Udhayam NH4

                        
               I guess, the premise of the Udhayam is well known by now. But  let me give still give a summary here. It is simple boy meet girl love story. The Chennai guy Prabhu meets the Bangalore girl Rithika. They fall in love in their college in Bangalore. But girls father obviously creates problems. So, they elope from Bangalore to Chennai in NH4. The father of the girl being a big political figure sends a bad-ass policeman Manoj, to rescue his daughter. His major concern is his political image. Manoj starts his chase and the story unravels from there. In the end, i felt Udhayam is a good film. I liked it. But i did have a few problems with certain aspects of the film. I have tried to explain the good points and bad points i noted about the film here.

Warning: A lot of spoilers from here on
                      The film has a total of four flashbacks in it. All the four flashbacks are narrated to the policeman Manoj, from people whom me meets or beats up while pursuing the chase.

                     The first version of the story is given by the girl's father. He tells him that he had punished a few guys (one of them being Prabhu) from his daughter's college three months back for teasing Rithika. He says he thinks they have taken revenge by kidnapping her.
                 
                    Manoj upon following some leads gets hold of  Prabhu's roommate. who narrates the second version. But he tells Manoj that the Rithika is his girl friend and but has tricked her into loving him. He also explains in details on how Prabhu invades his space and keeps following them.

                      The third version comes from a good friend of Prabhu whom Manoj catches by tracking the cellphone of Prabhu. Upon being beaten badly , he opens up. He says, it is not just the love but they also wanted to take revenge of the Rithika's father but also because he humiliated the gang by making them stand in underwear in public.

                        Mean while, the gang tries to flee using various routes to Chennai only to find that they are being tracked everywhere. And finally Rithika falls into the hands of the Manoj who handcuffs her and sets on a drive back to Bangalore. Now, we hear the final and deeper version of their love story. Manoj even though gets a little softened but not convinced. Meanwhile, Prabhu rescues Rithika and they run etc etc etc. Finally, in the climax when they are cornered Manoj changes mind and let them go free.
                 
                            Thinking about it, of all versions of the story, the version from Rithika is the most beautiful one. It is very romantic and touching. She explains that she was a lonely motherless child who needs emotional support and a shoulder to hold on. Then when Prabhu enters, she slowly gets attracted to him because of his stable manly nature. She feels secure and safe with him.She is pissed of her father is more concerned about his political image than her welfare. So she decides to elope with the man who cares for her and makes her feel safe. 

                     This is one of those films where its strength is its weakness. First and fore most, the movie is extremely well detailed. There is a back story for almost everyone. There is a back-story for the Prabhu on why he has come to Bangalore and why he is the way he is. There is a back story for Rithika on why she falls in love with him. There is a back story for Manoj about why he is helping Rithika's father and why he finally decides to leave the couple. There is backstory for Rithika's father on twhy he is worried about the media. There is a back story for Prabhu's friends on why they are trying to help them. I am not saying detailing it bad. Detailing is good and a lot of these back stories are needed for making the actions of the characters believable. But the only problem i had is there are simply too many back stories to keep track.

                    The second thing i want to talk about is again on details and this time i am talking about technical details explained in the film. Again, they explain everything. How there are so many routes to Bangalore from Chennai. How cell phone tracking works. How they can use voice to track calls,which i am pretty sure is a bogus claim, but that is fine. It is just a used for convenience. Again, i am not saying it is bad, but the detailing just gets too much to track. I would have been actually happier even if the police shows in some place without  a lot of explanations. Actually, this also happens in the film. But not the police, but the hero somehow magically shows up everywhere. This wouldn't have been a problem generally. But it looks very odd when this is left unexplained.

                     So, what i am trying to conclude is, the film really works for me as a love story. Infact, i really liked the narration of how Rithika starts a liking for Prabhu and how her love for him blossoms step by step.I also liked the detailing on why she feels secure with him. Apart from that, i also really like how their story in general unravels layer by layer through a series of flashbacks. But i definitely had problems with a lot of explanations provided on screen. They were very distracting for me. But in the end, i definitely did feel like watching a good love story but not so much of a thriller or a chase movie.