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Hridayam Movie Review : A flavourful thali of campus days and the life after

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Hridayam - Official Trailer

Hridayam | Song - Minnalkkodi

Hridayam | Song - Thathaka Theithare

Hridayam | Song - Puthiyoru Lokam

Hridayam | Song - Pottu Thotta Pournami

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chandrus 494 days ago

Feel Good Movie❤️

ajithvarikkath 559 days ago

Great movie I ever watched in Malayalam, songs are pretty good ❤️

pvnsring 656 days ago

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User Ashraful Haque Setu 734 days ago

সাধারণ অথচ অসাধারণ। নিজের কলেজ বা স্কুল লাইফ এর বন্ধুত্ব, প্রেম, মারামারি ঝামেলা সব যেনো চোখের সামনে দেখতে পেলাম। যে জীবনে অনেক কঠিন অধ্যায় আসবে কিন্তু সব কিছু পেরিয়ে এগিয়ে চলার নামই জীবন ।

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'Hridayam' movie review: Vineeth Sreenivasan delivers two feel-good films for the price of one

I had two concerns before going into Hridayam. Its length and the 15 songs in it. Having seen the film, I can say that I can’t imagine it without that length and those songs. Vineeth Sreenivasan has structured Hridayam in a way that makes it seem like you're watching two feel-good films for the price of one.

It's like the Side A and Side B of an album. And the songs don't exist just for the sake of it. They act as markers for pivotal events in protagonist Arun Neelakandan's (Pranav Mohanlal) life.

In fact, the Hridayam experience already began the day they launched the album. It’s the appetizer before the buffet. If you're already familiar with the album, you'll like them even more once you see their placement in the film.

There were six songs that I wasn't floored by when I first heard them, but I began to appreciate them after getting a sense of the context. I’m listening to the soundtrack as I write this review because I want to remember the details.

Hridayam feels like a novel that charts a character's growth from one specific part of his life to another. Vineeth Sreenivasan is not going for the typical conflict-resolution format. He has written the film like a collection of conflict-resolution episodes, with the pre-interval portions covering Arun's college life and the other half exploring his post-college experiences. (I liked how Vineeth uses the film's title in place of 'Interval')

Although it employs the familiar coming-of-age tropes, Vineeth makes them seem fresh again. Arun is a different person to different people. He could be the coolest guy you looked up to in college or the guy who beat you up. I connected to Hridayam a lot because Arun commences college in the same year I did (2006) and in the same place (Chennai).

So, I was hooked right from that opening scene showing Pranav boarding a train where he meets his future buddies for the first time. It's that time before smartphones became a fashion - when your phones looked more like a video game console.

It's that time when you interacted with non-Malayalis for the first time. It’s that time when seniors tell you that the grill safeguarding your hostel corridor is useless because they will catch you and rag you no matter what. Arun goes through it all.

We have all had those moments in our late 20s or early 30s where we remember the people we met during our college life (batchmates to professors to canteen guys to wardens), and we wonder what happened to those who - good or bad - shaped our formative years. Sometimes you learn that the person you hated the most back then has now turned into someone with whom you’d like to hang out.

When you get to know someone close, you learn that they are not the raging jerk you assumed they were. Some of them don’t change and get worse as they grow older. When we first meet Arun, he is a charming guy with the kind of swag you wish you had in the first year of college. But meeting Darshana (Darshana Rajendran) changes him into someone unruly and brutish. He becomes prone to mistakes and temptations, just like most of us did back then.

You see, it's this therapeutic quality of Hridayam that I loved the most. It makes you feel less embarrassed about the awkward, foolish things you did in the past. It's a film that doesn’t believe in dwelling on past mistakes.

It's like a friend that pats you on the back and says, "It's fine, dude. Look at these characters. They have moved on. Nobody cares anymore about what happened a decade ago. You should move on too," and you think to yourself that, yes, it's as simple as that. It's not the end of the world. This realisation must've dawned on Arun too.

He finds a way to push himself, again and again, to put everything behind and grow into a responsible young adult. He ends up right where we want him to end up. In most films involving a love story, it’s the guys who usually have difficulty moving on. This time, it's a girl. But even she will eventually muster the strength to begin the next phase of her life. Better late than never, right?

Oh, I forgot to add one more initial concern - of Pranav Mohanlal fitting into a film of this nature. I was curious to see how a filmmaker like Vineeth Sreenivasan would handle him. The 'Darshana' song had already given us a faint glimmer of hope.

But how would he do in the entire film? I'm happy to report that Pranav delivers in spades. Pranav gets the transformation - from flawed and rebellious to mature and responsible - right. He also excels in those little moments where we meet minor characters who make a strong impact regardless of their screentime.

How many films do that? Hridayam's most emotional and inspiring segment involves Arun's friendship with a Tamil batchmate named Selva. It acts as its own little movie, and you get the sense that Vineeth is pulling off, in a small way, his dream of making a Tamil-language feature. Or perhaps he is warming up before making a big one.

Another poignant moment has Arun conversing with a Tamil-speaking stranger at a tea stall. The man, who seems to have fallen on hard times, tells him that he used to be a big movie producer. In that instant, you wish that things got better for him too. You'll get your answer in the film’s third act. Nobody does feel good like Vineeth Sreenivasan.

I also loved the casting of Kalyani Priyadarshan as Nithya, the girl Arun will eventually marry. Hridayam is undoubtedly Kalyani's finest hour. Anyone can tell that Nithya is so apt for Arun. She brings that much-needed level of warmth, mischief, and humour in his life that we didn't notice in his interactions with Darshana.

He is not reluctant to be under her control. It's a match made in heaven. And Darshana Rajendran is aptly cast as the girl who thinks a lot before making serious life decisions. She is not sure in the way that Arun or Nithya is. The involvement of these three actors proves once again that Vineeth has a great eye (and ear) for talent.

