Rowthiram is for Jiiva what 2008's Bheema was for Vikram. The film is at heart a masala movie with romance, sentiments, comedy and some interesting ideas about how society functions. But all that is pushed aside by the action, arising out of Jeeva acting like a superhero. The action is staged well but without a solid story or an interesting screenplay to back it up, the film fails to hold our attention.

Shiva(Jiiva) spent his childhood with his grandfather(Prakashraj), who instilled in him the idea that he should never turn a blind eye to injustice. So he has grown up fighting injustice even though his family is against it. One such episode makes him thrash Guna, a Law College student. Priya(Shriya), another Law College student who was helpless to bring Guna to justice, falls for Shiva after seeing this. Meanwhile Guna seeks the help of some rowdies to take revenge but is asked to wait till Gauri, their leader, gets out of jail.

With Jiiva being a jobless youth who gets into trouble frequently, the scenario in his house is a familiar one. But a father who is afraid to face his son and speak directly to his face brings some difference to the family dynamics even if the other characters like the affectionate mother and the playful brother and sister are stock characters. Turning the sister's suitor into an overt comedian and having the sister agree to wed him makes the whole process seem like a sham. Worse, the comedy, which includes some easy digs at Brahmins, is painful.

As for the romance, Shriya taking the lead and pursuing Jiiva isn't such a fresh concept any more and even some potentially cute scenes(like Shriya asking her friend to act like her) are killed by the silly dialogs. Eventually only the scenes where Shriya interacts with Jiiva's family bring a smile to our lips.

Hidden in the film are some interesting ideas. There are hints of an interesting take on the criminal-politician-bureaucrat-police nexus(which was also explored in Easan) with each of them having their own ideas about the usefulness of others and being ready to break things off and turn on the others when things gets inconvenient. Similarly, the impact on Jiiva's life of his being a do-gooder is eye-opening as on one hand, he becomes a God to others(telegraphed in a very obvious manner) while on the other, he is treated as an outcast by his own family.

But all these ideas are buried under the action. The action is mostly of the hand-to-hand variety and the fight sequences are superbly choreographed but there is hardly any excitement. The rowdies go through the motions looking deadly, handling scary weapons and uttering dire threats but are powerless when they actually go up against Jiiva. As Jiiva breaks their limbs and throws them around with no consequences(I don't think he bleeds even once and he displays only one bruise in the entire film), the fights feel repetitive and monotonous.

Increasing the comparison with Bheema, Rowthiram also attempts to end things differently after following the masala route until then. But the build-up that would've helped bring in the end naturally and smoothly is absent and there is no real closure. So the finish just feels abrupt and anti-climactic.

Jiiva plays the strong and silent type comfortably and makes a convincing action hero in the stunt sequences. Shriya looks good though her poor dubbing prevents her from conveying emotions convincingly in the heavier sequences. Jayaprakash takes acting honors as the dad torn between his affection for his son and concern for his family while Lakshmi is wasted in a traditional mom's role without any scope. Both Srinath and Sathyan try hard to raise some laughs but fail. Debutant music director Prakash Nikki scores with Maalai Mangum Neram..., with Ranina Reddy's voice bringing back memories of Vaseegara.... Jiiva and Shriya display some good chemistry in the number. Successful choreographer Ganesh Acharya, who plays one of the rowdies, gets a chance to shake a leg in Goli Maare... while the fun Adiye Un Kanngal... takes us to some foreign locations as usual.