Aayirathil Oruvan - January 2010 Movie - Review
Yesterday was an eventful one for me (thanks to my good friend Keerthi), as I got to see one of the most expected movies that were released for this year's pongal holidays, which is none other than.. you gussed it, Selva's "Aayirathil Oruvan".
I had high expectations about this movie, mostly because of the wonderful songs, but also because of the 'fantasy/history' genre hype, which is something rarely done in modern tamil cinema and I am glad to say, it more than lived up to it, though I never expected that the history part would be actually be complete fiction/fantasy.
First off, there is not much of a story to tell, a couple of archaeologists (Reema Sen and Andrea), go digging somewhere near vietnam (although with different motives), looking for the lost ruins of an ancient Cholan Civilization, comprising of a young crown prince and his people, forced to flee their homeland by the rival Pandiyas...
As the path tracing this lost civilization is very dangerous and filled with deadly traps and obstacles, along with the fact that nobody ever made it to the place and returned alive, these two archaeologists are accompanied by a heavily armed military unit and a gang of coolies headed by none other than "Paruthiveeran" fame Karthi Sivakumar.
The first half consists of the trio & team's thrilling adventures on this dangerous trip, whereas the second half is completely occupied by the results and repercussions of their findings and a few unexpected twists and turns. What really seals this movie is, its grandeur and visual extravaganza! The locations were exotic, graphics superbly done and excellent cinematography.. also bolstering the film were the lively performances of Karthi in the 1st half and Reema Sen in the 2nd, as for Andrea.. yeah, she was in the movie, was really helpful to others in a couple of scenes, and it's a pity that even the 'extras', cast as tribals had more scope for acting than her character....
While the first half is riddled with scenes rich in action/adventure and witty one-liners, the second half, in my opinion sagged a bit, probably beacuse of the complete change of the mood and scenes which are totally new and slightly controversial to TAMIL cinema, it was meant to be a dark theme after the interval and it literally, was, 'dark' & 'black' in whatever direction you look at it, and even has a 'war' scene to boot. Also actor R.Parthiban was said to play an important character in this half of the movie, and he does justice to the role, even though he just has a few lines of dialogue to establish his character, that too in ancient tamil which a common would barely understand, he has no difficulties in compensating it with his excellent body language.
The music, as I said in the beginning, was what inspired me to watch this movie and music director G.V. Prakash did a really good job at that, though the background score could have been better in a few scenes, but where it was better, it was great!
Well! that's my review for you, though there a few points to be noted..
This movie is not your typical 'A' certified movie, it is really worth that certification, as there are quite a few graphic portrayal of scenes, sensual/violent/frightening in nature, far surpassing the limits of the previous movies of the direcrtor, Mr.Selvaraghavan, who is known for his bold moves on the silver screens of tamil cinema. You might want to consider it incase you are going with the younger ones of your family..
And also the numerous references to Hollywood blockbusters such as Tomb Raider/Narnia/300/LOTR/Gladiator and so on... albeit, not a complete rip-off and was given the director's touch, was infact a bit worrying for a minor section of the audience, but it was quite enjoyable..
Also, the movie ends with the tag outlining that the Chola fantasy will continue, so if the movie turns out to be a huge hit, we might even see a sequel, maybe a little into the future, better keep your fingers crossed!!
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