Jaabilamma Neeku Antha Kopama Review

Prabhu (Pavish Narayan) is on the verge of accepting the proposal of Preethi (Priya Prakash Varrier), yet he hasn't moved on from his ex, Neela (Anikha Surendran), who is hours away from marrying someone else. At her wedding, as alcohol flows freely, Prabhu's best friend Rajesh makes a confession of his own: he has feelings for Sriya, who has spent the last seven years in a committed relationship with another of their closest friends. If the characters of Jabilamma... seem engaged like a tangled relational equation with no obvious solution, then that's entirely the point.

A slapstick romcom with a gaggle of young actors including Pavish - nephew of actor Dhanush who directed and produced this film - Jabilamma... is a frothy, loosely-plotted dive into the chaos of Gen-Z romance. Aside from their inexplicable eagerness to get married, these twenty-somethings speak the supposed language of modern love - or at least a heavily stylized version of it. Clubbing until dawn, puking by the curb, sneaking makeout sessions during impromptu long drives that spiral into misadventures - they shrug and laugh through what were once the grand emotional crescendos of classic romantic dramas.

The ex's wedding, traditionally a stage for heartbreak and last-minute "stop this wedding" monologues, unfolds differently in this film. Prabhu stumbles through it in a drunken stupor, half-flirting with the event planner, half-daring himself to take a front-row seat at the ceremony, hyping himself up for a dramatic moment that never quite arrives.

For all it tries to, the film never quite captures the texture of young love as successfully as Love Today did. For every whimsical moment, there's a heavy-handed dramatic interlude. Much of the burden falls on the actors to elevate slapstick banter - at least in this regard Mathew Thomas, who plays the "hero's best friend", is a God-send. For every lively scene with Prabhu's effortlessly cool middle-class mother (Saranya Ponvannan), there's Neela's stern father, played by Sarathkumar, questioning how a boy of modest means could possibly marry and provide for his wealthy daughter. (The film makes unintentionally goofy production design choices in showing Neela's family wealth: a horse on their sprawling front lawn, a retinue of uniformed staff, and a dinner plate that's supposed to capture the decadence of the rich - a croissant burger, sushi, and a ginormous slab of chocolate cake.)

Pavish is clearly more at home playing the perpetually hungover heartbreak kid, bantering with Mathew Thomas, than serenading Anikha Surendran. Anikha, meanwhile, is all seriousness and drama. But it's Priya Varrier's deadpan, no-nonsense take on a practical girl with zero romantic illusions about marriage that's surprisingly endearing - not that the film gives her nearly enough screen time.

There's a sense that the film is trying to say something about Gen-Z romance, but beyond the general freewheeling chaos, it's not exactly clear what. Some jarringly bad narrative choices and major pacing issues don't help - especially at the wedding, a five-star spectacle where the energy weirdly dips just when it should be peaking. And the big question - will Prabhu and Neela get back together? - keeps losing steam, until it feels less like an adult relationship at stake and more like kids playing dress-up.

By the end, the film doesn't leave you with any grand revelations about love, heartbreak or Gen-Z relationships. What it does offer is a sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating ride through a minds of a generation that seems to take love both too seriously and not seriously enough.