Chennai, India – Actor-director Elan’s latest Tamil rom-com, Pyaar Prema Kalyanam, now streaming on Netflix, attempts to challenge traditional gender roles but repeatedly falls back on the very stereotypes it seeks to question. The film, which follows a newlywed bride who chooses to stay at her home rather than move to her in-laws’ house, is a well-intentioned but shallow exploration of a deeply ingrained societal norm. While it starts with a promising premise, the execution trades bite for cheap pleasures and a candy-flossy outlook, resulting in a harmless yet toothless film.
The film opens with Pavithra (Saanve Megghana) dashing out of her wedding venue, refusing to move to her husband Elan’s house. The flashback reveals how the pair met and fell in love, and what happens when Elan chooses to become a househusband at Pavi’s home. The first 30-40 minutes are smooth, with an unusual meet-cute and a promising setup. However, the film quickly turns dull. Once Elan enters Pavi’s house, the narrative resorts to heavy-handed humour by exaggerating the notion that a man’s respect is tied to his job. Pavi’s mother (Radikaa Sarathkumar) treats Elan with reverence when he has a job and mistreats him when he loses it, a trope that feels flippant rather than critical.
Many portions critique men’s incompetence, but the scenes do a great disservice to housewives and househusbands by treating the gender subversion like a party trick. In one instance, Pavi shames Elan for wearing shorts in his own house, and the film’s idea of a man washing vessels is reinforced as a “woman’s job.” Yogi Babu plays a typical male chauvinist, but neither his humour nor his arc feels organic.
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Only a handful of scenes click, including a clever motif from Shankar’s Mudhalvan. Elan looks the part in his acting debut, but it is Saanve who stands out with her anchored performance as a woman who stands up for herself. Seemingly written for the reel-viewing generation, Pyaar Prema Kalyanam ends up as a glossy film whose good intentions rarely make a mark, ultimately taking a safe route to resolve its conflict.
