First came Vaali where a brother secretly lusted after his twin brother's lover and was even prepared to kill him to get his woman. Along the same lines comes Uyirile Kalandhadhu, where the elder brother feigns love and affection for his brother while secretly scheming to hurt him. But the reason here is not a woman but sibling rivalry. With this fairly unique theme, debutante director K.R.Jayaa crafts a moderately interesting tale. Some well-timed surprises and good performances help hide the lack of depth in this movie.

Right from the moment his younger brother was born, Raghu(Raghuvaran) has felt that he has lost his parents' love and affection to him. The feeling has magnified over the years and while he feigns affection towards his brother Surya(Surya), he harbors nothing but illwill towards him. Surya, on the other hand, loves and trusts Raghu implicitly and even asks Raghu to be the go-between for him and his lady love Priya(Jyothika). Raghu's feelings of jealousy finally reach a peak during their annual trip to Kodaikaanal.

By focussing on the sibling jealousy that Raghuvaran develops rather than the love story between Surya and Jyothika, the director makes the movie stand out from other run-of-the-mill love stories. Raghuvaran is certainly a memorable character - a perfect wolf in sheep's clothing - as he orders some rowdies to beat his brother up and then gifts him a car since his bike was broken! The romance between Surya and Jyothika is cute but not really original or substantial. Its the storyline involving Raghuvaran and Surya that spices things up.

The entire movie gives a feeling of 'good but not enough'. It is almost as if the director was hesitant to convey any emotions strong enough and so handled everything lightly. The most obvious is ofcourse the development of feelings of jealousy in Raghuvaran's mind. While the idea of a young boy feeling left out when his parents concentrate on their newborn is acceptable taking into account his immaturity, seeing Raghuvaran, a grown man and a District Collector to boot, feel jealous on seeing his mother eat cake her younger son offers her is a little silly. A few stronger episodes to showcase his jealousy would have been better.

The interval point is very surprising and the developments after that, even more so, as focus shifts to Raghuvaran. Kudos to the director for taking this path. Surya too deserves praise for accepting this role inspite of his limited role in the second half. Jyothika strengthens her character with her acts in the second half(in the temple for instance). Her reaction to Sivakumar's accusation is sensible and performed well. But some key scenes, like Jyothika's brother telling Sivakumar the truth, have not been handled well and so their impact is limited.

Raghuvaran naturally takes top acting honors with his Jekyll and Hyde performance. He is awesome when he confesses his feelings to Sivakumar and when repenting for his mistakes in court. Surya has a lightweight role with not too much scope for emoting but has made quantum leaps in dancing and stunts. He shows great improvement in both departments since Poovellaam Kaettuppaar. Jyothika looks cute and her irritating(but many must find it cute since she is now the heartthrob of TamilNadu) facial contortions are thankfully absent. Sivakumar and Radhika bring so many years of experience with them and breeze through their roles. The producer Muth. Am. Sivakumar impresses in the role of Jyothika's reformed rowdy brother. Deva has catchy tunes in Hussein Hussein... and Dhevadhaiye....