Director: Narayana Raghavendra Rao

Cast: Balaji, Tejaswini, Subbu Panchu, Aari

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Cup of Coffee

A lot can happen over a cup of coffee- goes the tagline of a popular coffee shop. Debutant director Narayana Raghavendra Rao seems to have taken a cue from this, as his maiden venture is about happenings in a coffee shop.

Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey, as the title suggests, narrates incidents that take place in the life of individuals on an evening. The backdrop of the film is a coffee shop.

While conceiving an interesting knot, Narayana Raghavendra Rao has missed out in developing it into an engaging screenplay. As a result, watching the film becomes a boring process at one point of time.

But the biggest saving grace comes in the form of music by Achu and cinematography by Gopi Amarnath. Both have added immense strength to the film with their respective departments.

Coming to the story, Ajay (Aari) wants to become a director in Tamil cinema. He falls for Jiya (Subha) and meets her in a coffee shop. But he is yet to open his heart to ehr.

Satish (Balaji) and Ramya (Tejaswini) are couple who fights for silly things. They come to the coffee shop. Meanwhile, the manager of the coffee shop (Subbu Panchu) finds himself in a soup due to his business troubles. All these persons are watched by a writer (Sivaji).

Performance by lead players, especially Aari and Subha, are upto the mark. Balaji and Tejaswin resemble well a warring couple of the modern days. 

Director Narayana Raghavendra Rao would have succeeded big time had he infused more pace in the screenplay. Producer Mayuri Sekar deserves a pat for taking a bold decision to do an experimental film that is different from the mad crowd of contemporary flicks.