But Pranav, Kalyani and Darshana are not the only inspired casting choices in Hridayam. The guy who plays Arun's best friend - I don't know his name - is excellent too. Vineeth gives him a fair share of comical and emotional moments that make him endearing.

I can tell that he has a great future ahead of him. Also terrific are all the actors cast as Arun's batchmates. (One of the actors, Arun Kurian of Anandam-fame, is already familiar to us.) And Vineeth brings his trademark sense of humour in certain situations that you first expect to have a serious outcome.

And when you have the incredibly hilarious Johny Antony playing Nithya's father, you know from where she got her sense of humour. Speaking of supportive parents, Vijayaraghavan plays Arun's dad. A railway station conversation scene brought back memories of talking to my father at the Thalassery railway station moments before I boarded a train headed for Chennai's Egmore station.

As a coming-of-age drama, Hridayam is to Vineeth Sreenivasan what Premam was to Alphonse Puthren. (If given a choice, I would easily pick Hridayam over Premam.) It's one of those films I wanted to hug once the end credits started rolling.

I also wanted to hug Vineeth for making a film with so many heartwarming moments and then daring to release it at a time when everyone is constantly troubled by concerns over a raging pandemic and the restrictions imposed. I badly needed this film. Thank you, Vineeth Sreenivasan and friends.

Director: Vineeth Sreenivasan

Cast: Pranav Mohanlal, Darshana Rajendran, Kalyani Priyadarshan

Rating: 4/5

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'Hridayam' movie review: Youthful charm, romance make it a memorable watch

It’s a world filled with romance and lovers and cupids. College life is easily one of the best phases in our life. Those beautiful moments are what perhaps makes the later part of our life so meaningful. Hridayam gives that high. If Vineeth Sreenivasan scripts it with his heart, Pranav Mohanlal lends an undeniable charm to it, making Hridayam a memorable watch.

Hridayam travels through the life of Arun Neelakandan who joins an Engineering college in Chennai. It’s love at first sight for Arun when he sees Darshana the day he joins the college. Soon after it felt like we were back to our favourite college campus. The first half is filled with a colourful blend of romance and friendship and is set between 2006-2010.

Arun’s role as a student, lover, friend, husband, and father are shown in two chapters. First is his appearance as a college student, where he bravely makes an appearance the next day, despite being trashed by seniors. His friends are a boon to him. Antony Thadikaran, Selva, Darshana, Kali, Pratheek, and Maya are important links in his college life. Then comes the big question of what next after Engineering? That brings him to Nithya. Arun’s second chapter begins from there. His romance with Nithya.

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Pranav is still an enigma to me: Interview with Vineeth Sreenivasan

Vineeth had mentioned in an interview that Pranav’s smile had a special charm and that he wanted to make proper use of that charm in Hridayam. Literally, that is Hridayam. One can’t even visualise any other actor in place of Arun Neelakandan. Pranav has come a long way since his first film. His charm is undeniable. And that’s exactly what makes us warm up to Arun Neelakandan. Darshana is safe in the hands of Darshana who goes through a multitude of emotions with ease. Kalyani was effective as Nithya and her chemistry with Pranav is one of the high points of the film.

Ashwath Lal who made his debut in Pathinettam Padi appears as Antony Thadikaran and he has done a commendable job. The other actors are Annu Antony, Aju Varghese, Vijayaraghavan, Johnny Antony, Ann Saleem, Megha Thomas, Jojo Thomas, Siva Hariharan, and Ajith Thomas.

Special mention to cinematographer Vishwajith, who coincidentally was the cameraman of Nivin Pauly’s short film in Oru Vadakkan Selfie. Hisham Abdul Wahab is the fourth angle in Hridayam after Pranav, Vineeth, and Vishwajith. His lilting songs are the heart and soul of the film. There are 15 songs, and all have been seamlessly blended into the narrative. Ranjan Abraham’s editing is so impressive.

There is romance, friendship, heartbreak, pathos, and life in Hridayam. That’s Hridayam in very simple terms. A beautiful gift during these trying times. That the makers and producers decided to go ahead with the release despite pandemic constraints speaks about their confidence in the film.

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Home » Review » Hridayam movie review: Pranav Mohanlal is the soul of this coming-of-age tale paced as two delightful chapters »

Hridayam movie review: Pranav Mohanlal is the soul of this coming-of-age tale paced as two delightful chapters

It's safe to say that Pranav is the soul of the movie, which is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. The actor has a charisma that suits his character Arun and Vineeth uses this best during the pre-interval portions set in the campus.

• Sanjith Sidhardhan

Last Updated: 06.00 AM, Feb 18, 2022

Story: Structured as two chapters in the life of Arun Neelankadan (Pranav Mohanlal), one half follows the events that happen during his campus years and the second examines his time after college and his years as a married man. The people in both the chapters – his first girlfriend Darshana, his friends and Nithya – have a profound influence in his life and help shape the person he has become.

Review: If Vineeth Sreenivasan’s previous four films – Malarvadi Arts Club, Thattathin Marayathu, Thira and Jacobinte Swargarajyam – are anything to go by, it’s almost a given that his movies will have enough cinematic moments and elements to keep the audience engaged, even if it's a familiar story. It’s in the presentation, narration and the experience that his movies offer, that they differ from the earlier versions. Hridayam is again a success on that front.

It's a coming-of-age tale that begins with Arun Neelakandan boarding a train to Chennai to join his engineering college, a place and its people that would come to shape his life in more ways than one. Hridayam is structured as two chapters in Arun’s life – one during college and the other after his campus days, with the third act interconnecting his past and present. The campus chapter is the one that is packed with energy – in terms of tone as well as music.

