You don’t judge a film like Aayirathil Oruvan. You simply don’t. Allowing his imagination to bellow on us like a shadow, Selva Raghavan has simply stolen the thunder, to re-affirm that he is indeed one of the best film-makers in India today. In fact, you will not be chastised for saying he is the best based on this evidence.
AO floats beyond our judgement just because for the way Selva has made this film. It is already one big achievement of an Indian film-maker ventures into fantasy, but here Selva ventures into fiction, history, and also pulp fiction all at the same time. It is a combination that purists who teach the aesthetics of cinema would never fathom. It sounds that impossible on paper. But Aayirathil Oruvan isn’t a movie made on threads of scripts and intricate discussions on what will attract the audiences and what will not. But instead, it is made on the platform of Selva’s mind, his imagination, his vivid imageries, yet ultimately attaining an abstract meaning that makes ends meet, albeit also in an unconventional manner.
Archeologist Rajamouli (Pratap Pothen) is on the brink of discovering the lost civilization of the Cholan Dynasty, which went amiss back in 1279 after being conquered over by the Pandyan dynasty. However, he goes missing at his moment of glory, and thus the Indian Union Minister sends a professional team to track down Rajamouli, who is believed to be in a tiny unknown island located in the straits between Vietnam and Port Blair, where the lost civilization were believed to have extracted themselves to after being outcasted from their own home of Tanjoor. Anitha (Reema Sen) a bold, seductive, aggressive woman heads the team along with Lavanya (Andrea), who is Rajamouli’s daughter, and also an archeologist. Muthu (Karthik) heads a coolie group which is hired to help in the expedition with physical logistics.
The story centers on their expedition and their subsequent alarming discovery that the Cholan dynasty individuals are still alive, living in isolation inside a dark cave filled with wall paintings of their prophecy. What follows is a vivid unfolding of events that you can only find out if you watch it for yourself.
To begin with, performances in the film are top notch. Reema Sen makes you wonder if it is really her. Normally known more for her glamour than her acting; Reema manages to maintain unpredictable facial expressions throughout which makes you unable to gauge her true intentions. The story mostly centers around her attitude, and obsession, and she conveys the different facets of her character so well. In fact, she even seem to have been able to lip synch well enough while her character spoke Sangam Tamil.
Karthik seems to continue where he had left off in Paruthi Veeran, For most part, he is just a coolie with witty one-liners, and yet his facial expressions retain a tenderness about them especially in the second half when the story moves more and more towards him. Andrea Jeremiah is extremely likable, just as she was in her acting debut Pachaikili. She wasn’t given the scope to perform, but shares a cracking yet tender chemistry with Karthik, and the small, unadulterated love track between them is a pleasure to watch- though towards the end, she mostly wore a bewildered look as the whole story seem to take place around her but never participating her.
Selva obviously rates Azhagam Perumal as a calibre actor to play grey roles, as he had given him the role of an established politician in Pudhupettai, he plays his role as the obsessed, ignorant private army commando to almost perfection.
The only shortcoming on the technical side might be pointed to the graphics work of the film, as some of the graphics were laughable in terms of quality, which just shows Tamil films still have their wok cut out if they are to ever reach the graphic heights of Hollywood.
Otherwise, camerawork by Ramji is exceptional to say the least, but the real technical hero is GV Prakash. Apart from providing a good album, GV has stamped his authority all over the film with a stunning background score, which elevates every ordinary scene to extraordinary measures.
On the whole however, you can not inscribe this film to be everyone’s perfect idea of a good movie outing. Some hate it when films appear to be too intelligent for their grasping. Some hate to admit when a film is smart and downright bash it (like some critics in some websites have already done), and some will struggle with the Sangam Tamil and not fully comprehend it. Selva could, and should, have placed full English subtitles or added an extra scene to narrate in detail what has happened to the Cholans in order to enlighten those who have failed to grape the language.
The film, at the core shows that despite all of the so-called civilization progress, humans at the core retain a very barbaric nature, and that nothing much has changed since ancient civilizations. Yet the practices of ancient civilizations are shown to retain more tenderness than the greed that has consumed the current society. Sexual innuendos never go missing from Selva’s film, and this is no different. They provide a majority of the humor element for the film, and this might not please some parents. But these dialogues are common, and spoken a great deal among the public, thus they remain a realistic choice for the film.
Aayirathil Oruvan is one in a thousand. A stand-out Tamil film for all times. Watch it at least once so that you do not miss this experience. This is the film that will give some spring to the step that Tamil cinema wants to take to be noticed in world cinema. If the industry wants to be known for more than just routine heroism and dance around the tree songs, then films such as AO should be encouraged.
Kudos to Selva Raghavan! Please do bravely churn out a sequel!
AO floats beyond our judgement just because for the way Selva has made this film. It is already one big achievement of an Indian film-maker ventures into fantasy, but here Selva ventures into fiction, history, and also pulp fiction all at the same time. It is a combination that purists who teach the aesthetics of cinema would never fathom. It sounds that impossible on paper. But Aayirathil Oruvan isn’t a movie made on threads of scripts and intricate discussions on what will attract the audiences and what will not. But instead, it is made on the platform of Selva’s mind, his imagination, his vivid imageries, yet ultimately attaining an abstract meaning that makes ends meet, albeit also in an unconventional manner.
Archeologist Rajamouli (Pratap Pothen) is on the brink of discovering the lost civilization of the Cholan Dynasty, which went amiss back in 1279 after being conquered over by the Pandyan dynasty. However, he goes missing at his moment of glory, and thus the Indian Union Minister sends a professional team to track down Rajamouli, who is believed to be in a tiny unknown island located in the straits between Vietnam and Port Blair, where the lost civilization were believed to have extracted themselves to after being outcasted from their own home of Tanjoor. Anitha (Reema Sen) a bold, seductive, aggressive woman heads the team along with Lavanya (Andrea), who is Rajamouli’s daughter, and also an archeologist. Muthu (Karthik) heads a coolie group which is hired to help in the expedition with physical logistics.
The story centers on their expedition and their subsequent alarming discovery that the Cholan dynasty individuals are still alive, living in isolation inside a dark cave filled with wall paintings of their prophecy. What follows is a vivid unfolding of events that you can only find out if you watch it for yourself.
To begin with, performances in the film are top notch. Reema Sen makes you wonder if it is really her. Normally known more for her glamour than her acting; Reema manages to maintain unpredictable facial expressions throughout which makes you unable to gauge her true intentions. The story mostly centers around her attitude, and obsession, and she conveys the different facets of her character so well. In fact, she even seem to have been able to lip synch well enough while her character spoke Sangam Tamil.
Karthik seems to continue where he had left off in Paruthi Veeran, For most part, he is just a coolie with witty one-liners, and yet his facial expressions retain a tenderness about them especially in the second half when the story moves more and more towards him. Andrea Jeremiah is extremely likable, just as she was in her acting debut Pachaikili. She wasn’t given the scope to perform, but shares a cracking yet tender chemistry with Karthik, and the small, unadulterated love track between them is a pleasure to watch- though towards the end, she mostly wore a bewildered look as the whole story seem to take place around her but never participating her.
Selva obviously rates Azhagam Perumal as a calibre actor to play grey roles, as he had given him the role of an established politician in Pudhupettai, he plays his role as the obsessed, ignorant private army commando to almost perfection.
The only shortcoming on the technical side might be pointed to the graphics work of the film, as some of the graphics were laughable in terms of quality, which just shows Tamil films still have their wok cut out if they are to ever reach the graphic heights of Hollywood.
Otherwise, camerawork by Ramji is exceptional to say the least, but the real technical hero is GV Prakash. Apart from providing a good album, GV has stamped his authority all over the film with a stunning background score, which elevates every ordinary scene to extraordinary measures.
On the whole however, you can not inscribe this film to be everyone’s perfect idea of a good movie outing. Some hate it when films appear to be too intelligent for their grasping. Some hate to admit when a film is smart and downright bash it (like some critics in some websites have already done), and some will struggle with the Sangam Tamil and not fully comprehend it. Selva could, and should, have placed full English subtitles or added an extra scene to narrate in detail what has happened to the Cholans in order to enlighten those who have failed to grape the language.
The film, at the core shows that despite all of the so-called civilization progress, humans at the core retain a very barbaric nature, and that nothing much has changed since ancient civilizations. Yet the practices of ancient civilizations are shown to retain more tenderness than the greed that has consumed the current society. Sexual innuendos never go missing from Selva’s film, and this is no different. They provide a majority of the humor element for the film, and this might not please some parents. But these dialogues are common, and spoken a great deal among the public, thus they remain a realistic choice for the film.
Aayirathil Oruvan is one in a thousand. A stand-out Tamil film for all times. Watch it at least once so that you do not miss this experience. This is the film that will give some spring to the step that Tamil cinema wants to take to be noticed in world cinema. If the industry wants to be known for more than just routine heroism and dance around the tree songs, then films such as AO should be encouraged.
Kudos to Selva Raghavan! Please do bravely churn out a sequel!
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