Movies that have the name of the hero and heroine as its title can and should only be about romance – isn’t it? Now, Nandha Nandhitha comes in and does its part. No doubt, upon hearing this title and seeing the promotional stills, many people were lulled into thinking of a sweet feel-good romance. That’s the last thing you will get when you watch Nandha Nandhitha. This has to be said here because lot of people believe that this is a romantic movie. Yes, there is romance in the movie; but the movie on the whole is far from romantic. Surely, the makers could have thought of a title far more suited to the general feel of their product.

Nandha Nandhitha is a story of two very different people who meet and fall in love. However, their lives are completely different, they have problems of their own and what happens throughout the film has very little to do with their love story. That is what hits the movie hard. Nanda is a boy who has had a troubled childhood (the 80s clichés galore: drunkard dad, cruel step mother, beatings etc.) and no surprises that he grows up into rather unruly fellow who is not afraid to get on the wrong side of the law. Nanditha has no better luck either (again a set of clichés: losing dad early in life, a wastrel of a brother, no money etc.) and she ends up packing pickles. They meet and fall in love as they have to. Songs in fantasy location. Cut back to reality – Nandha’s lawless life catches up with him; Nanditha’s brother’s lawless life catches up with her – build up to climax!

Now, that was simple, wasn’t it? But, there is a bit more to the story; a track involving Nasser in a pretty strong role, which salvages that portion of the film. A couple of scenes in this track are well shot and have a grip about them. But that apart, the movie is a train of predictability. Villains baying for blood, shouts and knives etc. The only thing that you might not be able to guess right is the climax.

Hemachandran plays his part as the protagonist. Well, it is difficult to judge an actor in such a predictable script. But, it would be safe to say that we don’t see any special spark. Meghna Raj might have been looking for a consolidation in the industry after Uyrathiru 420 but this movie is not going to help her a lot. The music and camera do nothing to merit mention.

Nandha Nandhitha could have been more watchable if only the romance was a bit more endearing and if the different tracks had some sort of bearing on each other except at the climax. Till the very end, it seems like parallel stories that are never going to meet and all of a sudden, they converge onto one spot. This is not the kind of unpredictability we want in a script. The team needed to put in a lot more thought into the story before embarking on this project.

Verdict: Don’t let the title mislead you!