We all know that one guy who is capable of keeping five girls engaged at once, flirts with three of them unapologetically and is possibly dating two simultaneously. We tag him in memes, make jokes about his 'talent' and now we get to see yet another movie glorifying this person.
Gemini Ganeshanum Suruli Raajanum is a comedy (with a frail semblance of romance) which constantly puts your moral compass in a tizzy.
The hero (if you could call him that) Atharva or Gemini Ganesan as his character is called, plays a very convincing Casanova throughout the movie. And this, according to Gemini's father (T.Siva), is because he named his son after the evergreen 'Kaadhal Mannan'.
If Rajinikanth had made an appearance in this flick, a patch of light would have have been focused on his eyes as he pronounces eerily that our man has 'split-personality', before proceeding to perform an exorcism. But since this isn't a Superstar flick, we have to be content with something as everyday as deep seated commitment issues.
The first half of the film unfolds slowly, taking you through a ride down the hero's memory lane. He is back in Madurai, where he did his graduation, to present a wedding invitation to a girl he once loved. On finding that she has moved out of the house where she used to live, he engages Suruli Raajan (Soori), a small time criminal and big time fraud to help him locate her address.
They are soon travelling to Thirumangalam to find a woman named Lavanya, played by Regina Cassandra and the hero narrates a tale of young love. Except, it's not the only love story we hear through the film. The heroines are replaced, one pretty face after another, all victims of Gemini's inability to 'settle down'.
What would have been a script played out too many times on the big screen, is actually accentuated by the tight screenplay and comic relief that Soori provides. The writer has ensured that you remain engaged as the movie weaves in and out of the present to a predictable past. The credit for this should go to the director and script writer Odam Ilavarasu.
You can't help but laugh (a little guiltily) as Gemini pulls out one trick after another from the book of cliches to impress Regina Cassandra, Pranitha, Aaditi and finally state award winner Aishwarya Rajesh. His chemistry with all the women on screen is appreciable and he constantly leaves you wondering through the two and a half hours if he is, in fact, the villain in this movie.
There is not a single serious minute in the film. At no point is anyone trying to justify the hero's behaviour. He is a cad - he knows it, his parents know this and so do we. But surprisingly, it is Soori who rings the bell of morality every time Gemini gets out of hand.
The women are stereotyped as the make-up wearing, swooning and easily manipulated gender, and a dialogue in the end about how 'great' they are, does little to remedy this. The song and dance sequences too are either meant to showcase the navels of the heroines or to depict some 'short lived' sympathy for Gemini. It is clearly a film made under the male gaze but doesn't fail to entertain nevertheless.
With four heroines, the film neither pulls at your heartstrings like an Autograph, nor does it put your mind to work like a Naan Avan Illai. What it, however, does offer is some brainless entertainment after a long week at work.
