Nooru Kodi Vaanavil review: a sunny love triangle in Goa

Fenny (Siddhi Idnani) keeps a video diary for a man who cannot watch it. Her boyfriend Richie has been in a coma for about 170 days, and she records the moments that matter so he can catch up when he wakes. Vino (Harish Kalyan), a Mumbai TV producer who was expecting a promotion and was sent to run a small Goa channel instead, badly needs a show. He builds one around her, calls it the Scooter Girl Show, and you can guess what happens to his professional distance.

The diary is what lifts the setup above a meet-cute. Every clip is addressed to Richie, so each good day Fenny spends with Vino comes with the question of what she will tell him. Sasi, who has been making relationship dramas since Sollamale, lets the friendship grow slowly out of bickering, and by the time Vino confesses, it is Fenny who has more to lose.

Siddhi Idnani carries most of that weight. Fenny is torn for much of the running time, and Idnani keeps the indecision from turning into dithering; you understand why she cannot simply choose. The film was partly shot in 2021, before Parking and Lubber Pandhu changed what audiences expect from Harish Kalyan, and Vino belongs to his earlier romantic-lead phase. He slips back into it comfortably. The two are relaxed together, and the film is at its best when it just lets them hang out on a beach or in a hammock.

Once Richie begins to recover, the film settles into a standard love triangle. Most of its turns are visible some way off, and the stretch between Vino’s confession and the climax drifts. Kovai Sarala as Fenny’s grandmother, Chinni Jayanth as Vino’s uncle, Thambi Ramaiah and VJ Parvathy drop in with one-liners, a few of which get a laugh. Five years on the shelf have not helped either. Released as a pay-per-view title on ZEE5, it feels like it belongs to an earlier crop of romances.

What has aged well is the look. Prasanna S Kumar turns Goa into a sunlit postcard of beaches, coconut groves and empty bridges, and Siddhu Kumar’s songs keep the mood light without crowding the scenes.

Nooru Kodi Vaanavil is a slight film and an old-fashioned one, but it takes its central question seriously, and Siddhi Idnani makes Fenny’s choice feel like it costs something.