Hridayam

 Story: Arun and Darshana are first-year engineering students and they fall in love soon after their college begins. And just as how things work generally in teenage, the road ahead isn't too easy for them. Life offers many twists and turns that they least expect.

Review: At a time in which college students hardly get to experience their campus or form friendships, Hridayam offers its version of a fun campus life, and a chance for those who miss it, to reminisce about their youthful days.

Arun (Pranav Mohanlal) and Darshana ( Darshana Rajendran) fall in love soon after they join college in the first year. They are crazy about each other, but not too wise to avoid the general pitfalls of campus romance. The friendship, love and connections go through various transformative phases, as the narrative progresses. The movie also goes on to show how Arun enters the next phase of life and handles its evolution into various stages.

Hridayam tries to give a realistic, coming-of-age depiction of a Malayali's campus life in Chennai and those who have done engineering in the city might connect with it the best, thanks to the different moods, flavours and vibes of the city woven into the narrative in a hearty manner. Pranav's character can be termed a perfect archetype of Malayali engineering students, who attempt to chart their own path in campus and life, after a brief initial phase of conforming to the popular trend. Yes, they start on the beaten track, but realizes halfway through that this is not what they want. The movie has an interesting emotional core, brought out by performances of Pranav, Darshana and others, which makes gentle tugs at the viewers' heartstrings. Pranav, who dominates through both the halves of the film, has definitely evolved as a stronger performer with Hridayam. There are many hearty songs in the film and they are all well-placed.

The movie is quite long at 172 mins of running time and could have been trimmed further for a better impact, especially in the second half. Also, there are stretches where one might feel that the story comes across as a bit too familiar and simplistic, especially for those who have completed campus life in the early 2000s. The trajectory that Arun's life takes, from campus romance and discovery of the ideal career, to that of a family man, is sometimes a bit too convenient. While life places new challenges before him, one can’t sense much of an evolution within him, though there are a few dialogues that try to paint a changed man's picture. Kalyani’s character, too, could have been developed with a little more depth, considering that she entered the protagonist’s life after he experienced one episode of the typical meet-cute romance.

This is the sort of movie one would take home with a smile on the face, silly campus memories and may be, a song on the lips, if you don’t care much about character evolutions.