While most films these days try to present new ideas, tackle new genres or atleast adopt the latest filmmaking styles, there are still films that dare to do none of these and are content to stick to the past. Manjal Veyyil can well be the posterboy for this category of films. With a conventional story told in an outdated fashion, it has neither substance nor style.

Vijay(Prasanna) and Gayatri(Sandhya) are inseparable in college and the whole world is convinced of their love. When Gayatri's sister Savitri's marriage is fixed, Vijay and his friends travel to Ooty but Vijay and the groom RK don't start off on the right foot. Once RK lays eyes on Gayatri, he decides that he is going to wed her instead and start putting plans in motion to make it happen.

Everything about Manjal Veyyil is outdated. From the characters to the story to the way everything is put together, this is a movie that just feels old-fashioned. The storyline, which has shades of several movies including Aasai, is simplistic and the characters are either black or white(Prasanna is almost unbelievably good while RK is a complete lowlife). Even the devices the director employs to illustrate the characters are shockingly old-fashioned(how do we know RK will not get anybody else get what he didnt? Because he breaks a doll that he couldn't get but Prasanna did!). If there is a silver lining to all of this, it is that the film old-fashioned in its morals too and so is clean and inoffensive.

Its rather sad when a director thinks he has a stunning plot twist that no one will see coming while in reality, its obvious to the viewer from a mile away. That's what happens in Manjal Veyyil. The way the director hides the real thing, the subtle clues he places and the manner in which he unveils the secret all point to director Vaseegaran's impression that he expects the plot point to be a major surprise. But the way he handles the screenplay, some unnecessary clues(like Prasanna looking for his friend) and the cast all trumpet pretty loudly where the story is going. So the revelation when it comes is completely anticlimactic.

Whether its action, laughs or suspense, things always peak in the climax and the film proves that that rule holds for the bad things too as the old-fashioned nature of the proceedings and the overwrought sentiments become unbearable at the end. All the key players makes sacrifices but the reasons, whether they are expressed in words or unspoken, are trite and cliched. So none of them make an impact and the happenings mirror those of the tearjerkers that came out in the 70s.

Prasanna, after some experimentation with roles where he played against type, is back to playing the good-hearted hero here. Sandhya, as is her wont these days, overacts most of the time. But its RK who is the film's biggest liability. With an atrocious wig, he gives a terrible performance, hamming almost all time.