After a long time my friends Selvaraj & Raja, and I decided to spend an evening in the movie hall in Cuddalore, this evening. I wanted to see "Parthiban Kanavu" as it is critically as well as commercially acclaimed venture. But my friends wanted to see "Lesa Lesa". Since I didn't want to disappoint them I agreed to accompany with them to Lesa Lesa. Anyway this was in the next of my priority list with the hit single "Lesa Lesa" sung by Anuradha Sriram being one of my all time favourites..
Since its launch, I knew it is a remake of my fave malayalam movie "Summer in Bethlehem" which had Manju Warrier, Jayaram & SureshGopi, with a special cameo by Mohanlal. Again since Priyadarshan is directing it I knew it'll have great visuals, beautifully picturised songs. I also knew Trisha Krishnan is no Manju Warrier, Shaam is not Suresh Gopi & Madhavan is nowhere to Mohanlal, so I didn't expect any great performances.
I was right, the film was a visual treat. Every frame was beautifully "sketched" with a splash of colours & objects, Ooty looked like Swizz. Priyan has adapted the screenplay to cater Tamil audiences, not just copy of SIB. May be he thought Tamil audiences were not sensitive, flash back scenes were loud a bit, making things complex that Trisha was married (in original Manju loves Mohanlal).
It was so different from "Summer In Bethlehem" except Priyan didn't dare to tamper with main scenes of original but decided to retain them in adaptatio too. Regretfully he concentrated on the look of the movie alone even though the script had great potential to make roads into the audiences' heart.
Surprisingly I liked what I saw despite seeing the original version for 5-6 times but Selvaraj who saw the movie for the first time didn't get impressed.
Overall "Lesa Lesa" has all gloss & glamour but defintely lacked soul.
