After directors getting bitten by the acting bug and moving from behind the camera to the front of it, we now have people from other departments of cinema getting into the act. Gnaabagangal is the acting debut of lyricist Pa. Vijay, who is also in charge of the story and screenplay (apart from ofcourse writing the lyrics for the songs) here. That just means he has to take the blame not just for his wooden acting but for the cliched story and amateurish screenplay also. In the end, Gnaabagangal is just more proof for the argument that people should just stick to what they do best.

Lyricist Kathiravan(Pa. Vijay) has just won the National Award for one of his songs and is in Delhi to receive the award. The next day, he travels to Haridwar on some "personal business". We soon learn that he wants to catch up with Meera(Sreedevika), his lover from a few years ago and the drive and his meeting with her triggers his memories about their romance.

The film is apparently based on the true love story of Pa. Vijay's friend Kathiravan and is Vijay's way of narrating his friend's story and telling us if his last wish came true. But the fact that it is a true story doesn't make it any different from the thousands of other love stories we've seen unfold on screen. The romance is unconvincing and one isn't even sure when the lead pair progresses from just knowing each other to actually falling in love. The problems the lovers encounter and their ways of dealing with them are also cliched. The only thing Vijay's opening monologue (about the film being based on his friend) achieves is tell us how the movie is going to end!

With such a weak romance, it comes as no surprise that the meeting between Vijay and Sreedevika in the present doesn't result in any upsurge of emotions. Their conversation is completely unrealistic considering their history too. While it is understandable that she doesn't want to reveal her life to him, it is not clear why she never questions him about his life after they separated and he never contradicts her assumptions. On the other hand, her behavior and talk make her situation pretty clear and when Vijay learns the truth, he may be shocked but we are not even mildly surprised.

The story naturally involves many plot developments but the screenplay doesn't bring them around naturally and resorts to moronic ideas to get the story to move in the desired way. So Sreedevika calls Vijay three times only to get cut off by his assistant(who thinks she is a crazy fan) but not once does she reveal who she is just so the movie can set up the climax at the Taj Mahal. A taxi driver stops the car suddenly and tells Sreedevika that he will be back after attending the congratulatory function for a poet he likes only because that will allow Sreedevika herself to do the same. Its disappointing that the director couldn't think of more natural ways of leading into these stock situations. The film's sole claim to smartness comes in the way some things in the present lead to Vijay's memories(a la Kanchivaram) but even this is not completely free of ridiculousness as Sreedevika disrobes her saree while standing in the rain just so Vijay can ogle at her and then remember a rain-related incident from their past!

Vijay is quite wooden and ends up looking shifty-eyed whether he tries to look romantic or sad. His dances for the song sequences are laughably bad. Sreedevika appears to be making up for his non-acting initially as she overdoes the sequences where she is trying to put on a happy face for Vijay. But she does calm down towards the end. Vijay does prove that he is a much better lyricist in the one song where all the words start with the letter 'A'.