There are times when a product fails to live up to its glossy advertising. A case in point is the Tamil film Thoondil (lure/bait) directed by K S Adhiyaman.

But first the story, which is about an Indian couple in London [Images] -- Sriram (R Sham) and Anjali (Sandhya) -- who are trying desperately for a child. Failure to conceive makes them turn to Dr Jayanthi (Revathi) for help. The only technique that seems to work is the donation of an egg by a donor -- a crucial fact that is kept from Anjali until much later.

Matters take a sudden turn for the worse when Sriram is blamed for an embezzlement at his office. Miraculously, he is saved by a long-lost friend Divya (Divya Spandana) who manages to collect her debt by exacting a terrible revenge.

So what is wrong with the film you ask? Well, nothing makes much sense. For example, what sort of hospital in ultra-modern London does not have computer records of its patients?

We are also not given the reason for Sriram suddenly leaving his girlfriend in the middle of the night and that too on a deserted island.

Plus, how can someone who just lost a child look so immaculately put together (Anjali in gorgeous printed saris with matching blouses)?

And why in heavens does Mr Zoom have to be so silly? And why do all the foreign characters that play police-officers, lawyers and judges have to be so trite? These and other questions galore riddle the film.

Performance-wise, the women have done a good job. Sandhya is credible as the distraught mother/wife who discovers her husband's hidden past. Divya Spandana too is convincing as the betrayed other woman.

The same cannot be said of Sham, however who gets a role which runs the gamut of emotions but ends up with the same expression in every scene.

Music by Abhishek Ray does not help matters either. The background score is confusing -- jangling at high-decibel when softness seems to be required and winding down to nothing when the scenes are high-voltage.

All in all, a supposedly suspense-filled love story that is anything but.

Rediff Rating: