Aayirathil Oruvan-Movie Review

Aayirathil Oruvan (One in a Thousand) starring Karthi Sivakumar, Reemma (Reema Sen), Parthipan, Andreah Jeremiah and a whole lot of junior/supporting artistes is the latest on offer from hot shot director Selvaraghavan.

Kudos to Selva for having ventured into a whole new territory, more so, coz his earlier ventures dealing with adolescent and teenage escapades had invariably hit the bull's eye.

First things first, this movie fully deserves its 'A' certificate and is strictly not for children and family audience. There is lot of blood, gore and typical Selva style adultery. (I could hear children crying and wanting to leave the movie hall. So Parents please leave them at home, if you want to sit thru this one). There are a few sequences that make you wonder how the Censor board works!

Karthi plays to perfection a charming, glib-tongued leader of a group of workers and ensures that he has kept his star status acquired post Paruthi Veeran, intact. Though his performance and body language in some sequences remind you of Paruthi Veeran, he proves again that he his here to stay and give stiff competition to his brother and many others in the days to come.

Reemma gets a meaty role and performs to the best of her abilities and tries hard to look sultry and hot. Aishwarya Dhanush's (Rajnikanth) dubbing helps her role incredibly. But how I wish Selva had cast a Thamizh speaking girl to play this role! (infact for the amount of time this movie took and the number of years she has been acting in Thamizh films she could have actually learnt the language herself). The lip-sync is a major drawback in many sequences.

Parthipan as the Chozha king is adequate, so are Andreah and Azhagam Perumal. Prathap Pothen has nothing much to do in the 'blink-and-you-miss' role.

The movie is a tad too long, especially in the second half, but to Selva's credit he manages to keep the audience hooked till the very end.

The song sequences appeared to be included forcefully in the narration and didn't personally make a big impact. (the remix of Adho Andha Paravai pola sounded awful to me and the picturization reminded me of a sequence in Titanic where Kate Winslet parties with a gang of so called low class passengers). There is a song that goes 'Oh Eesa' which suddenly turns to 'Govinda Govinda'. Didn't make sense to me, as there is no relation to Vishnu or Govinda anywhere else in the narrative. (Please note that this is the first time I am listening to these songs). The background score is way better, but considering the track record of Selva, Yuvan is sorely missed.

The biggest bane for this movie is that it is released close on the heels of the technical spectacle of this decade (maybe century?!) viz., James Cameron's 'Avatar (3D)', which shows the CG works in poor light in certain sequences. The camera work is brilliant otherwise.

There is also a sequence that you will relate immensely with 'The Gladiator' and some portions towards the climax look ridiculous. But personally I liked the way the movie ended.

These are minor flaws in an otherwise thoroughly engaging and enjoyable fare. Selva's imagination deserves a pat, especially the Nataraja shadow sequence and the way the narrative is linked back to the prophetic paintings/sketches in the second half.

The hardwork and time spent is evident in every frame and for this alone this film is worth a watch.

Hopefully, such attempts will usher in a whole new era of fresh scripts and narratives beyond the usual quagmire of run-of-the-mill love stories and Masala fare (read Vijay movies :p) that are taking the audiences for granted.