A young woman is in search of a mysterious stranger, ahem ok, not so mysterious after all, she has heard things about him and they have even conversed over the phone but keep missing each other, and all this goes back to a tale she heard in her childhood on a rocky bus ride.

What is the tale and the significance of it in her life? And how does the story she heard as a kid influence the lives of the people she meets makes up Maara, which the makers swear is not a scene-by-scene remake of the Dulquer Salmaan-Parvathy starrer Charlie.

What strikes you the most about Maara, right from the word go is the cinematography with its warm hues. Kudos to Dinesh Krishnan and Karthik Muthukumar for a job well done. The beauty of the cinematography is such that you aren’t even tempted to go near the flash forward button as the duo takes us through the many lanes of Kochi.

Among the credits you notice is a ‘casting director’, something we don’t see much in our movies often. While the film does make good use of its actors like Alex, Gurusomasundaram, Sshivada, Moulee, a few others like Abirami, Seema and Kishore could have been utilised better though they make a mark with their limited screen time.

Coming to the lead pair, sceptics wondered if Madhavan could pull off a role that was done by a relatively younger person in the original. He doesn’t disappoint and the charm is intact while Shraddha is quite the natural. Such is the professionalism that we don’t get a feeling she is not a native speaker of the language.

Dialogues are intelligent and sound conversational. A minimal sketch portion we see in the beginning has been done well. Costumes, make-up, music… every department right on cue jumps on to the word ‘warm’.

Ghibran also takes the chunk of the credit for the charm the film oozes with his songs flowing with the narrative and never acting as a speed-breaker. Whether or not you have seen Charlie, Maara has all the makings of standing on its own as a feel-good entertainer.

While 2020 might be behind us and we welcome a new year but with the same set of protocols and stipulations, Maara might just be the antidote for a gloomy day and we have debutant director Dhilip Kumar to thank for.