Trust the South Indians to knock it out of the park when it comes to mushy rom-com! Kadhalikka Neramillai is no exception to that. It’s very formulaic, and you can predict what’s coming from miles away, but it still works thanks to the earnestness of its leads, Nithya Menen and Ravi Mohan. The supporting cast, which includes names like Yogi Babu, is also quite great. A.R. Rahman might not be at the top of his game these days, but he can still churn out bangers like Yennai Izhukkuthadi, which has further helped the cause. The ending of Kadhalikka Neramillai is a surprise, though, and leaves you with a vague sense of ambiguity—if you know what I mean. Let us take a closer look at that.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Movie?
Shriya is an architect in Chennai who catches her soon-to-be husband, Karan, cheating on her with her best friend. That effectively means her dream of starting a family and a perfect life is over for the time being. Heartbroken, she still wants to be a mother and decides to take the IVF route. She soon gets pregnant and has a falling out with her mother, who’s too rigid to accept her daughter being a single mother and having a test-tube baby. That leads to her living alone in a Chennai society, but Shriya seems to be strong enough to manage. What she can’t get a hold of is the father of her child, as IVF norms are the sperm donor remaining anonymous. However, after trying a lot, she manages to find the name of the guy—P. James, from Bengaluru. During a work trip to the city, she decides to pay this ‘P. James’ visit. Unfortunately, upon reaching the address, she realizes it’s a bar, and whoever this person is has deliberately provided a fake name and address.
We know who it is, though—it’s our guy, Siddharth, aka Sid, a structural engineer from Bengaluru who has an aversion towards marriage and children. The only reason he and his friend Gowda went to the sperm bank was to support their friend, Sethu. Sid, Gowda, and Sethu form a trio of best friends who’ve been inseparable since childhood. Sid is about to get engaged to his girlfriend, Nirupama, but he’s only doing it for her, and marriage is still off the cards. When Nirupama gets to know about the sperm donation, she is deeply hurt as Sid chooses to not have kids with her but doesn’t mind doing the other thing. Logically, the two things are drastically different though, if you ask me. Anyway, on the day of his engagement, Sid is stood up by Nirupama. Post that, he drowns himself in meaningless physical intimacy until one day, he sees Shriya giving a speech at an expo and is instantly taken by her. Little did he imagine that the same girl would walk into the bar he frequents with his two friends, but he’s obviously elated to see her.
What Happens When Shriya And Sid Meet?
Their first interaction goes quite well—he mentions how great she was at the expo; she seems to enjoy the validation. Shriya lies about why she has come to the bar, though, which is understandable. One notable thing here is that she is not drinking alcohol, for obvious reasons. There’s a callback to this that comes later, when she drinks wine with him and lets him know that she was pregnant last time around. With her flight getting delayed, Sid, Gowda, and Sethu take her out and show her around the city. Sid is already smitten by her; the infectious “Yennai Izhukkuthadi” playing in the background only confirms that. When he takes Shriya to his house, his widower father welcomes her warmly, and it doesn’t take long for her to get comfortable either. It’s all happy and nice until Sid blurts out that he sees no point in getting married and having a kid. That’s a bummer for Shriya given her situation, so she decides to take off, and that’s that.
Do Shriya and Sid meet again?
Well, the story can’t go on if they don’t, right? So now we are back in Chennai again; only eight years have gone by in the middle. Shriya now has a son, Parthiv, who’s pretty much like how you’d imagine a kid version of Sid to be. Shriya has done exceedingly well for herself, career-wise. Her company is now eyeing a big housing project. If they get it, her boss promises to eventually make her a partner. She has a neighbor, a young man, who’s been trying to woo her for at least two years, but Shriya doesn’t seem to be interested in anything. Her househelp, who she calls Chitti (I’m going to do the same, if needed), constantly keeps encouraging Shriya to pursue romance with no success.
In the tropiest possible manner, it’s Parthiv who meets Sid first. As fate would have it, he has come to Chennai for the same project Shriya’s company is trying for. That makes him her competitor in the field of work and also her neighbor, because Sid is going to live in her society only. Shriya is genuinely excited to see him, and so is he. The way they interact, it seems like the last time they met was only a few months ago, not years. Meanwhile, Parthiv and Sid form a solid bond thanks to their common interest—football. With each passing day, Sid gets closer to Shriya and her son. One time, when Parthiv runs away, looking for his father, Sid is the one who rescues him from the railway station—the kid was trying to catch a train to Bangalore, by the way, where his father might live (he overheard his mom talking about him). Shriya does reveal to Sid that Parthiv was conceived through IVF, but she doesn’t mention P. James. One might wonder why she wouldn’t use the name, but if you think about it, the name of Parthiv’s father is inconsequential to her. I would even say there’s a chance that she actually doesn’t remember it anymore. Sid, on the other hand, starts seeing Shriya as an inspiration after knowing all this.
Just when you think our lead pair is finally going to confess their feelings for each other—especially with Shriya and Parthiv travelling to Bengaluru with Sid (for work reasons) and bonding so well with Sid’s father (once again)—the ex-fiancée returns. That’s on Gowda, though, as he is the one who invited Nirupama to surprise Sid. Narrative-wise, the only purpose it serves is making Sid realize that he is in love with Shriya and sees Parthiv as his own son. That said, dragging Nirupama all the way to Chennai and putting her up in Sid’s flat is a bit too much and unnecessary.
Realizing she can’t get back with Sid, as he clearly loves someone else, Nirupama goes away. Meanwhile, Sid’s boss let him know that they’re getting the big project as he has an inside source to get the competitor’s (i.e., Shriya’s company) quotation. With him always hating his job, this had to be the final nail in the coffin. So he does exactly what you’d expect—tanking his company’s chances so that Shriya’s company gets the project and her dream is fulfilled. It’s certainly an act of love, but it also makes sense logically. However, thanks to a misunderstanding at Parthiv’s birthday party, Shriya starts believing that all Sid was doing was for the project and he doesn’t want her to succeed. But she soon comes to know about what he did and realizes she was wrong about him. It took Parthiv travelling to Bengaluru alone and knocking at Sid’s door, though, and then Sid bringing him back. The tussle between Shriya and her mother also gets over during this, which, I suppose, is a nice touch of wholesomeness.
Do Shriya and Sid Ever Find Out the Truth?
It’s admirable how, instead of a grand gesture, Sid confesses his feelings for Shriya during Parthiv’s football match at school. He doesn’t forget to mention that he wants to raise Parthiv, who he considers his own son. At Sethu’s wedding, Sid, Gowda, and Sethu have a casual chat about the sperm donation they did years ago. Sethu reveals that their sperm got misplaced, and he had to go back and do it again. When Shriya comes and asks what the guys were talking about, Sid abruptly puts an end to the conversation.
Kadhalikka Neramillai ends with Shriya and Sid agreeing on being both business and life partners. They don’t plan to get married, though. With Sethu being gay, and Shriya’s father being completely supportive with her IVF as well as her losing virginity before marriage, this movie gets its progressiveness very right, that too without being preachy. As far as Shriya and Sid (Parthiv too) knowing the truth about the kid’s parentage, I feel the director deliberately doesn’t reveal it to establish that the bond the three of them have formed is strong enough to make them sail through life. Sid may not know that he’s the biological father of Parthiv, but he loves the boy as his own, so it really doesn’t matter. In the long run, I do believe the truth is going to come out if Sid at some point decides to share a funny story about sperm donation from his colorful past and the name P. James pops up.
