Varun (Karthi), a fighter pilot in Indian Air Force, gets imprisoned in Pakistan jail during Kargil war when Pak army bombs his plane down. In jail, he lives with the memories of Leela.
The story moves back and forth the present serving of jail and his past love story. Couple of years ago, an accident brings officer Varun and Dr Leela together in Sri Nagar. Love blossoms.
Trouble arises in their relationship when he starts showing anger issues and other mood swings. She breaks up her relationship with him when he says he is not sure about being a good husband or parent.
Now the story comes to the current times in Pakistan.He tries to escape from the jail to meet Leela.
When first trailer of Cheliyaa hit the youtube, everyone went gaga over it. Visuals in the teaser made declaring the master director is back. What impress in Cheliyaa is the same terrific visuals. What about the story, narration, and other things? They do not impress at all. In fact, they bore us.
Few minutes into the movie, we realize that Mani Ratnam has not much content on his hands to offer other than showcasing beautiful Kashmiri locations.
The snowcapped mountains (shot in a foreign country), the backdrop of IAF planes, and airbase stations give a different look to the movie. But there are no great moments to relish, no extraordinary love story to enjoy, no great songs to forget about the dull moments.
There are not even patriotic moments to clap for. What we get to see is the unconvincing and boring romantic drama between Karthi and Aditi.
Karthi impresses Aditi easily, he takes her to Himalaya on his plane, and then he starts treating her as unimportant thing and forgets about the important things that matter to their life. He is like that. No explanation is given about this character trait.
Despite both the actors are beautiful and have good chemistry, their romance does not hold interest. Their conversation is awkwardly bad. The dialogues are bookish and hard to understand.
By end of the first half, restlessness comes in and as the movie progresses in the second half, one gets the feeling of tired.
Entire second half is lethargic. In a lengthy scene in the second half, Karthi gives a long speech explaining Aditis parents about his love towards her. In that lengthy scene, their parents do not utter a single word, she remains mostly silent and he goes on delivering dialogues for nearly 10 minutes. Such uninteresting scenes keep coming till the end.
The film is dedicated to Kargil heroes but the film does not speak much about heroism of our Kargil heroes, nor does it arouse any patriotic feel. Wish Mani Ratnam focused on this aspect rather than the dull romantic thread.
Sadly, the movie also has bad music. Rehman has come up with two good songs but they are not effective on screen.
Although Karthi and Aditi have given their best and cinematographer Ravi Varman stole the show, the movie comes a cropper. All in all, Cheliyaa is totally tedious and boring watch.
Greatandhra