From time immemorial, violent love stories have always found their audiences. The formula remains the same: two people from completely different strata of society, fall for each other. What follows is obsessive love, parental opposition and the girl’s fiancée, the one picked for her by her family, becoming a villain. Director Ranjit Jeyakodi’s new film Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum (IRIR), may have a catchy title, but it follows the same formula that made Arjun Reddy an iconic love story.

The hero's characterisation is very similar to the toxic masculinity shown in the Vijay Deverakonda blockbuster. Here too, love blossoms between a guy, a stalker with an anger management issue, and a rich, kind-hearted girl. The hero is attracted to the heroine at a party she attends with her fiancée. When she questions him angrily, she is a thrown into the swimming pool. In fact, towards the end of the film, the heroine's best friend, who is trying to help her, says her boyfriend is a "mental" stalker who needs treatment.

Gautham (Harish Kalyan) plays a moody young man who spends his time roaming around on his motorbike. His friends (Ma Ka Pa Anand and Balasaravanan) know that he cannot control his anger and even bail him out on many occasions. One day, he comes across Tara (Shilpa Manjunath) at a party and wants to know her better, which leads to a brawl between him and her boyfriend, who is mercilessly beaten up. It leads to a court case during which he has many more encounters with Tara. Finally, they fall madly in love.

Tara, however, is not able to control Gautham’s aggressive behaviour and obsessive nature. He has not experienced true love. He saw his mother abandon him and his father for another man, which resulted in a bitter childhood. Although Gautham finds true love and care in the arms of Tara, he fears that he will lose her just like he lost his mother. Tara puts up with him even as he causes immense damage to her family members. But finally, she throws her hands up in frustration and decides to marry her fiancée, as per her parents wishes.

The film is too lengthy with a long drawn-out-second half. The story is wafer thin and has far too many similarities to Arjun Reddy in treatment and style. Harish Kalyan as the tough and rugged hero is good, although in certain scenes he does copy Vijay Devarakonda’s style. The comedians, Balasaravanan and Ma Ka Pa Anand, make you laugh while Shilpa Manjunath is totally miscast. One of the plus points of the film is Sam CS’s music.

On the whole IRIR is a watered down version of Arjun Reddy.