drama 

Starring Arjun, Meena, Jyothika

Directed by Vasanth

Music  A. R. Rahman

 

Though the title Rhythm, suggest a kind of musical entertainer, none of the characters really have anything to do with music. Nor does the story. So one might wonder why the name for a subject like this? You shall never know in the name of entertainment.

Rhythm is a rather matured love story, from director Vasanth, between two lonely hearts, a widow and a widower. 

Karthik (Arjun) is a press-photographer who loses his wife (Jothika) in a train accident. He lives through the trauma. On the other hand, you also have Chitra  who too lost her husband (played by Ramesh Arvind) and now lives with her adopted son. 

However, Karthik and Chitra meets each other on a train and coming to know that she is a Tamilian, Karthik tries to befriend her. Though she ignores him and gives the brush off , they eventually do become friends after Karthik helps her retrieve her robbed purse.

Soon, before, you know it, these two characters simply keeps bumping into each other every now and then. And they become friends and get to learn more about each other. Gradually, they also realise that both their partners had died in the same train accident and this acts as a bonding factor.  

Soon they began to get more closer and spend more time with each other. Chitra's adopted son also takes a special liking towards Karthik. This makes Karthik's father suggest his son to marry his new found friend Chitra. However Chitra is forced to turn it down as she still hasn't got over her husband's death.

However, eventually just when Chitra seemed like going for a 'yes' to Karthik's proposal, her Brahmin mother-in-law, comes into the picture and request her to come back to the lonely old lady. Chitra, strangely without any protest decides to go with her mother-in-law who had earlier thrown her son out of the house for marrying Chitra. 

But Karthik turns out to be impossible to forget, for both Chitra and her son. 

The rest can be summed up in a clichéd climax scene where both the lovers are united happily.

The movie is rather a pleasant watch, but only if the director had taken pains to ensure a brisker screenplay, the movie could have been a better fare.

 Even with certain shades of the Tom Cruise flick- Jerry Maguire, it still ends up a worthwile watch.

Casting wise, Arjun and Meena does not disappoint in their respective roles. Arjun, here, shereds his macho image for something softer and he comes on top. This would certainly stand out as one of his better movies. Jothika certainly, in her short cameo, turns out to be the crowdpuller. But if the acting laurels goes to anyone, it has to be the boy who plays Chitra's son. He is a treat to watch and undoubtedly, a talent to watch out for in the coming years.

 The visuals of the songs are a major disappointment.

Though A.R. Rahmans's scintillating music is supposedly  the movie's strong points, it has been terribly let down by the picturization and the choreography of the songs, barring of course Nadhi Nadhiye and Kaatre.