Being an engineering graduate from a Chennai college himself, Vineeth paints a rather vivid picture that is sure to make the millennials nostalgic and take a stroll down memory lane. It’s also here that Arun meets Darshana, and the filmmaker doesn’t make their relationship a clichéd campus romance. He introduces challenges – some rather too convenient – but it helps Arun’s evolution and completes the arc at the end. Given that it’s those experiences from his campus life that has had a major impact in his life, the director invests a lion’s share of the film to this.

But it’s the second chapter that will have you watching the proceedings with a smile throughout. Be it the weddings, the meet-cute or the romance, these might lack the energy of the first half but it has the heart and humour. And it’s not easy to pull off, given it’s a series of feel-good moments strung together and paced beautifully for the audience to enjoy. That said, Arun’s world in the second half does feel contained compared to the first chapter. You could argue that this is what happens in real life too, it does feel that the character is just an extension of his campus days and lacks the depth that would have made the evolution more complete. Even as he finds himself, there you still don’t get a sense that he has grown as a person. The dialogues in these sequences too come off as rather formulaic.

Also read: Exclusive! Kalyani Priyadarshan: I have learnt the most as an actor while working with Mohanlal in Bro Daddy

The movie is just shy of three hours, and the energy does taper in the dying 30 minutes. Hesham Abdul Wahab’s music, however, is a huge boon to a movie of this length. The tracks are brilliantly placed and help pace the movie along nicely. The tempo of the songs too is reflective of Arun's personality, from a youngster driven by adrenaline to one who is mellowed down by experiences and insights.

It's safe to say that Pranav is the soul of the movie, and this is easily his best outing so far. The actor has a charisma that suits his character Arun and this is best used by Vineeth during his campus days. While the matured portions needed some work, the actor does bring in an endearing quality to his character, which could make you overlook the flaws. While he shines in the first half as Arun, it becomes difficult to differentiate between Arun and Pranav's real-life character in the latter chapter. Darshana Rajendran cruises through her role as Darshana in the movie. Of all the characters, she is probably the one who nails the nuances to differentiate the two phases. The arc of her character too is something that has not been explored much in campus tales, and Darshana does complete justice to make it memorable. Kalyani as Nithya is a bundle of energy and her chemistry with Pranav helps make the aforementioned moments work in the second chapter of the movie. Kalyani's character, however, could have been developed more, given that she becomes the cornerstone of Arun's life in the latter phase. Annu Antony, Jojo Jose and Arun Kurian make the most of their parts to stand out in the supporting cast. Ashwath Lal and Aju Varghese elevate the humour elements in Hridayam, along with Johny Antony.

The art department also deserves applause for showing the time period of the late 2000s in the first half without really throwing it in your face. The movie is also beautifully cinematographed by Viswajith Odukkathil. He ensures that the vibrancy of the college is intact in the first half. The visuals for Puthiyoru Lokam sets the refreshing tone for the start of the next chapter and the final sequences accompanied by Hesham’s music, takes you back to remind you of the beating heart of Hridayam.

Verdict: Boasted by beautiful visuals, music and humour, this Vineeth Sreenivasan directorial is sure to take you back to your college days, while also making you realise the joy of what you have around. Pranav Mohanlal brings in his A-game for the movie, which also has a stellar supporting cast and is peppered with delightful moments that are best experienced in theatre with a large audience.

Also read: Exclusive! Hridayam director Vineeth: Cast Pranav Mohanlal and others based on their real-life personalities  

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Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Vineeth Sreenivasan

Pranav Mohanlal

Arun Neelakandan

Kalyani Priyadarshan

Darshana Rajendran

Vijayaraghavan

Neelakandan

Johny Antony

Hridayam Review: Vineeth Srinivasan’s Bloated Love Letter to College Days

In Vineeth Srinivasan ’s films, cursory and subjective experiences come wearing a translucent cloak of enduring beauty. In the former half of Hridayam , a boy rides a motorbike into the college campus. When his friend complains about its penetrating noise, he says, “It goes straight into the heart of young women!” His tone and body language are dramatic. The bike is one of the dozens of things and experiences Hridayam casually oversells, bestowing them with unreasonable high praise. In the opening scene, a stranger on a Chennai-bound train tells hero Arun Neelakandan ( Pranav Mohanlal ) and his friend that the college they will spend the next four years in has the most beautiful campus. He looks prescient in the centrally composed close-up shot when he says, “Chennai will leave an indelible mark on you.”

Hridayam follows Arun Neelakandan over ten years, from his late teens until his late twenties, looking at his friendships and romantic affairs, his brief descent into anarchy, his transformation into a family man and successful commercial photographer. There are not many surprises in the story. The most intense conflict Arun must fight is the haunting memory of Darshana ( Darshana Rajendran ), a perky classmate he falls in love with in the first year of college. Their affair ends as soon as it begins, but Arun stays abnormally committed to the breakup turmoil.

Vineeth’s style of filmmaking, which has a surprisingly big fandom, is radically different from the best of the Malayalam new wave. He loyally sticks to mainstream cinematic clichés, drawing narrative elements from other movies and pop-culture byproducts like memes. Arun, head over heels in love with Darshana, immediately finds a rival – a filmy villain with exaggerated mannerisms – in a senior student. Arun is a multipotential hero, while his best friend at college, a dark-skinned young man with a rustic sense of humour, is the butt of many jokes. He is the kind of fool who humiliates himself in front of a beautiful woman by taking a sip from the finger bowl at a restaurant.

For a film built like a coming-of-age drama, there is little character journey in Hridayam . Arun clings to teen nostalgia in an unhealthy fashion. In the latter half of the film, he falls in love with Nithya ( Kalyani Priyadarshan ) in the same way he had fallen in love with Darshana. Vineeth stitches together staple feel-good moments and fifteen songs that play to the gallery aggressively. When depicting the marital bliss of Arun and Nithya, the film unabashedly performs brand promotions, pretending that the line that separates feature films and television ads doesn’t exist.

