Sarath Kumar is a married man with a child and Jyotika has a suspicious husband. They meet in an electric train. Glances progress to talk and friendship. Jyotika asks him to take her out. They both go to a resort. She tells him she wants to be his wife for that day. As they enter the room to spend time in privacy, the story changes track.

Sarath Kumar's peaceful life is disrupted. By whom? How? Will he ever get back to his old peaceful life?

These questions are answered by Gautham's intelligent weaving together of the screenplay. He has given a lovely portrayal of a mature man and woman meeting, developing a friendship and then later falling in love. Small teasing comments, glancing out of the corner of her eyes, and brief tantalizing remarks by Jyotika to bring Sarath to an erotic frame of mind has been handled by the director with great intelligence.

It is also novel to see the villain singing in a calm tone about "sarakku vachirukken, adhai irakki vachirukken." The rift caused between husband and wife by a third person, the guilt feelings, and how anti-social elements exploit that guilt feeling are portrayed in a telling manner.

Jyotika's character is a surprise. She looks amazing in heavy kohl rimmed eyes, dark lipstick, beaded chain around her neck and tiny rings along her ear lobes. Her big eyes flash a hundred different messages every few minutes. As a medical representative, Sarath plays a role hitherto not done by him. The way he shows his anger, his calmness or suffering from guilt pangs when he first steps out of line with Jyotika, is ample proof that Sarath deserves his supreme star status.

When Sarath Kumar realizes that he has been duped, the audience would think something drastic is going to happen, but the story ends tamely. The re-entry of Jyotika in the climax scene is a downslide to her character.

The dialogues are brief, crisp and sharp. This economy in words seems to suit only scenes pertaining to Sarath and Jyotika. That is one reason why Sarath's family life does not affect the viewers.

A welcome feature in the film is that there are only 3 songs. Except the first song (though it is nice), the other 2 songs act as speed breakers in the film. The background music is quite different from what one would expect from a crime thriller. The violin interlude in the song "unakkul naan…," makes one want to heap accolades on composer Harris Jayaraj.

Seeing the fights on screen gives us body pain, because they pound each other so much. Arvind Krishna's cinematography is brilliant. His trademark golden sunset shades permeate the whole film and give it a golden ambience. Fortunately, editing by Antony retains interest in the film through out.

The characters in the film speak in normal, low tones. It would be very pleasant to hear, but at the same time, one could also miss some of the dialogues!

Gautham's 'Pachaikili Muthucharam' starts in a novel fashion and ends ordinarily.