Jeevan (Jeeva) is a Sri Lankan refugee who comes from Jaffna to Rameswaram, shown in the map in the beginning of the film as 36 nautical miles difference across the sea from the Indian coast, with 100 odd people like him who had lost their property and dear ones in the civil war. The local bigwig (Lal) gives the refugees a place to live and provides them with basic amenities. His only daughter Vasanthi (Bhavana) completes her education in a city and comes back to Rameswaram and meets Jeevan. His rough ways and self dignity attracts her and she falls in love with him, though he tries to avoid her. But soon she wins him over and they turn lovers.

Saravanan (Bose) Vasanthi’s mama madly in love with her gets posted as the Police Sub- Inspector in Rameswaram. When he comes to know about Vasanthi’s love for Jeevan, he puts false cases and arrests Jeeva. But Vasanthi is a very strong girl who fights against all odds and is stubborn that she will only marry Jeevan. The young man is torn between his love for fellowmen who are craving to go back to their homeland and his deep love for Vasanthi. He promises Vasanthi that he will return before her wedding with Saravanam after getting his people to Sri Lanka.

The basic problem of the film is that the love between the lead pair is unconvincing. It’s hard to believe that a city bred girl will fall in love with a refugee in a camp! Our sympathies go with her dad who just cannot fathom his only daughter marrying a penniless refugee! In performance Jeeva does it once again. His body language and acting is top class though he falters in speaking in Sri Lankan Tamil, and we wonder why he has to go on doing similar roles.

Bhavana too seems to be typecast as the Pavadai Dhavani clad girl, and Lal looks destined to be her villainous father again after doing a similar role in Deepavalli. However Lal and Manivannan do their respective roles with ease but same cannot be said about television actor Bose who lacks the drive to be a villain and overacts most of the time. And why did the director Selva suddenly have that romantic dream number with Jeeva and Bhavana in trendy clothes in a film which goes overboard claiming to be realistic!

All in all Rameswaram is a half-baked venture and is a major let down.

Verdict: Disappointing