Kalyani Priyadarshan is building a fine career out of understated acting, arresting screen presence and enviable comic timing. Nithya is a generic character, a happy-go-lucky woman who slides into a conventional marriage and confines her entire life to the four walls of Arun’s apartment. But Kalyani expands Nithya into a fascinating bundle of joy. The effortlessness of her performance makes the strained quality of Pranav Mohanlal’s acting more pronounced. Darshana Rajendran, an unusual choice for eye candy, turns Darshana into a character worth the viewer’s sympathy even when she is being whimsical.

Vineeth, despite his affinity for stories about youngsters, stays strictly apolitical. The film is based on Arun’s “crazy love” but the lovers stay largely platonic, as though they are mindful of the moral standards of the film’s target audience. In an unintentionally funny scene that presents the film’s views on casual sex, couples assemble neatly in a row at a Kochi park to make out under the shade of colourful umbrellas.

At the beginning of Arun’s anarchic phase, during which he rags his juniors violently and closes in on transforming into a toxic boyfriend, the camera gives a glimpse of a copy of Das Kapital on his table. At the end of the phase, he bursts into tears in the well-equipped washroom of a well-off classmate, longingly staring at the branded products. He embraces his college textbooks, like an institutional antidote to Marx’s book.

The film displays its revolutionary fervour in an extended sequence set in a Chennai slum, the home of Selva, Arun’s studious classmate who is leading a quiet agitation through education. This part looks like a shallow hat-tip to Tamil new-wave political movies like Pariyerum Perumal . Vineeth refrains from delving into Selva’s social context but uses this sequence and its sub-characters as lazy tear-jerkers. In a cheerful montage, he presents the students from an eclectic mix of social backgrounds, studying together and sharing food. Arun gets ahead in his studies, but what profound effect does Selva have on him? The lead characters, who come from upper-class homes, go back to plush condos and their filtered existence, and the slum sequences, in hindsight, resemble CSR-driven off-beat picnics.

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Hridayam might be Vineeth’s most ambitious and daring work in terms of scale, but in essence, it is not much different from his previous films. He continues to dabble in the familiar and the mediocre, endorsing a false sense of hope about reality. His characters engage in relentless talking, but the absence of superior writing and cinematic aesthetics fail to turn their everyday experiences universal and inspiring. There are words aplenty, but they only turn feelings into stones.

This Hridayam review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.

Hridayam (2022)

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Published :

Last Updated : 21 Feb, 2022 01:23 PM

Published : 21 Feb 2022 01:23 PM Last Updated : 21 Feb 2022 01:23 PM

முதல் பார்வை | Hridayam - இதயத்தைப் பிழியும் ஃபீல் குட் சினிமா!

வாழ்க்கையின் மூன்று படிநிலைகளை சொல்லும் ‘ஆட்டோகிராஃப்’, ‘பிரேமம்’, ‘அட்டக்கத்தி’ பாணி கதை. எனினும் அதனை வினீத் ஸ்ரீனிவாசன் தனக்கே உரிய எமோஷனல் டச்சுடன் அழகான ஒரு படத்தை கொடுத்துள்ளார். அதுதான் ஹ்ரிதயம்.

+2 முடித்துவிட்டு கேரளாவிலிருந்து சென்னைக்கு வந்து ஒரு பொறியியல் கல்லூரியில் சேர்கிறார் அருண் நீலகண்டன் (ப்ரணவ் மோகன்லால்). கல்லூரில் சேர்ந்த சில நாட்களிலேயே தர்ஷனா (தர்ஷனா ராஜேந்திரன்) என்ற பெண்ணிடம் காதலில் விழுகிறார். சீனியர்களுடனான மோதல், புதிய நண்பர்கள், காதல் என போய்க் கொண்டிருந்த அவரது வாழ்க்கை எதிர்பாராத சூழலில் ஏற்படும் திடீர் காதல் முறிவால் மாறுகிறது. விரக்தியின் உச்சிக்கு செல்லும் ப்ரணவின் நடவடிக்கைகள் படிப்படியாக மாறத் தொடங்குகின்றன. ஜூனியர்களை ராகிங் செய்கிறார், தர்ஷனாவை வெறுப்பேற்ற வேண்டாவெறுப்பாக வேறொரு பெண்ணை காதலிக்கிறார், குடிக்கிறார். இப்படியாக செல்லும் ப்ரணவின் வாழ்க்கை செல்வா என்ற சக மாணவனால் புத்துயிர் பெறுகிறது. இதன் பின்னர் அவரது வாழ்க்கை எதை நோக்கிச் செல்கிறது என்பதே ‘ஹ்ரிதயம்’ படத்தின் கதை.

நாயகனாக ப்ரணவ் மோகன்லால். முதல்முறையாக நடிப்புக்குத் தீனி போடும் ஒரு கதாபாத்திரம். படம் முழுக்க தன்னுடைய நடிப்பால் பார்வையாளர்கள் மனதில் இடம்பிடிக்கிறார். ப்ரணவ்வின் முதல் காதலியாக நடித்திருக்கும் தர்ஷனா ராஜேந்திரனின் நடிப்பும் குறிப்பிட்டு பாராட்டப்பட வேண்டியது. காதலனோடு ப்ரேக் அப் ஆகும்போது கோபத்தை வெளிப்படுத்துவதாகட்டும், இறுதியில் அதே காதலனின் திருமணத்தின் போது அழுகையை அடக்கி அங்கிருந்து வெளியேறுவதாகட்டும் கண்களாலயே பேசுகிறார்.

இவர்கள் தவிர கல்யாணி ப்ரியதர்ஷன், ப்ரணவ்வின் நண்பராக வரும் அஷ்வத் லால், அஜு வர்கீஸ், காளேஷ் ராமானந்த் என அனைவரும் குறை சொல்ல முடியாத நடிப்பை வழங்கியுள்ளனர்.

