Ammu Ramesh who had worked under Jeyam Raja, wields his maiden directorial baton in Thambikottai which has Naren and Poonam Bajwa in lead supported by Prabhu, Meena, Vijayalakshmi, Santhanam among others. In his first flick, Ramesh has handled a subject which encompasses action, love, sentiment and all the necessary ingredients of a mainstream commercial flick which are not devoid of innumerable predecessors in the industry.

Meena, a college professor, is the doting elder sister of Naren who is still a college student. Just like any other siblings of such films, they mean the world to each other and are the epitome of love and affection. There are enough maudlin moments in the film to emphasize their affection. Naren desires to go to a place called Thambikottai on an NSS trip but a shocked Meena is not in favor of this. However Naren leaves for the village and spots Poonam Bajwa and you guessed it right, it is love at first sight. Again, on a very very predictable track, Poonam is the daughter of the villain ‘Nan Kadavul’ Rajendran.

As it is the syntax of every such masala fare, Rajendran plays spoilsport to Naren-Poonam’s love, thrashes Naren and sends him back to Chennai where his sister Meena reveals in the flashback mode about Thambikottai and Rajendran. The answers to what happens in Thambikottai and whether Poonam and Naren’s love succeeds are narrated in the rest of Thambikottai.

Naren after Anjaadhe makes his appearance in a Tamil film and this time around, his monumental exercise in hero building comes to the fore with a power packed intro scene. Poonam Bajwa, after having tried ‘homely’ looks, sheds that for a more glamorous image. Prabhu does his usual antics and there is nothing to write home about. If there is someone whose performance stands out, it is Sangeetha who does a ‘sornakkaa’ act, mouthing punch dialogues and law quotes with élan. Santhanam and M S Bhaskar take charge of comedy department where a few scenes evoke the desired effect. It is in fact the trio of Sangeetha, Santhanam and Bhaskar make the audience stay in theatres a bearable one.

In Imman’s music ‘Vaa pillai, naan un maapillai’ is humworthy. There is nothing voluble about the rest of the technical department. Many scenes in the film give you a ‘déjà vu’ feel and the director, travelling on a beaten track, does not give you any anxious moments to rack your brains to wonder what is going to happen next. Ramesh tries to pack most of the ‘must have’s of a masala film resulting in an unexciting product.

Verdict: One more masala flick