Aayirathil Oruvan: Flimsy screenplay spoils it all
Rating: 3 out of 5*
Starring: Karthi, Reema Sen, Andrea, Parthiban, Prathap Potzhan, Azhagam Perumal and others
Director: Selvaraghavan
Let’s not blame Selvaraghavan for having spent a big sum and certainly a very long time to complete the film. Naturally, to experiment with a unique genre of fantasy, adventure and war, it really requires so many potentials to be drawn. But the most blatant flaw goes beneath Selvaraghavan’s script lacking substantive dioramas in various arenas.
But what stops the film from striking gold is its inability to engross the universal audiences, especially during the second hour.
Mark our words. ‘Open Ending’ is never entertained with the audiences of Tamil film industry. In all likelihood, Aayirathil Oruvan has a better first half (with usual Selvaraghavan that abundantly caters to the ‘B’ and ‘C’ centres. But the latter part flees to a different arena.
When a far-famed archeologist (Prathap Pothan) vanishes across the lands, which was once ruled by Chola Dynasty, Anitha (Reema Sen) and her group of officials are appointed by Government to unravel the mystery. Archeologist’s daughter Dr. Lavanya (Andrea) too joins the defense troupe to carry out the mission. Strapping group of men lead by Sugumaran (Karthi) is employed to assist them.
vThe journey starts off with cheerful moments at the cruise at the guys chill out boozing and tripping their light foot now and then. Let’s not forget Sugumaran, whose unrestrained one-liners are sure to tickle the funny bones. As the group shores on the mysterious island, weird scenarios starts striking and somehow the trio Sugu-Anitha-Lavanya reach the untouched lands where the archeologist disappeared.
But, the actual intentions of the quest in unraveled during second half with unlooked entities of Chola dynasty showing up.
What follows next is a series of mysteries, which indeed leads to terrific results.
Karthi does a wonderful job with his ostentatious characterization. Watch him articulating the local language in early hours and his gestures; it’s more off Paruthiveeran impact. But his disported performance offers a pollyannaish treat. On pars, his abrupt change of shades in the final hours is praiseworthy. Reema Sen gets a meaty role, but Selvaraghavan could’ve opted for a Tamil speaking girl suiting to the nativity. Her lip-sync turns to be inappropriate at many occasions, especially with articulation of ancient Tamil. Andrea sleepwalks through her role and looses her prominence very often.
In spite of shelling out a great publicity for Parthiban’s role, there’s nothing much impressive we tend to witness. Azhagam Perumal is okay while Prathap Pothan doesn’t appear in more than three sequences.
There’s whole lot of discontinuities spotted now and then. Watch Karthi trying to flirt with Andrea over the cruise, his face has dark tone and as getting down towards Reema, he looks so rejuvenated with fair complexion. The way this trio head through the shadows to shake off from sand dunes is an excellent piece of creativity. Perhaps, the pre-interval sequence after ‘Un Mela Aasadhan’ is a surprising act. Apparently, Karthi fans would go restless as he hardly appears over the screens. Yes, it’s all about realms of Parthiban and Reema for the next 45minutes and Karthi gets back to the picture patently during penultimate sequences.
Musical score by G.V. Prakash is spellbinding. The young lad strikes off with a fantabulous background score. ‘Un Mela Aasadhan’ is a special treat for the gold rush over lyrics and glamorous dimensions. Ramji’s cinematography is top-notching but some of his best visuals are diminished with lots of CG works. If Selva had added a melodic-song, (either ‘Maalai Neram’ or ‘Indha Paadhai’) it would have been pleasant brush up for audiences.
With a longer duration of 200 minutes, the second half will likely develop restlessness yearning for the climax portion. As mentioned earlier, Selva could’ve picked an alternative climax instead of ‘open ending’.
For sure, Aayirathil Oruvan is a noteworthy film in the history of contemporary Tamil Cinema. But, it’s strictly not for kids and family audiences.
-Richard Mahesh/BollyBhai.com
