Romeo Juliet is a 2015 Tamilromantic comedy film written and directed by Lakshman. The film features Hansika Motwani and Jayam Ravi and music composed by D. Imman. The film was released on 12 June 2015 to negative reviews but was a commercial success.
Plot
Aishwarya falls in love with Kartik assuming he is rich, but once she realises he is just a gym instructor, she leaves him and wants to get together with a rich man Arjun. With Kartik standing in her way and threatening to break her relationship with Arjun, Aishwarya is forced to find a suitable girl for Kartik and finds Nisha for him. Aishwarya soon gets disturbed with the rich lifestyle given by Arjun. In a temple, Kartik tells her that his engagement with Nisha is going to happen the night before Valentine's Day. At the same time, Arjun and Aishwarya plan to go to London. On the night Aishwarya is supposed to leave, she realises that she does not want to live this kind of robotic life with Arjun and tells him she loves Kartik. She goes to the place where Kartik and Nisha are going to get engaged. She professes her love but Kartik refuses and leaves the place with Nisha, but then a song plays, and Kartik reveals all of this is a play orchestrated by Nisha and him to make Aishwarya realise her mistake and her love for him. The story ends with Kartik and Aishwarya reunited.
Lakshman, who had previously ventured into films as producer of Kalvanin Kadhali, announced that he would make his first venture as a director with a film titled Romeo Juliet featuring Jayam Ravi in the lead role. Despite its title, it is not based on the William Shakespeare playRomeo and Juliet. The director had initially finalised/convinced Nayantara to play the leading female role but did not want to repeat her pairing with Jayam Ravi, as the pair were working on another production, Raja's Thani Oruvan, at the time of casting. Subsequently, he chose to cast Hansika Motwani in a leading role instead. A photo shoot was then held and promotional stills featuring the lead pair were released to the media in late March 2014. Hansika revealed that she would play a girl with a "futuristic attitude", while Jayam Ravi's character would be more conservative in the romantic comedy. The film's first official poster released on 14 April 2014 coinciding with Tamil New Years Day and indicated that filming had begun. The team held their first schedule in May 2014, with Poonam Bajwa joining the cast. The team shot a sequence where real life actors approach Jayam Ravi's character, a fitness trainer, to help them achieve six pack abs with Arya making a guest appearance. The first look teaser was released on 29 December 2014 with only the lead cast appearing on it.
Soundtrack
composed the soundtrack album and score for the film. G. Rokesh, Madhan Karky and Thamarai wrote the lyrics.
Release
The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.
Critical reception
wrote, "The film is a disaster...it's impossible to digest the overall preposterousness...Romeo Juliet just cannot make up its mind whether it wants to be a screwball comedy or a melodrama — the tone is all over the place. And the writing is painfully inconsistent". The Times of India gave the film 2/5 and wrote, "here is a film that could prove to be a worthy challenger to Valiyavan for the title of the Most Preposterous Movie of the Year. Rediff also gave it 2/5 and wrote, "Lakshman's Romeo Juliet is just a rehash of old clichés. He pitches love against money and there are no prizes for guessing which one wins". Sify wrote, "Lakshman has packaged the film in a glossy manner but it is unable to find any spark or chemistry between the lead pair. His direction is amateurish and so are the characters half-baked. The best thing about Romeo Juliet is Jayam Ravi and Hansika who does their best to rise above the flawed script". The New Indian Express wrote, "The film, an average entertainer, would have been more engaging if only the screenplay had been coherent and the episodes interesting".
