Venalmaram (Summer Tree) has not much of a story to speak about. A deaf-and-dumb guy, Vinayakan (Bala) brought up by the lottery-ticket seller Shankarankutty (Mala Aravindan), and Ammu (Lakshana), the niece of Shankarankutty, naturally fall in love as they grow up, since they grow up together and live in the same house. There is a goon who lusts after Ammu. There’s Muthulakshmi (Sona), a voluptuous lady who has goons at her command and behaves like a don and wants to have the villain as her lover. All this moves on to a climax, very much like what we have seen in umpteen movies of this genre. So, what’s there in the story? Nothing at all. And what does the director want to convey? No idea.

Technical Expertise
Bala is okay as Vinayakan but seems to be overdoing too, but it’s the director who’s to be blamed. And why do our filmmakers tend to portray a deaf-and -dumb guy always as some sort of a dunce? Lakshana is okay as Ammu; in fact it seems anyone could have done the role, as it demands minmum acting capability. Sarvajith, who plays the villain, is good. Sona, as Muthulakshmi, is voluptuous, but her voluptuousness seems to be put in for its own sake and fails to make any impact. As an actress, she gets no marks at all. The rest of the cast is passable. The technical aspects and songs are okay, but everything is lost in the mindless plot and narration of the movie.

Verdict
Just one star, for Bala’s just-about-passable performance and for the good songs and technically sound nature of the film.