A pleasant film and a sentimental love story, Vasantham tries to establish that there can be genuine friendship between a man and a woman even after their marriages. Vikraman who directed the bi-lingual film in both Tamil and Telugu, proves his mettle in handling the subject carefully upholding the spirit of friendship without indulging in violence and playing up right emotions at the right time.

The storyline has interesting twists too, not much away from reality. Ashok (Venkatesh) and Julie (Kalyani) are childhood friends. As grown ups, their attitude towards life does not change. Julie practically serves as Ashok's mentor and absorber of the shocks he receives on his home front. Ashok's elder brother (Surya) and sister-in-law regard him as a worthless fellow, while his father (Tanikella) has no say at home. The hero's younger brother - shown only in the clippings as a studious man - about to go abroad, is married off before Ashok, giving the latter a rude shock. Julie pacifies him saying she is confident that this `good-for-nothing-fellow' would one day become a cricket star, representing his nation. The director gives us a taste of cricket too with V.V.S. Laxman coaching Ashok and the latter hitting a century in a match.

And, in a train journey, along with his friends (Sunil and Sivareddy), Ashok notices Nandini (Aarti), who steals his heart. He leaves a cassette with a song praising her beauty under her pillow, while leaving. This makes Nandini curious about the man. Thanks to the same tune, they fall in love. Their elders fix their marriage, not knowing they are already lovers.

Now the intimacy between Ashok and Julie with equally strong bonds becomes an issue. It is here that the director lifts the drama from mundane levels and makes Nandini soon realise that it is just inseparable friendship and nothing more. She agrees to marry on a condition that they should find a suitable boy for Julie too. Julie works in a school owned by a Christian business magnate (Ahuti Prasad) whose son, Michael (Akash), is attracted to Julie. Michael is a cricketer too. On learning that Ashok, and not his son, is selected to the test team, his father forces Ashok to reject his selection by writing to the cricket board. Ashok also agrees to keep Julie away from his life, until her marriage takes place. From this point, the role of Nandini takes over in handling Ashok's emotions. How this issue is finally resolved, retaining the good nature of all characters forms the rest.

Venkatesh as Ashok looks quite handsome with minimal makeup. Kalyani playing Julie shares with him the main element of drama, while Aarti Agarwal plays Nandini. The essential vein of the drama reflects goodness in all characters, though they tread the wrong path initially. This maybe the winning track the director chose to win over the box-office.

For Venkatesh, this film is a big morale booster, in the face the earlier two flops. He looks made for the role of Ashok. The underlying principle that friendship between boy and girl should never be misunderstood is well guarded and convincingly argued through interesting dialogues, also penned by Vikraman along with the screenplay. However, there are a couple of scenes where artificiality creeps in.

The subject gives equal importance to both the leading ladies. Kalyani suits the unglamorous yet intellectual Julie, while Aarti performs her role understanding its limitations. Akash leaves his mark on the film in his brief role. Chandramohan, Surya and Delhi Rajeswari perform their character roles interestingly. Music is quite balanced, though the introduction of signature tune is quite an old-fashioned technique.

courtesy: The Hindu