I had this hunch about Vineeth Srinivasan’s much anticipated new project right away from its first promo poster. The font used in for the movie’s name persistently reminded me of Vinnaithandi Varuvaya. For a director who drew huge chunks of inspiration from ‘Rock on’ for his first movie, Vinnaithandi varuvaya can do just enough.

To be frank, I was almost right. The age old formula love story between a Hindu boy and Muslim girl has been bottled anew, with humour deliberately cramped into the script in an attempt to make it different from the usual ones which used serious narrative. However, apart from the irritating inconsistencies, the film will fare well among the large number of college going youth. The question is all about whether you still have that teenage hormone rush in you. Though Vineeth misses the medal for script and direction, he at least knew the target group whom he was focussing.

The story is about Vinod Nair, a Hindu boy from poor family who is averse to studies and has leftist ideals, who falls in love with Aisha, who is from a (no prizes for guessing) rich and politically influential family from the other end of the spectrum. And to our surprise (really?) they get united (without much conflicts though) and live happily ever after. The way Vineeth has portrayed his hero Vinod often makes one wonder whether it is the director who was totally smitten with love for this girl. He uses all kinds of weird gimmicks of an amateur who had his first crush for this really cool girl at school. The movie lacks muscle though the director has earnestly tried to put in so much of passion. Nivin Pauly, has brought fresh air to his role.

Frankly I would have hated it if any other actor went around with the monkey business of courting the college diva. Well handled Nivin. Bad acting Isha, I won’t blame you, you hardly had dialogues in the movie. But the movie never bores you. It is naive but innocent. Jomon T John did a good job with his camera trying to let love blossom in his frames which at times attain a beautiful grace. Shan Rahman's melodies linger in the mind and Vineeth has visualised them with appeal.

The performance of the supporting cast is worth mentioning. Aju Varghese as Abdu gives us an occasional laugh as the love struck Vinod’s friend. Manoj K. Jayan as S.I. Premkumar with a Trivandrum accent and rescuer of Vinod’s love has also executed his part well. Sreenivasan as Abdul Rahman, Sunny Wayne as Majeed and Bhagath Manuel as Hamza helps whit down the sense of banality of Hindu-Muslim love affair with some heart-warming gags.

To further enhance the aura and aroma of romance, Vineeth takes the movie through the schools and colleges he is familiar with and capturing the beauty of Thalassery in due process. The script budges without a proper direction for most of the second half. Vineeth, however can have a sigh, as the plot is simple and has created the feel-good effect among youth which he intended. You definitely won’t miss it if you were a mills and boons fan.