படத்தின் தொடக்கத்தில் ஒரு வசனம் உண்டு. ரயிலில் ஒரு கதாபாத்திரம் சென்னைக்கு செல்லும் ப்ரணவ் மோகன்லாலிடம் ‘4 ஆண்டுகள் முடிந்து சென்னையிலிருந்து ஊருக்குத் திரும்பி வரும்போது இதயத்தைப் பிழியும் ஒரு வலி ஏற்படும்’ என்று சொல்லும். சரியாக இடைவேளையின் போது ப்ரணவ் மோகன்லால் சென்னையிலிருந்து சொந்த ஊருக்கு ரயிலேறி செல்வார். அந்த கதாபாத்திரம் சொன்ன இதயத்தைப் பிழியும் அந்த வலியை பார்வையாளர்களால் உணர முடியும்.

வழக்கமாக வினீத் ஸ்ரீனிவாசன் படங்களில் சென்னை ஒரு பகுதியாக இடம்பெறுவது வழக்கம். அது இப்படத்தில் ஒரு படி மேலாக சென்று சென்னை ஒரு கதாபாத்திரமாகவே இடம்பெறுகிறது. அந்த அளவுக்கு சென்னையையும் அதன் மனிதர்களையும் மிக அழகாக காட்சிப்படுத்தியிருக்கிறார் வினீத் ஸ்ரீனிவாசன்.

வாழ்க்கையின் மூன்று படிநிலைகளை காட்டும்போது கதாபாத்திரங்களில் பெரியளவும் மாற்றங்கள் இல்லையெனினும் அவர்கள் காட்டும் முதிர்ச்சி வியக்கவைக்கிறது. உதாரணமாக தொடங்கிய வேகத்தில் முடிவுக்கு வரும் ப்ரணவ் - தர்ஷனா காதல் அவர்கள் இருவரது இருண்ட பக்கங்களையும் வெளிக்கொண்டு வருவதை காட்சிப்படுத்திய விதம் அருமை. பெரிய ட்விஸ்ட்கள், திருப்பங்களோ எதுவும் இல்லாமல் ஒரு சுவாரஸ்யமான ஃபீல் குட் கதையை படமாக்கியிருக்கிறார் இயக்குநர்.

படத்தின் குறைகள் எப்போதும் விறைப்பாக, சீனியர்களை ராகிங் செய்துகொண்டும், குடித்துக் கொண்டும் இருக்கும் ப்ரணவ் திடீரென ஒரு நாள் தன் ரூம்மேட்களிடம் சண்டை போட்டு விட்டு மறுநாள் முதல் நன்கு படிக்கும் மாணவனாக மாறுகிறார். இந்த திடீர் மாற்றத்துக்கான காரணம் என்ன என்பது தெளிவாக சொல்லப்படவில்லை. மற்றொன்று படத்தின் நீளம். இரண்டாம் பாதியில் வரும் சில நீளமான காட்சிகளை பாரபட்சம் பார்க்காமல் வெட்டியிருந்தால் ஆங்காங்கே தோன்றும் சலிப்பை தவிர்த்திருக்கலாம். செல்வா கதாபாத்திரம் ப்ரணவ் வாழ்க்கையில் வந்தவுடனே இன்னும் சில காட்சிகளில் அது என்னவாகப் போகிறது என்று நமக்குத் தெரிந்துவிடுவதால் அந்த காட்சி நமக்குள் பெரிய தாக்கம் எதையும் ஏற்படுத்தவில்லை.

நீங்கள் ஃபீல் குட் படங்களின் ரசிகர்களாக இருந்தால், உங்கள் கல்லூரி வாழ்க்கையின் நாட்களை திரும்பிப் பார்க்க நினைத்தால் அவசியம் பார்க்க வேண்டிய படம் ‘ஹ்ரிதயம்’.

இப்படம் இப்போது ஹாட்ஸ்டார் தளத்தில் காணக் கிடைக்கிறது.

அன்பு வாசகர்களே....

இந்த ஊரடங்கு காலத்தில் வீட்டை விட்டு வெளியே வராமல் நமக்கு நாமே சமூக விலகல் ( Social Distancing) செய்து கொள்வோம். செய்தி ஊடகங்களின் வழியே உலகுடன் தொடர்பில் இருப்போம். பொதுவெளியில் இருந்து தனிமைப்படுத்திக் கொண்டு கரோனா பரவலைத் தடுப்பதில் நம் பங்கை முழுமையாக இந்த சமூகத்துக்கு அளிப்போம்.

CoVid-19 கரோனா தடுப்பு / விழிப்புணர்வு கையேடு - இலவசமாக டவுன்லோடு செய்து பயன்பெறுங்கள்!

- வாசகர்கள் நலனில் அக்கறையுடன் இந்து தமிழ் திசை

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HRIDAYAM MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

College days are always special, and the friends and memories you make in this period often remain in your life forever. With loads of such sweet memories of college life comes Vineeth Srinivasan's Hridayam. Starring Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Darshana Rajendran in leading roles, the movie is a coming-of-age drama.

Hridayam follows Pranav Mohanlal's Arun from the moment he joins KCG College of Technology in Chennai in his 30s. The 171-minute movie is from Arun's perspective as he lives through key college moments including ragging from seniors, clearing arrears, and falling in love. The journey that he is on to discover satisfaction and passion in life forms the crux of the film.

Like its name, Hridayam had a lot of heart in it and it's not surprising considering how Sreenivasan sought inspiration from his own college experience and that of his friends. It is this quality that makes the film such a treat. With a nostalgic vibe, the film will transport you to your college days, leaving you with a desire to revisit your alma mater and your college mates.

A lot of credits for this goes to Viswajith Odukkathil's cinematography that captures each moment from the perspective of the person experiencing them.

