Arindhum Ariyamalum - Review

(Pic adopted from Indiaglitz)

Vishnuvardhan, who debuted with a mediocre film “Kurumbu” has come back strongly with this action-romantic masala flick. The movie starts with the “divasam” scene. (Sick.. what a way to begin.. this is the third movie in the last year I saw with such a beginning). Satya (Navdeep), living with his granpa in Nagerkoil, comes to Chennai to pursue an engineering degree. Adinarayanan (Prakash Raj) is a dada in Chennai and his son Kutti (Arya), a short-tempered young man, assists his father. Satya witnesses the atrocities of the gang, and when his love Sandya (Samiksha) gets shot in a crossfire, he earns the wrath of the father-son gangster duo by complaining to the police. Short world, you know, Adi comes to know that Satya is his son. Satya is not ready to accept a gangster as his father. The second part of the movie is on where this mismatch leads to.

The movie has little twists and turns but by and large predictable for a regular movie-goer. The first half of the movie is quite entertaining with a racy screenplay and good songs but once the identity of Satya is revealed, Adi and Kutti slowly assume comedian roles, especially the latter. Kutti’s attempts to win his new brother’s heart are funny and don’t really suit the kind of persona he was shown to be in the first half. Nevertheless, it can be contrued as showing two different facets of a young gangster. Love and police keep entering into the story at regular intervals but both could have been given a bigger thrust. The second half drags after a point.

Navdeep is likeable and plays his role as a small town boy caught in the chaos of Chennai quite well. Samiksha is good-looking with a matured face and unique teeth.. but great smile but her role could have been meatier. She is required as a doll when there is time for a song. Arya as the volatile junior dada is impressive with his cameo in the second half. But, the most impressive and likeable performance comes from Prakash Raj. Though his mannerisms remind us of his “chellame” act in Gilly, he has got a good screen presence, especially in the second half, where he interacts with his new son. Whether he shouts at his father-in-law or he enjoys seeing his son sleeping, you cant take your eyes off him. “5 star” Krishna tries to do a Vivek but is enjoyable.

The other hero of the movie is Yuvan Shankar Raja with some great numbers, though the song picturizations could do well with more imagination. “Theepidikka” is an item number and it doesn’t deserve to be. “Enn kannodu” and “konjam konjam” are sensuous songs. Overall, it is a far better produce of Vishnuvardhan compared to his debut movie.

I rate this B+ for Prakash Raj, songs and decent script.