Hey Sinamika movie review: Even Dulquer Salmaan's delightful charm can't save this hopeless romance

Language: Tamil

Tamil cinema is no stranger to love triangles, especially ones where the protagonist (usually male) is in an unhappy marriage. He falls in love with another woman, only to realise his mistakes and the ‘value’ of his wife. The protagonist returns to his wife and lives happily ever after with her. From older films like Sathileelavathi to newer films like Oh My Kadavule, this narrative is so popular that it should be deemed as a subgenre.

Hey Sinamika, veteran choreographer Brinda’s directorial debut, tries to give this subgenre a new twist by exchanging the genders of the leads. Instead of the usual nagging housewife, we have a househusband. Yaazhan (Dulquer Salmaan) is happy managing the house while his wife Mouna (Aditi Rao Hydari) brings home the money. He loves to cook, manages his garden, is a stickler for healthy food, etc. But true to the nagging housewife stereotype, Yaazhan has no respect for personal boundaries. He micromanages his wife’s daily routine and leaves no space for her desires or thoughts. In fact, he ups the ante by a notch and launches into a condescending lecture at every opportunity. Unable to breathe in the relationship, Mouna decides to find ways to divorce Yaazhan.

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Usually, this is the point where the protagonist finds new love – an affair. But in Hey Sinamika, there’s a twist there too. Mouna decides to seek psychologist Malarvizhi (Kajal Agarwal) and ask her to seduce Yaazhan. If he falls for it, Mouna gets a reason to divorce him. It is baffling why any sane person would opt for such ludicrous measures. Mouna could have simply fallen in love with someone else or had an affair. But, no. That would make her ‘unforgivable’. Thus, asking a stranger to seduce her husband proves to be an easier choice. (Madan Karky is credited with story adaptation, screenplay, and dialogues) And Hey Sinamika becomes yet another film where two women end up fighting over a man.

If you think that’s the worst, there is plenty more. Hey Sinamika makes you wonder if Malarvizhi has a PhD in psychology or sleuthing. Despite all her talk about helping women find agency in their relationships, she finally terms her work as ‘separating happy couples.’ Both Yaazhan and Mouna face no familial or parental pressure – family is non-existent. There seems to be no social or emotional logic in the film.

Hey Sinamika wants to say and achieve a lot of things. It aspires to be a commentary on the realities of modern love. It wants to strip down toxic masculinity and question cultural gender roles. But it really does nothing.

Hey Sinamika holds back several necessary punches. Yaazhan calls his wife out for considering him an embarrassment. But there is nothing afterward. And Mouna never really talks to Yaazhan about his condescending demeanour; the film does not acknowledge it as well. Yaazhan says he does not want a partner just like him, but does he appreciate the differences? The film conveniently wraps it up with a platitude at the end. The film’s visuals are aesthetic – a tad too much maybe, like a music video, with its aesthetic faces and frames. But Hey Sinamika has no real conversation between Mouna and Yaazhan.

Despite the mess, it’s refreshing to see a character like Yaazhan. Dulquer’s delightful charm makes him highly endearing, despite his flaws. Amid all the toxic masculinity, it’s heartwarming to see a man so comfortable with his wife’s financial independence. There’s a scene where Yaazhan wears Mouna’s clothes because his clothes get caught in transit. In any other film, this would have been a distasteful joke. Yaazhan truly doesn’t see it as an insult or a problem. He also calls out the hypocrisy in our gender roles. It is a scene that stands out. It is a pity that the rest of the film doesn’t match up.

Ashameera Aiyappan is a film journalist who writes about Indian cinema with a focus on South Indian films.

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