Hesham Abdul Wahab's music just accentuates the movie's wistful and feel-good quality. With soul-soothing numbers like Bas Kar Ji and Nagini, the movie's soundtrack is a feast to listen to. However, at some point, there are just too many songs in the movie, which could potentially affect the viewing experience.

Technical aspects aside, what holds a relatively long movie like Hridayam are the central characters. Sreenivasan has done a splendid job in the characterisation of Arun, Darshana, Arun's friends, and Nithya. The respective actors then do their bit to make each character memorable.

In Hridayam, Vineeth Srinivasan does what he is best at: recreating the early 2000s through a coming-of-age story. However, the movie could have saved precious minutes by chopping down on certain unimportant songs and sequences that simply felt like a drag.

Nevertheless, Hridayam is a refreshing movie, one that will make you nostalgic for your college days and maybe even make you fall in love with Chennai. And in the process pull you into its world and away from reality throughout its runtime.

HRIDAYAM VIDEO REVIEW

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REVIEW RATING EXPLANATION

பிரேக்கிங் சினிமா செய்திகள், திரை விமர்சனம், பாடல் விமர்சனம், ஃபோட்டோ கேலரி, பாக்ஸ் ஆபிஸ் செய்திகள், ஸ்லைடு ஷோ, போன்ற பல்வேறு சுவாரஸியமான தகவல்களை தமிழில் படிக்க இங்கு கிளிக் செய்யவும்      

HRIDAYAM NEWS STORIES

Semma Nostalgic treat - Music Audio Cassettes are back again in this Superstar’s son’s NEXT!

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Hridayam (transl. Heart) is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language coming-of-age romantic drama film written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. It was produced by Visakh Subramaniam through Merryland Cinemas and co-produced by Noble Babu Thomas through Big Bang Entertainments. The film stars Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Darshana Rajendran. The film’s songs and background score was composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab.[3][4]

Hridayam marks the return of Merryland Studio, one of the earliest film studios in Kerala, into film production. The film reintroduced once obsolete audio cassettes and limited edition vinyl records in India. Principal photography began in February 2020, after taking a break with the surge of COVID-19 pandemic in India, filming was concluded in March 2021. The film was shot at KCG College of Technology in Chennai, where Vineeth, his wife Divya and his friend and actor Aju Varghese studied, and in Palakkad, Kochi, and Andhra Pradesh.

Hridayam was released in theatres worldwide on 21 January 2022.[5] It received positive reviews from critics and audiences. The film grossed over ₹79.8 crore (US$10 million) worldwide, becoming the 3rd highest grossing Malayalam film of the year.[2] The film won two Kerala State Film Awards, including Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value.[6] The film was one of the top rated Indian movies of 2022, by the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).[7]

Hridayam ഹൃദയം

Pranav Mohanlal

Darshana Rajendran

Kalyani Priyadarshan

Vijayaraghavan

Arun Kurian

Aju Varghese

Athul ram kumar.

Johny Antony

Annu antony, abishek joseph george, megha thomas.

Shiva Hariharan

Jishnu sreekumar, kurian joseph john, sanjay menon, kalesh ramanand.

AR Raja Ganesh

Aravindan r, ajeesh jose, shersha sherief, sangeetha prathap, ramesh menon, nikhil nair, serah mathews, thushara pillai, maria vincent.

Meenakshi Raveendran

Manjula mohandas.

Adithyan Chadrashekar

Vineeth Sreenivasan

Ajith thomas abraham.

Prithviraj Sukumaran

Ranjan Abraham

Shafi Chemmad

Kaithapram damodaran, noble babu thomas, sitara suresh.

Sachin Warrier

Vishak Nair

K. S. Chithra

Hesham abdul wahab, sachin balu, ashwini kale, bijith dharmadam, jayaram ramachandran, arvind venugopal, visakh subramaniam, viswajith odukkathil, divya george, guna balasubramanian, divya vineeth, mohammad maqbool mansoor, megha josekutty, bhadra rajin, swetha ashok.

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Hridayam Movie Review: Vineeth Sreenivasan delivers two feel-good films for the price of one

Rating: ( 4 / 5).

I had two concerns before going into Hridayam . Its length and the 15 songs in it. Having seen the film, I can say that I can't imagine it without that length and those songs. Vineeth Sreenivasan has structured Hridayam in a way that makes it seem like you're watching two feel-good films for the price of one. It's like the Side A and Side B of an album. And the songs don't exist just for the sake of it. They act as markers for pivotal events in protagonist Arun Neelakandan's (Pranav Mohanlal) life. In fact, the Hridayam experience already began the day they launched the album. It's the appetizer before the buffet. If you're already familiar with the album, you'll like them even more once you see their placement in the film. There were six songs that I wasn't floored by when I first heard them, but I began to appreciate them after getting a sense of the context. I'm listening to the soundtrack as I write this review because I want to remember the details.

Director: Vineeth Sreenivasan Cast: Pranav Mohanlal, Darshana Rajendran, Kalyani Priyadarshan

