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Director: C. Rajadurai
Cast: Raju Sundaram, Simran, Prakashraj, Raghuvaran, Ramesh Kanna, Janakaraj, Senthil,
Murthy.
 Sundaram plays a passionate cricketer who makes it as the captain of the Indian team in the finals against Pakistan. In almost every frame he's clutching on to his bat and when he's not with it he's wooing Simran, his new neighbour. The top-of-the-list choreographer-dancer who has played a few cameos and character roles earlier, plays his first hero role. And one wonders why he ever made the transition, for he cuts a sorry figure. Desperately trying to match up to the 'heroism' the role demanded. Further, the screen chemistry between the lead pair is zilch.
Simran is his new neighbour who falls for him, and for no convincing reason hates him when he later reciprocates. The whole shoddy scenario should have got on to her too, for the actress who's normally so relaxed and
confident, is not her usual self, cutting a sorry figure in many crucial scenes.
 Ramesh Kanna as Sundaram's brother tries to pep up the scenes, but is soon side-lined completely. There's Raghuvaran who plays Simran's father. He is introduced to us as a 'Collector', but then the director suddenly deciding that he wanted a villain, forgets the I.A.S. bit, and turns him into a professional match-fixer. No wonder the normally self-assured actor looks quite bewildered here.
Prakashraj plays a former Indian captain, presumed dead in a bomb attack a decade earlier, and returns alive to the shock of all. The dapper-looking actor promises some interesting moments to come, when he's chosen as the selector of the Indian team in the match against Pakistan. But with the director making him double up as a coach too, there's little he could do to bring some sanity to the proceedings.
 The Pak-India finals is a drab affair, the makers could have taken some tips from the 'Lagaan' crew!
One doesn't expect a first-time director to give a brilliant piece of work in his maiden film. But the least one can expect, is that he do the basic home-work on the theme he has chosen, sees that there is consistency in the characterisation, that the dialogue and incidents don't contradict the
preceding ones. But the debutant director with an apprenticeship with director Manoj Kumar (this film's producer), hasn't bothered to make the slightest attempt in that direction. The script is shoddy with contradictions, inconsistencies, and slip-ups; the narration is slip shod, the whole scenario an insult to the viewer's intelligence.
Malini Mannath
published on 11th Dec 2002
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