Sweetheart Movie Review: A heartbreakingly sour take on modern romance

2/5

Sweetheart movie plot:

Vasu (Rio Raj) and Manu (Gopika) are lovers who meet at a concert and get into a relationship. But given their difference of opinions when it comes to commitment, they part ways. In between all this, Mano is grounded after her family catches her along with Vasu in an intimate circumstance. But what happens when she makes a call to Vasu to tell her that she is pregnant and cannot step out of the house due to her strict household?

Also read: Before Sweetheart hits screens, here are 5 Tamil romantic dramas that show different shades of love 

Sweetheart Movie Review:

In one of the side tracks in Sweetheart, Vasu's friend’s girlfriend is left alone locked in their bachelor pad, as the friends attend to the emergency of Manu. She keeps calling her boyfriend to unlock her after being constantly told he will be back in 10 minutes for nearly a day. Parallelly, Manu, who is grounded at her home, is unable to get out of her flat, to communicate with her boyfriend about the pregnancy. Just like the women who constantly want their respective partners to get them out of the situations that they put in; Sweetheart too makes the audience give a sensible solution to a love story that touches on various topics, but with unnecessary detours.

In Sweetheart, we are introduced to Vasu, who is left with a scar when it comes to commitments and marriage. The reason being, after his doting mother left her marriage midway for another man. The passing montage for the sequence, however, shows the husband with violent behaviour while the mother is the one to keep having lighter moments with Vasu. This is one of the many moments in Sweetheart where trivial staging is being made to reintegrate its point.

For a film that talks about pre-marital pregnancy, the film neither stands for its progressive stance, nor understands its assignment clearly. There are moments when the film reiterates the theory that abortion is a sin, even by a doctor herself. And in another instance, silly moments are staged to make the drama move ahead. A particular sequence somewhere before the intermission, which seeks out Vasu collecting Manu’s sample for pregnancy confirmation, is staged with Kaathadi Ramamoorthy, and the risky balcony stunt Vasu does, does not sit logically well.

Sweetheart takes in a lot, keeps adding details and characterisations, that take up a lot of space in the screenplay. So much so that it feels unnecessary. It evidently takes a non-linear screenplay, which only further complicates the narrative. After a point, you don’t seem to understand the timeline of the lovers’ spat, who come with their own complicated issues. Had director Swineeth concentrated on building and showing the relationship of Manu and Vasu, without having to cut to flashback for every reasoning, Sweetheart could have worked better.

Rio Raj and Gopika work well as a lead pair, with the former portraying a man who evidently reeks of his male privilege and the ignorance that comes with it. Gopika’s Manu too seems relatable, in instances such as chopping her locks after a break-up. But too many details in the story complicate the film so much that the on-and-off relationship of Manu and Vasu’s seems far simpler.

You also feel that the film has not made up its mind to be serious or silly. When it tries to evoke caricature fun through a child who constantly is nosy, while it also has a parallel track with another child and his mother, who complete the redemption arc for Vasu. Too many characters, arcs, and a dash of silliness, make Sweetheart a drab that doesn’t live up to its expectations.

Sweetheart movie verdict:

There is a visible attempt in Sweetheart to make it a film that works for today’s times and romance. It does want to be that progressive film about complicated romances where the lovers themselves form their obstacles. But when it comes down to the last-minute silliness as a solution to the chaos it created, Sweetheart becomes sour. But, well, for all that you put up with the film, at least you get a glimpse of Yuvan Shankar Raja's concert and that does not compensate as a saving grace either.