Hridayam feels like a novel that charts a character's growth from one specific part of his life to another. Vineeth Sreenivasan is not going for the typical conflict-resolution format. He has written the film like a collection of conflict-resolution episodes, with the pre-interval portions covering Arun's college life and the other half exploring his post-college experiences. (I liked how Vineeth uses the film's title in place of 'Interval'.) Although it employs the familiar coming-of-age tropes, Vineeth makes them seem fresh again. Arun is a different person to different people. He could be the coolest guy you looked up to in college or the guy who beat you up. I connected to Hridayam a lot because Arun commences college in the same year I did (2006) and in the same place (Chennai). So, I was hooked right from that opening scene showing Pranav boarding a train where he meets his future buddies for the first time. It's that time before smartphones became a fashion -- when your phones looked more like a video game console. It's that time when you interacted with non-Malayalis for the first time. It's that time when seniors tell you that the grill safeguarding your hostel corridor is useless because they will catch you and rag you no matter what. Arun goes through it all. We have all had those moments in our late 20s or early 30s where we remember the people we met during our college life (batchmates to professors to canteen guys to wardens), and we wonder what happened to those who -- good or bad -- shaped our formative years. Sometimes you learn that the person you hated the most back then has now turned into someone with whom you'd like to hang out. When you get to know someone close, you learn that they are not the raging jerk you assumed they were. Some of them don't change and get worse as they grow older. When we first meet Arun, he is a charming guy with the kind of swag you wish you had in the first year of college. But meeting Darshana (Darshana Rajendran) changes him into someone unruly and brutish. He becomes prone to mistakes and temptations, just like most of us did back then. You see, it's this therapeutic quality of Hridayam that I loved the most. It makes you feel less embarrassed about the awkward, foolish things you did in the past. It's a film that doesn't believe in dwelling on past mistakes. It's like a friend that pats you on the back and says, "It's fine, dude. Look at these characters. They have moved on. Nobody cares anymore about what happened a decade ago. You should move on too," and you think to yourself that, yes, it's as simple as that. It's not the end of the world. This realisation must've dawned on Arun too. He finds a way to push himself, again and again, to put everything behind and grow into a responsible young adult. He ends up right where we want him to end up. In most films involving a love story, it's the guys who usually have difficulty moving on. This time, it's a girl. But even she will eventually muster the strength to begin the next phase of her life. Better late than never, right? Oh, I forgot to add one more initial concern -- of Pranav Mohanlal fitting into a film of this nature. I was curious to see how a filmmaker like Vineeth Sreenivasan would handle him. The Darshana song had already given us a faint glimmer of hope. But how would he do in the entire film? I'm happy to report that Pranav delivers in spades. Pranav gets the transformation -- from flawed and rebellious to mature and responsible -- right. He also excels in those little moments where we meet minor characters who make a strong impact regardless of their screentime. How many films do that? Hridayam's most emotional and inspiring segment involves Arun's friendship with a Tamil batchmate named Selva. It acts as its own little movie, and you get the sense that Vineeth is pulling off, in a small way, his dream of making a Tamil-language feature. Or perhaps he is warming up before making a big one. Another poignant moment has Arun conversing with a Tamil-speaking stranger at a tea stall. The man, who seems to have fallen on hard times, tells him that he used to be a big movie producer. In that instant, you wish that things got better for him too. You'll get your answer in the film's third act. Nobody does feel good like Vineeth Sreenivasan. I also loved the casting of Kalyani Priyadarshan as Nithya, the girl Arun will eventually marry. Hridayam is undoubtedly Kalyani's finest hour. Anyone can tell that Nithya is so apt for Arun. She brings that much-needed level of warmth, mischief, and humour in his life that we didn't notice in his interactions with Darshana. He is not reluctant to be under her control. It's a match made in heaven. And Darshana Rajendran is aptly cast as the girl who thinks a lot before making serious life decisions. She is not sure in the way that Arun or Nithya is. The involvement of these three actors proves once again that Vineeth has a great eye (and ear) for talent. But Pranav, Kalyani and Darshana are not the only inspired casting choices in Hridayam . The guy who plays Arun's best friend -- I don't know his name -- is excellent too. Vineeth gives him a fair share of comical and emotional moments that make him endearing. I can tell that he has a great future ahead of him. Also terrific are all the actors cast as Arun's batchmates. (One of the actors, Arun Kurian of Anandam -fame, is already familiar to us.) And Vineeth brings his trademark sense of humour in certain situations that you first expect to have a serious outcome. And when you have the incredibly hilarious Johny Antony playing Nithya's father, you know from where she got her sense of humour. Speaking of supportive parents, Vijayaraghavan plays Arun's. A railway station conversation scene brought back memories of talking to my father at the Thalassery railway station moments before I boarded a train headed for Chennai's Egmore station.   As a coming-of-age drama, Hridayam is to Vineeth Sreenivasan what Premam was to Alphonse Puthren. (If given a choice, I would easily pick Hridayam over Premam .) It's one of those films I wanted to hug once the end credits started rolling. I also wanted to hug Vineeth for making a film with so many heartwarming moments and then daring to release it at a time when everyone is constantly troubled by concerns over a raging pandemic and the restrictions imposed. I badly needed this film. Thank you, Vineeth Sreenivasan and friends.

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Hridayam movie review: An overlong Premam meets shades of Arjun Reddy meets under-written women 

Hridayam’s attractive packaging is no match for the lack of originality in its story and storytelling.

Language: Malayalam with English, Tamil and some Hindi

Whatever else it is or is not, Hridayam (Heart) is certainly pretty. DoP Viswajith Odukkathil is tasked with capturing everything from spectacular natural scenery to messy student dwellings, and he does it all with flair. None of his frames appear too studied or arranged, and the extended scenes of the hero communing with nature are just splendid.   

The prettiness is complemented by Hesham Abdul Wahab’s sublime music and by purported progressiveness in the story. When a father says his daughter’s beau is not financially stable enough to “take care of her”, she tells Dad she is capable of taking care of herself and a man; a new parent in the story gives his child both his own name and the mother’s name – unusual for commercial Malayalam cinema (or even Indian cinema at large), hence worth noting.   

These overt declarations of liberalism are suspiciously akin to posturing, though, when viewed against the larger picture presented here.

Beyond the gloss – very appealing gloss, I must add – Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Hridayam is yet another film about a man and under-written women. The writer-director reveals a conservative core off and on in the narrative, making it a patchwork quilt of the appearance it aspires to achieve plus what it may even sincerely want to be plus what it actually is, all jammed into an exhausting running time of nearly three hours.

