Its memory-loss season at the movies, and the latest to join the amnesia bandwagon is Sri Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures' Tamil film Ennai Theriyuma? (Do You Know Me?), a name inspired from one of MGR's hit song and directed by Ajay Sastry.
This one, however, has borrowed a plot-point from 50 First Dates but the resemblance ends there.
Aditya (Manoj Kumar) works as a software engineer, and his mentor is his uncle (Nasser). There's a pretty girlfriend in the office, Madhu (Riya Sen) to boot. With friends, drink binges and random comical situations, life is blooming for Aditya -- save for one thing: every morning, he loses his memory of what happened the day before, necessitating a tape-recorder that gives him essential details first things in the morning, and random thugs who assault him at the first opportunity. He, of course, can't remember why they're after him.
Visits to the doctor and half-solved puzzle pieces pep up the screenplay and by the time Aditya's uncle suddenly ends up murdered in his own car without his own knowledge, you can barely wait to see how things unfold onscreen.
Of course, as befitting most of our crime thrillers, things go haywire post intermission. Enter Anjali (Sneha Ullal, who's managed throw off her Aishwarya Rai-look-alike Syndrome a bit) in skimpy outfits. She's an IPS officer, and despite bikini tops, investigations begin. What follows is supposed to be a cat-and-mouse game, but though Aditya and Co make valiant attempts to resurrect the screenplay, by the time the climax arrives everything's in an unholy mess.
You have to hand it to him though, Manoj Kumar looks like a worthy entrant to Tamil moviedom. At certain angles the resemblance to Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor is unmistakable ; the dimples and blowsy hairstyle help. His comic timing is good too and he's got the requisite six packs, dances and fights well, and when he desperately tries to keep awake, to retain his memory, he's really good. If only someone had plugged the holes in the script.
Sneha Ullal and Riya Sen serve as little more than eye candy in the film. But Sneha Ullal does have something to do other than dance around in semi-transparent clothes. Riya Sen can't act to save her life. Both heroines appear to have drowned in make-up, which, considering their respective roles, seems very out-of-place.
Brahmanandam appears to give some comic relief as a fashion coordinator. The others, like P Vasu, are in blink-and miss roles.
Since this is a bi-lingual production (the Telugu version is Nenu Meeku Telusa?), half the dialogues are in the Tamil and the rest in Telugu. There's a vague feeling about names, places and situations that is meant to appeal to audiences in both languages but doesn't work at all. In a movie that's supposed to be a whodunit, the script plays spoilsport and the explanations in the end too cliched and rushed.
Ravinder has gone all out with the art direction; Aditya's home is an example. Achu's music hits the mark sometimes, like the Thanni Karuthiruchu remix.
Having mish-mashed several Hollywood thrillers together, you only wonder why the makers didn't go the whole hog and get inspired by one whodunit that actually made sense. With reasonably good songs and good hero material, this one might have actually made a much bigger impact.
Rediff Rating: