Hridayam is the coming of age story of Arun from his engineering days to his fatherhood. The story is instantly relatable and it almost immediately strikes a chord from the very first scene. The screenplay might seem daunting at almost 3 hours but it is so well rounded that it is tough to find flaws with it. The situations created are just so personal here(and I might have been guilty of saying it in another review as well, but it is true!). Right from the first scene of entering the engineering college where you are kind of lost yet eager to make new friends, or that one special girl that you fall for assuming it is your long lost love, or having our fair share of ragging exercizes which act as an ice breaker to finally focussing on studies – have done it all and the first half comprises of all of this. In between there are subplots of a breakup followed by the protagonist falling in some bad company only to quickly realise his mistake, all of which are interesting to watch in an excellent first hour filled with emotions.

There is a common saying among engineers – Engineering teaches you what NOT to do in life. Which is why you see so many engineers branching out in different fields(yes yes I am guilty as well😅). So come the second half when life hits you, that is when you mature. When all your friends slowly start moving out, that is the moment when you realise that your honeymoon period of 4 years is over. That is exactly depicted here. The writing stays grounded in a path of self discovery. The romantic track is pretty well written here with a nice conflict featuring the protagonist’s past. At times we do hold onto our past for a very long time and it is here that the film began speaking to me in a language which was so well understood. At times all you need is to let go. But the nostalgic final act is what grips you with so many emotions that it was hard for me to hold back my tears. This brilliantly penned screenplay takes you on a journey like no other!