Long becomes overlong only when content is not working, and the truth is that Hridayam ’s attractive packaging is no match for the lack of originality in its story and storytelling, both in comparison with Indian cinema as a whole and Vineeth’s own filmography.   

Take the framework of Alphonse Puthren’s Premam (2015, Malayalam) in the man-child-comes-of-age genre. Weave into it the meditative tone and musicality of Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010, Tamil) and its ilk. Toss in a stretch where the hero spirals downwards into territory borrowed from Arjun Reddy (2017, Telugu). Throw in skeletally characterised women viewed through a narrow male gaze. The result is Hridayam .   

It kicks off with Arun Neelakandan (Pranav Mohanlal) boarding a train for Chennai where he has enrolled in an engineering college. Between settling down in his new environs and rebelling against ragging, he falls in love with his college-mate Darshana (Darshana Rajendran) at first glance – because she smiles a fulsome, teeth-baring smile that travels up to her eyes and her hair flutters in the breeze while music plays in the background in the specific way women’s hair flutters in the breeze only in films.

This is not a flippant description, it’s literal. This really is just about as much as we get to know of why Arun develops feelings for Darshana. Her reciprocation seems to arise entirely from the fact that he approached her. Hridayam establishes their relationship through a device that mainstream men-centric Indian cinema routinely uses when it hasn’t written the woman with much depth: largely through a lovely song ( Darshana ) laid over eye-catching visuals of the couple hanging out together. When a teenaged crush is treated in this manner, it can be sweet, but it does call for a more convincing set-up when we are expected to believe these two share a love so deep that it lasts through great bitterness, physical distance and years.   

Hridayam ’s music and cinematography are so enchanting that for a while they succeed in overshadowing the film’s episodic feel and shallowness, until it is done in by its excessive length.

The Arun-Darshana bond hits a roadblock very early. Two subsequent segments – Arun’s despicable Arjun Reddy a.k.a. Kabir Singh phase and an encounter with a socially conscious fellow student (Kalesh Ramanand) – feel like separate films.    There is no natural progression towards anything in Hridayam . One day Arun is a layabout mistreating women and living in muck, then suddenly he is disgusted with his way of living.   

Premam ’s failing was that although it was supposedly about George maturing from teenage to adulthood, he did not in fact mature at all, as was evident from his relationships with women: each one came across as a crush rather than a profound love. Part of the problem lay in the limited writing of two out of the three significant women in his life. Ditto in Hridayam . Nithya (Kalyani Priyadarshan), for one, is barely outlined and a cliché. Arun first sees this nice-looking woman running across a courtyard in flowing garments swirling about her feet while her hair flies in the breeze (again!) as a song wafts around (again!) and he is instantly smitten (again!).   

Each time Hridayam looks set to do something different, it pulls back.

(Spoilers ahead) For instance, when Arun beats up Darshana’s womanising ex to protect her from him, and she tells him he is no better than that man, Hridayam seems headed towards an examination of men’s proprietorial attitude towards women, but that point goes nowhere.   

Hridayam is also careful not to outrightly condemn Arun for his horrendous behaviour during his downturn or to identify which aspects of that behaviour were condemnable. For instance, he sexually harasses a woman in the guise of ragging and she, far from resenting him, falls for him as women in hero-led commercial Indian cinema tend to do. He later tells someone she deserved better – but better than what? Better than a jerk, or – as implied by a conversation he earlier had with her – better than a man who was still in love with another woman?   

Meanwhile, Darshana is shown eternally regretting her decision to break up with him. This, although she witnessed some of his misconduct with the other woman.

Even as the second half of Hridayam paints Arun as a stand-up guy, it caricatures women as nags that good men are forced to manipulate – the grouchy, dissatisfied, suspicious wife, the interfering mother, the termagant of a mother-in-law…    (Spoiler alert ends)

Malayalam cinema is sometimes guilty of othering north Indians and Tamilians, but Hridayam heads off in another direction. The ethnic profiling of Malayali students is treated as perfectly normal and okay in the narrative.   

The film gets other things right though: such as the mix of languages in its particular setting, and a hilarious observation about the Malayali attitude to English. Having said that, it’s funny to see Hridayam trying to pass off very obviously southern sounding actors as northerners.   

That apart, the cast is one of Hridayam ’s better aspects. Among the supporting actors, Johny Antony and Vijayaraghavan are excellent in well-written roles as Nithya and Arun’s fathers respectively.   

Pranav does not have a smack-you-in-the-face, sock-you-in-the-stomach screen presence, but he does have a likeable personality that Vineeth taps effectively for Hridayam .   

Darshana gets only a fraction of the screen time accorded to the hero, and steals every scene in which she is present. The pandemic has been a well-deserved breakthrough period for this talented youngster, starting with her role in Mahesh Narayanan’s pathbreaking C U Soon .   

It feels unfair to assess Kalyani’s acting based on her poorly-sketched-out role, but this much can be said: she has a striking personality.  It is telling that Darshana’s name comes third in the opening credits after the two star children though she has a far larger role than Kalyani.

At a crucial point in Hridayam , Arun has a momentary lapse of integrity and utters a fleeting lie with life-altering consequences. Years later, he briefly lapses again, but confesses within seconds. This link between the two ends of the film is pulled off neatly, establishing once and for all that he is a changed person. That he has evolved is beyond question, what the film does not examine is the how and why of it.

Hridayam is either incapable of or disinterested in complexity in addition to often being mindless. There is no other explanation for why, in Arun’s last scene, he makes a request to a woman that harks back not only to an earlier moment of affection with one woman but also his toxic aggression towards another . The closing is meant to be romantic and nostalgic, but serves instead as a reminder of how lightly Hridayam views Arun’s loathsome avatar and the superficiality of its progressiveness.   

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)  

Hridayam was released in theatres in January 2022. It is now streaming on Disney+Hotstar

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial  

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