S.S.Kumaran, who has scored music for some popular films like Poo, turns director with Theneer Viduthi. The film tries to imitate last year's surprise hit Kalavaani by keeping things simple and light-hearted throughout. But the interesting characters, the humor-tinged dialogs and the cute romance that made Kalavaani work are all absent here. In their place we get dull characters, unfunny humor and a feeble romance.

Kumaran(Adith) and his elder brother run the business of setting up pandals for functions. Kumaran and Valli(Reshmi), the daughter of the registrar Nachiappan(Prabhakar) fall in love. But Nachiappan, who is insistent that he get an American son-in-law and has also had a few unpleasant run-ins with Kumaran, is against the union and ready to go to any lengths to stop Kumaran and his daughter from seeing each other.

The romance between Adith and Reshmi has a disastrous start and is defined by contrivance(like the episode where her dad ends up getting drunk and she pursues Adith to give him a piece of her mind) and tastelessness(like the segment where Adith cracks a joke about Reshmi coming of age and she responds in a very unrealistic manner). So it feels flimsy and never makes an impact. Adith's brother's silent romance gets a lot less screen time but manages to make us smile mainly because of the girl's father's attitude towards it.

Though the film treats things in a light-hearted manner, its not really funny. The film's tone in sequences like Prabhakar getting drunk, the unintended function at Reshmi's house and the incident at Reshmi's house when her wedding is supposed to fixed, hovers uncomfortably between drama and comedy. So when the film resorts to an anti-climactic solution to situations with the potential for high drama(like Prabhakar's action just before the intermission), it feels irritating rather than funny.

The film's screenplay seems to be based entirely on contrivance and both the characters and the plot developments feel artificial and cinematic. So we have a character who spars with Prabhakar over a bribe just so he can show up periodically to create problems for him. The guy who owns the tea-stall and who we think is going to play an important role since, after all, his tea-stall is the movie's name, turns out to be inconsequential. And the one real problem in the film - Reshmi thinking that Adith has betrayed her in a scenario straight out of Bagyaraj's Thooral Ninnu Pochu - is resolved in the lamest way possible.

Adith and Reshmi manage to be convincing and strike the right tone as they romance or fight. But they are not supported too well by the rest of the cast. Prabhakar is too wooden and seems to display emotions at all the wrong places.