Aarambam - Thala Deepavali

There are few things that match the euphoria of an Ajith movie! It was on display in full force today as Aarambam began Diwali celebrations across Tamil Nadu in grand style. Sometimes, it is extremely difficult not to get carried away in the absolute thrill of the moment; crackers, confetti, whistles and everything that can make for an energetic celebration. But, braving all that, here is a review of Aarambam, just the movie, and none of the extraneous factors.

As the makers have said, it is an out and out commercial entertainer for the festival season. Well, yes, but it is not the regular commercial entertainer which has the five songs, five fights, the romance, the comedy and sentiment. No, this one is more about action than anything else. The makers have made this film with a clear vision – it is for those who love high octane action, thrills, some well executed heroism and star charisma in all its glory. This is not to say that this movie is one long action sequence. It has its commercial indulgences to keep all sections of the audience happy, but the director never loses control over the movie, or focus over the central plot.

Yes, there is an intro song, which goes ‘Aarambame’, that serves the purpose of an….ahem..intro song, that has no relevance to the movie whatsoever. It only serves as a warm up of sorts for the fans who want to dance in the aisles. While colorfully picturized, the song only highlights the fact that Ajith, in spite of his best efforts, has considerably slowed down when it comes to dance. But, then the director dives straight into the story. We are introduced to a hacker from Chennai (Arya) who is on his way to Mumbai and ‘accidentally meets his college buddy on the flight (Nayan). Then there is a brief flashback with Arya in a never-before-seen avatar, which you will surely enjoy. That brief interlude is the only place where the director has given some space for fun and comedy. That wrapped up, it’s back to the plot again.

The hacker finds that he has been hacked; and is now forced to do some hacking to survive. But, he doesn’t know why he is being asked to do this. Even the audience doesn’t know anything, except for the fact that the chief of the operation likes to ‘Make it simple’. Apparently, this is all well planned and there is something very big that is being schemed. But, being a hacker, he finds a way to throw a spanner in the works. The entire thing comes down with a thud. What was being planned? How was it brought down? And, how does it all come back up? Watch Aarambam to find out.

One has to appreciate the director’s vision to give an almost pure action movie, while still remaining within the constraints of the commercial format. He finds a way to induce a bit of fun and comedy with Arya’s brief episode, manages to squeeze in three songs without hurting the pace of the movie (the fourth one does), manages to avoid having a song featuring Nayanthara (which would have been a huge temptation), avoids a romantic track for Ajith and also manages to avoid the scenario of the hero beating up 50 guys at a time. These are the malaises that hurt our action movies and Vishnuvardhan has steered clear of them. Good job.

The motives behind the heists being planned are kept a secret right through the first half. You don’t even get a clue. If it was not for Ajith’s charisma and masss appeal, this kind of a character would have looked like a complete villain. The second half continues in the fast action vein, but deviates for a flashback to explain the motives. A crisply done affair, which perhaps gets a bit too dramatic towards its end! Here again, the director shows very good control over the proceedings, never letting boredom creep in. However, all the good work is marred a bit in the final 20 minutes when the thirst for grandeur seems to have overtaken a sensible script. You have highly wanted criminals flying across continents unchecked (as if the police was busy twiddling thumbs) without so much as a disguise or a fake passport. You have an artificially inserted bike ride (there is no rule that Ajith has to ride a bike for a movie to be complete), followed by an extremely bizarre sequence at the Indo-Pak LOC which defies all common sense and logic. Oh man, never knew it was so easy to conduct business on an international border. And finally, a sermon on corruption and keeping the system clean, which reminds us of the ‘bulletproof jack scam’ from 2008 to the ‘coffin scandal’ of the Kargil war. OK, we got the message.

Ajith is in top form in Aarambam. He exudes attitude and his fans will love it; it was evident in the theater today. Arya plays perfect foil. Nayanthara is restrained, as is required by her role and Tapsee plays a girl who is slightly better than being a dumb bimbette and says ‘Sooo sweeeet’ for everything. And, she looks funny speaking Tamil. Mahesh Manjrekar is superb as a cold calculating politician and the same can be said of Atul Kulkarni who comes out excellently as a corrupt officer. Kishore looks every bit stiff and serious as a cop must and Rana Daggubatti looks very macho in his brief appearance.

But, this movie is about Ajith; so, let’s talk about him. Stylish, suave, cool – he is everything that the role demands, except when he dances. Yuvan Shankar Raja has composed an absolute dream of a theme music which multiplies Ajith’s mass appeal in every one of those scenes that is meant to make the audience go into raptures. The BGM crackles, rumbles, roars and electrifies, Yuvan has rocked. You will enjoy this movie just on the strength of Thala’s screen presence.

In all other technical aspects, one can only say that no expense has been spared. It is a top notch product. Shot in the best possible locations, thrilling action, ensemble star cast, and a good story to go with it – Aarambam is a definite festival treat. Of course, it is not the five course meal that a commercial entertainer is meant to be (comedy, romance, music, action, sentiment), but whatever it serves (action), it serves well. If only Vishnuvardhan would have shown a bit more restraint in the climax, it would have looked like a very intelligent movie. But, here, we get a ham-handed climax which makes us lose a bit of the elation we had all along.  No problem, we’ll overlook that. One more thing, this ‘hero fighting terrorists in Mumbai’ theme might have just gone past its shelf life. So, anyone else with similar ideas please rethink you strategy. Till then, have a great Aarambam to this Diwali.

Aarambam – Thala in form; a good start to the Diwali celebrations.