Aayirathil Oruvan – Terrific disappointment

Banner: Dream Valley Entertainment
Production: R Ravendran
Direction: Selvaraghavan
Star-casts: Karthi, Andrea, Reema Sen, Parthiban, Prathap Pothan, Azhagam Perumal and others.
Music: G.V. Prakash

If 2009 wasn't a promising year for Tamil film industry, the same situation is persists with the Pongal releases as well. When the other release 'Naanayam' is a below average fare, 'Aayirathil Oruvan' disappoints us.

The first half (92mins) is filled with usual Selvaraghavan factors like – double entendres, profanity and some more elements patently meant for winning the applause of frontbenchers and 'C' class audiences. As the tale proceeds towards the second half, it's a pathetic scenario as Selvaraghavan stumbles.

First things first: we need to appreciate Selvaraghavan for conceptualizing a good tale of fiction. But he should’ve have pulled the names of two dynasties for the sake of attracting audiences (Though he screens a disclaimer that the film is not based on factual history of Chola dynasty, it cannot be entertained).

An archeologist (Prathap Pothan) is lost somewhere in a never-never land where the world believes that it was once a land ruled by Chola Kingdom. Sooner, his daughter (Andrea) an archeologist by profession, a forest officer (Reema Sen) and her team of armed defense groups are set out to unravel the mystery behind his loss.

To make sure that their journey through the untouched lands is comfortable, they hire local coolies lead by Sugumaran (Karthi). Soon the journey begins and it turns to be tougher than the team had actually predicted.

At the point of intermission, adventures literally transcend towards fantasy, thereby unraveling the hidden mysteries of preexisting dynasties of Chola and Pandian.

Let's start off with analysis on directorial aspects….

Having set in the backdrops of a different genre, Selvaraghavan should've have neatly included the quotients that are essential to engross the audiences. But he seems to have made wrong perceptions altogether. As mentioned earlier, the first half is completely comprised with 'Adult themes', which is likely to be resent by family audiences and must-to-avoid for kids. Nonetheless in the second half, nothing seems to be termed as ‘perfect picture’ as the story shifts to darker side, where there’s nothing left for enjoyable vistas.

Musical score by G.V. Prakash is brilliant, especially with his background score. Cinematography by Ramji is good piece of artwork while Computer generated graphic works doesn’t engross us.

To mark our verdicts, 'Aayirathil Oruvan' being churned out at 35Crores is a godforsaken film and it may not be surefooted winner at box office.

Rating: 2.5/5
Richard Mahesh