Khuskha.

The hype was large when Venkat Prabhu, who turned into a trend-setter with his debut Chennai-28 teamed up with Karthi, for his next project, and after a long wait, Biryani finally hits screens, also starring Premgi Amaren, Hansika Motwani, Nasser and several, several others.

Two buddies - Casanova Sugan and your-usual-Premgi Parasu lead a happy life filled with booze, parties and women, until things take a wild turn when their search for a serving of biryani traps them into a massive spiderweb of murder and deceit. Whether or not they prove their innocence and survive their ordeal forms the rest of the story.

Even with its very potent star cast and several guest appearances, the film fails to keep audiences engaged. With a deadbeat pace from the beginning, the first half is filled with the usual comedy and antics you'd expect from a Venkat Prabhu film, and shifts on to the crux, where it attempts to produce novel twists, but turns out to be a painful, mediocre run to the finish, with sprinkles of laughter here and there. While Sakthi Saravanan's interesting cinematography combined with Praveen KL-Srikanth NB's editing offers a decent visual experience, it does not support the lazy screenplay of the film in any manner. Yuvan Shankar Raja's 100th album fails to impress, while his background score is commendable.

Karthi, whose last hit was the 2011 masala entertainer Siruthai is rather facing a downward slope, with Saguni, Alex Pandian and All-in-All failing to impress; Venkat Prabhu, whose previous outing Mankatha succeeded because of its Thala factor, gives us a film that is nothing beyond the average, and nothing new from his usual. In fact, several sequences in the film almost remind us of his previous works.

Biryani is for fans who enjoy seeing the trademark bloopers at the end, or the bored weekenders looking for ways to kill time. 

Aditya Baskaran

Pallu Pona Raaja.

With interesting promos, debutante Prasanna RS managed to pique audiences towards Kalyaana Samayal Saadham, starring Prasanna, Lekha Washington, Raghav and several others, opened to good expectations.

An "arranged marriage" set-up brings Tambrahms Meera and Raghu together. Realizing their compatibility, the couple soon fall in love with each other, and things are sweet and happy, until a major twist exhibits a certain physical inability of Raghu, which goes on to threaten the entire marriage and their relationship. Whether they succeed or fail in their marriage forms the rest of the story.

Performances. Prasanna, after multi-starrers, supporting roles and cameos, finally comes back to centre stage with KSS, and so does Lekha, last seen in 2010's Va Quarter Cutting. Both of them do complete justice to their roles, and so do the rest - Raghav, Uma Padmanabhan, Delhi Ganesh, the hero's friends, and the wonderful Crazy Mohan in a cameo. Krishnan Vasant's interesting camera handling coupled with Sathyarj's editing and Arora's music, truly enhance the viewer experience, though the film feels very long with its 132-minute runtime.

KSS brings to screen a rom-com fresh in its approach, and while revolving around a subject that is rather "adult" in its nature, the film manages to not go overboard or turn it vulgar. The film attempts to keep you entertained and laughing, though it is not completely successful. The film fails to keep the audience involved at times, and loses its pace at points during its runtime, but ends as a warm film overall.

KSS is a good weekend break, and if you're a Tambrahm with modern ideals, you'll probably dig this one. Beyond that, it is your usual rom-com with a fresh edge to it.

Aditya Baskaran