UA2 hrs 11 minsReleased: 28 Aug, 2026
TamilRomance & Drama
The title of Vignesh Srikanth’s Once More seems apt not just because it’s about a man haunted by his past romance getting a second chance, but also because the film itself is a retelling of a familiar premise — one we’ve seen in films like Autograph, Premam and Hridayam
Cast & Crew
Once More Movie Review: Aditi Shankar enlivens a ‘once more’ romance that turns ‘not again’ midway
M Suganth
TNN, Aug 28, 2026, 5:43 PM IST
Once MoreSynopsis::A man haunted by his past romance gets a second chance at love when a girl breezes into his life like sunshine. But when his old flame resurfaces, will he cling to his past, or hold on to his present?Once More Review:The title of Vignesh Srikanth’s Once More seems apt not just because it’s about a man haunted by his past romance getting a second chance, but also because the film itself is a retelling of a familiar premise — one we’ve seen in films like Autograph, Premam and Hridayam. In fact, it’s skeletally close to Hridayam, save for one minor structural change. The protagonist, Raghuvaran (Arjun Das’s default brooding quality suits the character), as his counsellor Lavanya (Devadarshini) puts it, has grown so comfortable with sadness that it’s become a comfort zone he doesn’t want to leave.Into his life walks Anjali (Aditi Shankar), in a meet-cute at a bus stop that literally carries an ad with the tagline, “When life gives you second chances, take it.” Unsurprisingly, Anjali — his junior from college — calls their meeting “destiny” and proposes to him right then. But Raghu has shut himself off from any meaningful connection after a tragic episode in his past. We know this “Santhosh Subramaniam padathula irundhu straight-a kudhicha maadhiri” girl will heal him and become his “guardian angel” — and yet the film’s first half wins us over with scenes that are delightful and delicate. Take the first “date”: rather than the café or coffee shop that’s a staple of the genre, the two end up at Moore Market. He keeps insisting they’re chalk and cheese, even calling her an “alien” — and her response to this remark draws his first smile.Her persistent pursuit of a disinterested man might have felt creepy had the genders been reversed. And since both families are already rooting for the match, perhaps her early efforts to get close to him qualify as family-sanctioned stalking. Anjali even tries to get him to see her side: “Just like how I respect that you don’t love me, respect my love for you.” It hugely helps that Aditi Shankar makes Anjali a warm, cheer-y presence throughout. The actress, who tended to be overly expressive in her previous films, has grown and how! There’s a subtlety that has crept into her performance which makes it very effective.The healing happens gradually, and the filmmaker represents it symbolically through an injured hand that slowly mends. In a nice poetic touch, it takes another self-inflicted injury for Raghu to finally accept his own healing — and, in an elegant bit of writing, we later learn the same hand was hurt once before, in his past, also by his own doing.Until the midway mark, Once More is full of such tender moments and moves like a breeze, helped along by Hesham Abdul Wahab — the film’s other Hridayam connection — whose bright score keeps the feel-good factor high.But the all-important past romance turns out to be a dampener. The love interest, Indra, is meant to be as conflicted as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa’s Jessie, but neither her writing nor her romance with Raghu feels compelling. On paper, the idea works: a whirlwind romance, a young woman guarded by her own unspoken fear of commitment, and the lasting effect it has on Raghu. But the execution punctures the film’s momentum — we never quite buy the love-at-first-sight romance, and the film resorts to telling rather than showing. Indra talks and talks, and we hardly care. The casting doesn’t help either, with Sona Olickal’s performance feeling largely ineffective. These portions deflate the film’s charm rather than deepen the emotional stakes of the present-day romance, and you can almost hear the audience’s exasperated sighs when Raghu has second thoughts about his future with Anjali. From “once more,” we go “not again.”Anjali disappears for a large stretch of the second half, and it feels as if she’s taken every ray of light in the story with her. By the time she returns and the film tries to recover, we’ve already reached the end!
Videos
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Once More – Official Teaser
5 months ago03:56
Once More | Song – Idhayam
almost 2 years ago02:24
Once More | Song – Edhira Pudhira
over 1 year ago
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