Decent effort by entire team
ASAL– A must watch for Ajith fans
Banner: Sivaji Productions
Production: Prabhu Ganeshan
Story-Screenplay-Dialogues: Saran, Ajith Kumar, Yughi Sethu
Direction: Saran
Star-casts: Ajith Kumar, Sameera Reddy, Bhavana, Prabhu, Sampath, Yughi Sethu, Rajeev Krishna, Kelly Dorjee and others.
Music: Bharadwaj
Cinematography: Prashanth
Editing: Anthony
Art: Prabhakar
Costumes: Nalini Sriram
Stunts: William Hong, Patrick Bruneton
Publicity: Diamond Babu
Rating: 3/5
Films based on feuds between brothers have been a hackneyed concept when it comes to Tamil cinema. In literal sense, there have been hundreds of films churned out on the same conceptualization. Of course, ASAL isn’t an elision as it revolves around the conflict between brothers in a powerful family that is narrated with ample commercial ingredients meant for Ajith fans.
Expectations were more with ASAL, since the film establishes new avatar of Ajith Kumar as a co-director and screenwriter. But, has he handled these criterions with perfection?
Of course, he has done justice over these arenas by gratifying to the tastes of his fans. But then, the screenplay turns out to be tedious on more parts with uninteresting moments. Saran has been wearing the same old-hat of penning stories based on betrayals and retaliations. His previous films with Ajith Kumar– ‘Amarkalam’ and ‘Attagasam’ are the best illustrations for it. On the dot, ASAL is a well-tailored piece of work catering the ardent buffs of Ajith Kumar while for regular moviegoers it proves to be a passable show.
Set in backdrops of Paris, the film centers on Jeevanandham (Ajith Kumar), a top-charting arms dealer and his sons Sam (Sampath), Vicky (Rajeev Krishna) while Shiva (again played by Ajith Kumar) happens to be the son of his second wife. When Sam and Vicky are impelled by his uncle (Ghajini fame Pradeep Rawat) to sign a business deal with a group that plies weapons for terrorists, Jeevanandham abides Shiva’s words about pooh-poohing the offer.
Nonetheless, as Jeevanandham passes away because of cardiac arrest, Vicky and Sam strike deal with the same group that their father never wanted. Here enters a deadly mafia Shetty (Kelly Dorjee), who abducts Vicky to Mumbai for causing havoc in contract he was supposed to sign with the same group.
Shiva and his close associate Sarah (Sameera Reddy), a member of French embassy flies down to Mumbai to rescue Vicky from Shetty with the help of his dad’s friend Mirasi (Prabhu). Shiva comes across Sulochana (Bhavana), an orphan raised by Mirasi who falls in love with him at first sight.
When Shiva becomes the savior for Vicky and Sam, he pleads his stepbrother to remain with him forever since it was their father’s last wish. But for a greater shock, Shiva is shot by them thereby drowning in the seas.
What had actually urged them to commit such a dishonoring act is revealed during second hour with an unexpected truth revealed about Shiva.
Situations become speculative for these brothers and evil uncle when they find out that Shiva is still alive. Ajith Kumar stuns us with his elegantly stylish looks and performance. But it would be better if he can focus on ‘romance’ factors as well. Right over his past 5-6 films, the actor hasn’t been trying his luck with comedy and romance quotients. His performance as both father and son is overpowering and keeps us engrossed throughout the show. Sameera Reddy as an official from French Embassy doesn’t get scope while Bhavana looks cute as a lovable fille. Rajeev Krishna and Sampath have done justice to their roles. In particular, Sampath excels with his body language and mannerisms. It looks like he has spent quality time on preparations. Suresh Balaji as a Tamil speaking cop in France is perfect while Pradeep Rawat sleepwalks through his characterization. Prabhu doesn’t get much prominence while Yughi Sethu provides relief with his comedy tracks. Kelly Dorjee steals the show with his mind-boggling show. To be precise, his complete portion in the first half happens to be highlighting attribute.
Bharadwaj has to seriously work on tuning better melodies. Except the title song and ‘Em Thandhai’, none of songs impresses us. Debutant Prashanth carries the entire film on his shoulders with his stunning cinematography and he’s sure to make it big in tinsel town. Antony’s editing is slick and decorous and art work by Prabhakar requires special mention.
Vivek Karunakaran, one of the leading designers of India has embellished Ajith with fantastic costumes while Bhavana and Sameera Reddy must thank their costume designer Nalini Sriram for having projected them so lavishly graceful with cool costumes. On the flip side, the screenplay turns to be wearisome during some moments, but kudos to Saran for presenting the film with a shorter duration of 120mins.
As mentioned earlier, ASAL is sure to be a promising movie for Ajith fans while others it’s an above average flick with technical excellence on all arenas.
-Sampurn Wire
