Sachein

John Mahendran's 2005 Tamil film is set on a university campus. Sachein, a carefree student, falls for Shalini at first sight, but she is surrounded by admirers and he decides a direct approach will not work. Instead he finds an indirect route and makes himself the friend she trusts most. The film builds a long romantic comedy out of that setup, and in the second half the relationship runs into the question of whether his method was honest. Combining Vijay's popular manner of the period with Genelia's energy, it did not draw the expected attention on release and found a wide audience later through television. Vadivelu's comic passages are the most remembered part of it. Who it's for: viewers who like 2000s Tamil romantic comedy. Who it's not for: anyone who will find the hero's method manipulative; the film is slow to question it.