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Although there’s an obvious gap between them at first, it slowly narrows as they begin to share their stories. Meanwhile, Leela absorbs the true essence of Varanasi and Madhavan sees a kind beauty in the city he hadn’t noticed before, and these happen solely because they are in the company of each other — two people who prefer listening rather than simply talking. As they dive deeper into each other’s lives, their scars, fears, and pains also become apparent. Going forward, Madhavan and Leela even metaphorically meet the children within them, assuring each other that they are no longer alone. But they still can’t believe: has life actually given them a second chance at love one fine day?

Let’s start with the movie’s positives. Indrans and Madhoo are very cute together. From Madhavan and Leela’s initial reservations about one another and their cluelessness about how to proceed, to the rapport that gradually forms between them and the way they bring calm to each other’s chaos, the two actors seem in sync throughout. Even though Madhoo’s getup looks overly polished in many places, the gradual buildup in their chemistry makes one overlook that.

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Director Varsha and cinematographer Faiz Siddik do a brilliant job capturing the picturesque beauty of Varanasi, so much so that a screenshot of almost any frame in Chinna Chinna Aasai would make for a good postcard or even fit the Incredible India website’s page on the city. Govind Vasantha’s evocative background score and music are the soul of the movie, allowing Chinna Chinna Aasai to tug at our heartstrings even when the narrative cannot.

Unfortunately, these are the only good things about the drama. Its writing, in particular, is heavily underwhelming. Even though the movie unfolds pretty much like director C Prem Kumar’s ’96 (2018), Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004), or even MT Vasudevan Nair’s Oru Cheru Punchiri (2000), one of the major issues with Chinna Chinna Aasai is that the conversations between the central duo are barely interesting. Not that they ought to have discussed highly engaging topics, but we simply don’t feel any emotional connection to the dialogues. Basically, their conversations are quite soulless.

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The predominant reason behind this seems to be writer-director Varsha’s penchant for unnecessarily romanticising Varanasi through spoken words at every opportunity, instead of fleshing out the dialogues meaningfully to ensure the overall development of the narrative. Every once in a while, we hear someone randomly saying something implying how great Varanasi is, making one wonder if we are simply watching an advertisement for the city’s tourism department. There are moments when Chinna Chinna Aasai gives the feeling that the movie is simply a way for the makers to declare the impact Varanasi has had on them.

Although a film on Varanasi would make for an interesting watch — the best example being director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan (2015) — the makers ought to go beyond the ghats by the Ganges to ensure an honest depiction of the city’s many shades. However, Chinna Chinna Aasai is stuck by the riverside, and even the conversations are focused solely on what happens in this area, completely overlooking the rest of the city. As a result, the dialogues start to sound quite boring after a while. This is made worse by the fact that, even when Madhavan and Leela are sharing their life stories and opening up to each other, their conversations rarely sound endearing.

Indrans and Madhoo are very cute together throughout Chinna Chinna Aasai. (Credit: Instagram/@chinnachinnaaasaimovie)

At the same time, all the central characters have been built quite conveniently, including their backstories, ensuring there’s no scope for “unnecessary” conflicts in the narrative beyond the “cute” ones that could arise between Madhavan and Leela. For example, both are widowed; Madhavan’s daughter, Janaki (Aparna Balamurali), is immediately happy that her father has found love again; Leela’s stepson doesn’t care if she returns; pretty much every person Leela meets — except for the thief who stole her belongings — is very helpful; and so on. Since the stakes are almost nil, Varsha ought to have focused on making the moments more than superficial, where she unfortunately fails.

Even though a few characters — including Janaki, the local Tamil association head (Thambi Ramaiah), a man named Shetty (Jaffer Sadiq), and a youngster (a riveting Vishnu Agasthya) who has arrived in Varanasi to immerse his wife’s ashes into the river — make appearances here and there, none of them is well fleshed out or adds meaningfully to the narrative. Worse still, there are moments that clearly seem included to evoke a laugh or two, which simply fall flat.

Aside from the overt romanticisation of Varanasi, Chinna Chinna Aasai also includes certain stereotypes, the most notable being when a local recalls Rajinikanth and immediately begins singing “Lungi Dance” upon learning that Leela is Tamil. While it could be argued that the makers were simply showing how Southerners face such stereotyping in the North, the staging of this moment clearly suggests otherwise.

(This paragraph may contain spoilers) Even if we overlook all this and try our best to like the movie somehow, its ending completely ruins the whole experience, with a climax that one can see coming from ten miles away. Not that Varsha should have delivered a twist there, but she could at least have avoided an ending that looks like something any middle-school student might craft for their youth festival drama.

Chinna Chinna Aasai movie cast: Indrans, Madhubala, Aparna Balamurali, Jaffer Sadiq, Vishnu Agasthya, Thambi Ramaiah, Kaali Venkat, Sai Janani
Chinna Chinna Aasai movie director: Varsha Vasudev
Chinna Chinna Aasai movie rating: 2 stars