Director Rathibala deserves kudos for having treaded into unknown territory as far as Tamil films are concerned. Not only the title but the backdrop of the film is also very different. The romantic story is narrated interestingly and is the affair that brews between the lead pair which incidentally travels in the same bus during a journey.
A Teacher (Arvind Vinod), who gets an assignment to work at a remote place, travels in the bus and meets a girl (Sruthika). It's love at firs sight for the hero, who gets hooked to the girl and loses his heart to her. Instead of getting down at his destination, Arvind gets down at the same place where Sruthika gets down to go home. Going a step further, Arvind follows Sruthika all the way to her house and meets her parents to ask for her hand in marriage.
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The rest of the story is full of interesting sequences narrating how the girl's family and the entire village react to this unexpected proposal from an unknown man.
That the hero would be falling in love shortly is 'hinted' at the very first sequences when Arvind is sent off at the bus stand by his friends who tell him that 'love is bound to occur in his life and only then would be feel the greatness of love'. The film moves at a slow pace in the first half, as the entire portion is shown to be occurring inside the moving bus itself. The pace, however, picks up in the second half where the director springs up more surprises woven delicately in the screenplay.
When Arvind's destination approaches, the director successfully creates an excitement in the viewers' hearts wherein they feel that Arvind shouldn't be getting down but should be proceeding in the bus in pursuit of his love. When Arvind gets down and gets into the bus at the last moment, the applause in the theatre is deafening!
Despite her father sitting next to her, newcomer Sruthika conveys her feelings of love to Arvind very convincingly with those expressive pair of eyes. Essaying her role neatly and politely, Sruthika explodes in the climax, making an unmistakable statement about her acting credentials. Dialogues by Sivaji are razor-sharp.
Arvind Vinod passes off as a newcomer with flying colours. His face looks certainly a hero material. Only time and luck can now decide his future in Tamil films; because, on the talent side, he scores heavily. Most of the cast have been selected from the areas in and around Madurai to give the film a typical flavour. Comedian Singamuthu finally gets to play a meaty role and makes full use of it.
Music is taken care of by newcomer J.V. who shows a lot of promise. The music is peppy and foot-tapping. Choreography is well-enacted in all the songs.
Cinematography by SPS Gugan is excellent. Though the movie is billed as digital, the cinematography looks excellent and doesn't show any signs of too much of technology to wear down the audience.
The journey from 'Madurai To Theni' is indeed a successful and eventful one!