I guess the major reasons why I liked Alaipayutey better was because of the better acting, better technical values and better characters. Vivek's adi in saathiya was a tad too filmy as a lover boy whereas madhavan's karthik was just perfect as he never overdid the "romantic guy head over heels in luv" act. Furthermore, shaad ali also faltered where he had to draw parallels between srk-tabu and rani-vivek's relationships. mani ratnam beautifully showed how Kartik realizes his mistakes as a husband, who didnt stand by his wife when she needed him, the way aravind swamy(srk's character) stood by khusboo(tabu's character)....
another point that I liked in Alaipayuthey was Karthik's conversations with his neighbour who gives him advice about how to handle his marriage. I especially like the scene where karthik is told that love before marriage is like a flower which is beautiful, but wears off quickly...whereas love after marriage is like the roots of the tree which may not be pretty to look at, but have immense strength.
5