'Remo': Entertains but not charming enough (Tamil Movie Review, Rating: **1/2)

Film: "Remo"; Director: Bakkiyaraj Kannan; Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Keerthy Suresh, Sathish, Saranya Ponvannan, Rajendran and Yogi Babu; Rating: **1/2

When you walk into a Sivakarthikeyan film, especially one like "Remo", you can't expect logic; you can't expect to be bowled over by a great script and you definitely can't expect to like everything you see in the film.

As a viewer, you're not pleased with the way stalking is endorsed by the film. Even though you feel sorry for the heroine who is no more than an eye candy, you're forced to turn a blind eye because it comes with a statutory warning - you can't like everything you see.

Therefore, the relentless pursuit of Keerthy Suresh by Sivakarthikeyan, as much as it's manipulative, is justified with the dialogue - an average Joe can take every opportunity he gets to make a woman fall for him.

In "Remo", Sivakarthikeyan dons the disguise of a nurse to woo the woman of his dreams. He wins her over by confusing her, by making her believe that she's making a big mistake by settling for an arranged marriage and that she can still meet her prince charming if she truly believes.

And when Keerthy is successfully confused, Sivakarthikeyan chips in with a line - it's easier to confuse a woman than convince her. It's as though the makers want to prove that if you want to win over a girl, all you need to do is confuse her with lies.

Despite these worrying issues, "Remo" is mostly entertaining and that's because Sivakarthikeyan is easily the best entertainer among his contemporaries. The entire first half is rollicking fun and the scenes between Sivakarthikeyan, Sathish and Yogi Babu are downright hilarious. The second half, however, dips due to the romance portion and the emotional scenes, which are so badly conceived, are passe.

Sivakarthikeyan, with back-to-back hits, by now has realized he needs to cater to different sections of the audiences. Children love him and he has ensured there's something for the kids in all his films.

There's a stretch involving a sick kid in "Remo", and she's a brat of the first order. In the disguise of a nurse, he wins her trust and entertains other kids in the hospital by doing magic tricks.

He appeals to the young males with the romance portion, especially with the song 'Senjitaley', but its lyrics propagate stalking. The scenes with his mother, played by Saranya, appeal to the family audiences.

Veteran cinematographer P.C Sreeram has done a fabulous job and so has Oscar-winning sound designer, Resul Pookutty. Their work is enriching and so good, it makes the viewing experience worthwhile. However, it's disappointing that so much effort has gone into everything but the script, making "Remo" entertaining but not charming enough.

--IANS

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