For a good part of my adulthood, I have embraced Ilaiyaraaja’s ‘Pottu Vaitha’ song from 1991’s Idhayam, often reminiscing about the remnants of a long-forgotten emotion. Talk about the magic a good song can create in a narrative; the song not only revealed to the audience the depths of the secret admiration Raja (Murali) had for Geetha (Heera), but it also became an emotional shorthand for a love that was felt too deeply to be spoken aloud. Now, Idhayam Murali comes in 2026, where Murali’s son Atharvaa stars as another man who buries his feelings rather than expressing them. And while the makers have repeatedly stated that the two films are anything but similar (they are set in the same world, and one pays homage to the other), the memory of ‘Pottu Vaitha’ helped yours truly set one simple expectation from Idhayam Murali — that it would have the honesty to remind me of that one singular intense emotion.And writer-director Aakash Baskaran’s film offers mixed results in that respect — even the homage to the aforementioned song comes in a scene well–thought–out but with subpar construction. Idhayam Murali charms you with an extremely likeable premise to tell a coming-of-age story that sometimes suffers from inadequate substance and struggles to land its high moments smoothly.Take, for instance, the way Aakash writes about how ‘love’ blooms for Idhaya (Atharvaa) across three different stages of his life — each arc feels breezy and effortlessly makes you smile, but the scaffolding keeps collapsing as the narrative progresses. As a child, Idhaya had a crush on his English teacher Geetha (Jonita Gandhi in a cameo), and there’s a mix of innocence and a mature sense of responsibility in seeing a young Idhaya help his pregnant teacher during labour.It’s interesting how the magic in human birth seems to be a common theme in these arcs. It is the magic of birth that first breaks Idhaya’s heart in high school, when he learns that Sam (Preity Mukhundhan), the girl he’d been secretly admiring, has an identical twin. The sisters, Samyuktha and Samantha, have been swapping places at tuition and on the tennis court, leaving Idhaya unsure which sister he had actually fallen in love with. Later, as a collegegoer, a childbirth allows Idhaya to eventually spend a few moments in solitude with Amutha (Kayadu Lohar), his mutual friend.Idhayam Murali (Tamil)Director: Aakash BaskaranCast: Atharvaa, Fahadh Faasil, Preity Mukhundhan, Kayadu LoharRuntime: 166 minutesStoryline: A shy young man looks back on the many unspoken romances that shaped his coming of age as an unexpected reunion forces him to confront his pastNow, while stealing glances is all one could do in a high-school setting, it’s disappointing that there isn’t enough drama between Idhaya and Amutha — and after a montage song that shows them and their gang of friends going on trips, Idhaya is still stealing glances. Hasn’t his definition of love changed in these years? What does he truly like about this girl apart from her looks? Of course, he cannot even bring himself to confess his love, but where does this fear of rejection originate from? A lot of these questions aren’t necessary in all love stories, but they become paramount in a coming-of-age story that celebrates the beauty and heartbreak of unrequited love. And even after Idhaya is an adult, and even when he is still clearly not over those unspoken romances, we don’t get to understand his psyche beyond a point.The film does, however, celebrate friendship in many of its colours — because friendship never demands examination. I surely got emotional seeing Atharvaa, Kayadu, Niharika NM, Thaman, Angeline, Sudhakar, Dravid, and Rakshan become that quintessential college gang that promised to grow up together, only to take paths that may never converge. These are the people who also bring in the much-needed humour quotient to the story. In fact, the arc between former lovers Sachin (Thaman) and Lado (Niharika) showed promise of a peek into a mature equation, and just as you patiently wait for an emotional pay-off, the film once again settles for lesser fruits.