Director Selvaraghavan is a person who has a reputation of breaking the mundane path of Tamil Cinema. His previous films have all been path breaking and therefore I was very eagerly for Aayirathil Oruvan from the time he announced that he was going to try out something new in Tamil Cinema. "A FANTASY ADVENTURE".
After several obstacles and innumerable delays, the film made it to the silver screen after a painful wait of 3 years. I always try my level best to watch his films on the first day of its release since the film would get trimmed or I should say "the film would get cut"by the theater owners saying that the film was too long and spoil the movie of its originality.
The film begins with the depiction of an invasion in the Cholan dynasty during the 12th century and how a boy is being surreptitiously deported from their land so that their dynasty does not end in the war. The film travels to the present age where an archaeologist (Prathap Pothen)in search of the lost Cholan dynasty disappears mysteriously. The Govt appoints a team consisting of Reema Sen (Head of the Team) and few officers along with the daughter of the lost archaeologist (Andrea) to go in search of the archaeologist along with a group of coolies (headed by Karthi) to help them in the excavation.
After traveling through treacherous paths and facing many hindrances they finally make it to the land which is presumably the place where the Cholas lived. To their astonishment they stumble upon the last off springs of the poverty stricken Cholan dynasty and their imperial king (Parthiban). What happens next is a series of unprecedented events which will leave you shocked at some places and a little puzzled at some places (esp the climax) which u wouldn't have conceived of.
The casting by Selvaraghavan is apt and all of them play their roles to perfection. The humorous one-liners of Karthi in the first half are sure to bring the roof down. Reema Sen gets a meaty role as the pivot of the movie which is a rarity in Tamil Cinema and she has tried her level best to get into the skin of the role though her classical Tamil slang and her Classical dance stuck out like a sore thumb. Andrea as an archaeologist looks cute and is very likable. But the stand out performer for me was Parthiban who looked majestic as the Chola king. Selva extracts a fine performance from the veteran actor who has till date been very under-utilized.
Regarding the technical aspects, music by GV Prakash (music director) is patchy to say the least. The BGM of the second half was completely out of sync with the movie though the songs in the movie were good enough. The song sung by dhanush and pictured on the lead pair is a sure-shot chartbuster. Cinematography is high class (hats of to Ramji) and the visuals are an absolute treat for the viewer. Graphics play an important part in the movie and it has been done with a lot of care. Given that the budget of the movie was around 30-35 crores, the graphics was a really praiseworthy effort.
The main drawback of the movie is the second half of the movie which brings in a lot of classical Tamil narration which will make an ordinary viewer restless and a post war sequence which was very unfathomable. There are also some scenes in the second half which am sure will make any Tamil Cinema viewer stupefied. Overall, the movie is a definite watch for movie buffs who are passionate about Tamil Cinema. Watch it just for the effort put in by the team to make this project come on screen.
KUDOS SELVARAGHAVAN SIR (U are definitely Aayirathil Oruvan :P)
