house husband to Mouna (Aditi Rao Hydari), who works in the construction industry. He dotes on her 24x7. He is the kind of guy who walks in when she's showering to force-feed her cake! Obviously, she feels suffocated by his 'love'. She even gets a transfer to Pondicherry so that she can have some me-time, but he lands up there as well as he doesn't want her to miss him.

Enter Dr Malarvizhi (a miscast Kajal Aggarwal), a relationship counsellor, who thinks all men are cheats, and has facilitated the separation of many couples. Mouna approaches her as a final resort. The idea is to get Malarvizhi to make Yaazhan fall in love with her, so that she can use that as an excuse to divorce him. Does her plan succeed?

Hey Sinamika works best when it's fun, frothy and frivolous. The entire first half has the vibe of a silly comedy and keeps us entertained. The scenes in which Mouna and her colleague Ram (RJ Vijay) plot to get Yaazhan to stop his non-stop chatter are quite funny. Dulquer Salmaan understands that Yaazhan is a caricature and plays him like an overly enthusiastic person. He manages to find the right tone for this character, making him a loveable - rather than irritating - one. As the helpless Mouna, Aditi Rao Hydari, too, is effective, and the scenes between these two actors have zing. We find the fingerprints of Madhan Karky, the film’s writer, all along - from Mouna's qualification (paleotempestologist) to mentions of kopi luwak coffee and real-life examples of couples who have divorced after decades-long relationship. Brinda, who makes her debut as a director, too, handles these portions with a light touch.

But once the film turns serious, the effect isn't all that great. For, the shift in tone - from breezy to heavy - is jarring. Given that the set-up is familiar, we know that Malarvizhi will fall for Yaazhan's charms, but the scenes that follow this development come across as too heavy-handed, especially because the film revels in the silliness of the initial scenes. We feel like we have stepped into a different film featuring the same characters. For someone who is desperate to be away from her husband, Mouna's character becomes instantly jealous on seeing Yaazhan and Malarvizhi together, which seems odd, given the lengths to which the film goes to show how frustrated she is with the guy. These wouldn't have been issues if the transition between the tones had been smooth, and if we had been given a scene or two showing how Mouna feels when Yaazhan finally isn't intruding into her personal space. Instead, the film chooses to give us a song, an unnecessary addition, included only to prop up its star!