And there’s a running joke ‘Supergirl is anti-national’ which the director said was inspired by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Kailash Vijayvargiya statement ‘Huma Qureshi is an anti-national’. Except that this one went on to be called an “anti-India film” by an interior minister (Rajnath Singh), while the other was dismissed as an “irresponsible joke”.

The film stars Suriya, Arvind Swamy, Shamna Kasim in the main roles. It is directed by Vignesh Shivan and produced by Karthi under his production house G K Film Corporation. The music for this film is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Surobhi (Suriya) is an Indian boy studying in Australia, who becomes friends with two Pakistani students Abdul (Arvind Swamy) and Jaz (Shamna Kasim), while they are all roommates living together in a house. They fight often over nationalistic feelings of the Indian and Pakistani cultures.

Suriya is a software engineer in Australia and he falls for another India origin girl Nidhi (Nithya Menon). He faces some problems to win her heart as she had lost her fiance Kishore’s (Atul Kulkarni) family during Tsunami which forced her to leave Kishore. But she still loves him from her heart even though he is no more alive.

Nidhi’s father (Girish Karnad) also hates India as Indian soldiers killed his parents during the time of Partition. Later Suriya understands that Nidhi’s grandfather was a big friend of his grandfather which makes Nidhi accept him in her life.

The climax of the film is when Suriya’s friends are arrested by immigration for overstaying their visas. The important role in this comes from Arvind Swamy who was not really involved much in any other character until then.

Nithya Menon’s performance is the highlight of the film and one of the best we have seen from her. She is natural in this role. After a long time, she looks stunning even in simple casual wear costumes during song sequences.

Arvind Swamy was decent enough but he doesn’t really have much to do in this film except for a few scenes when Suriya’s friends are arrested by immigration officers and a scene where his character’s past is revealed.

Shamna Kasim does not have much of a role except for a few scenes involving Suriya and Arvind Swamy.

Atul Kulkarni was good as usual but he has very little screen space. Girish Karnad used to play lead roles in films in the past, but he is seen in serious supporting characters after a long time.

Prabhu was good as Nidhi’s father. His character has many shades like when he asks his daughter to stay away from India and Indian culture forgetting that his own parents were Indians. He later reveals that his hatred towards Indians came because of his kid brother who was killed by Indian soldiers during Partition.

The film is told in a refreshing way with not many cliches, but it has its own share of problems too. It tries to cover all the stereotypes of both the countries like cricket-Bhai bhais culture between Indians and Pakistani’s heritage similarities etc.

The first half of the film is entertaining and manages to keep you glued to your seat. The second half doesn’t have much substance and it moves at a slow pace. There was no need for such a long climax, which shows how much time has passed during the screening itself.

The only character that seemed like an unnecessary add-on was Atul Kulkarni’s character. He is seen as a person who has lost his family during the Tsunami and he always accuses Indians of this, but it seemed like something that was just created to pad up for a few scenes of Atul Kulkarni.

The film makes you realize how much both the nations have been brainwashed by their respective countries propaganda. It also seems like a perfect example of how both the countries share a strong cultural bond, but that, unfortunately, gets shattered because of the hatred created by their leaders over time.

In conclusion, one can say that it has its weak points where you feel that this story could have been told in a better way with smarter writing. But the positive side was that the movie had some very good songs, lovely performances by Nithya Menon and Arvind Swamy. So if you are looking for a film that doesn’t have much of masala attached to it, then this is your pick!

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