Well, I’m quite thrilled that I’m writing the first review for this movie on mouth shut. I happened to see this movie today, only going by the trailer.
Selvaraghavan’s Aayirathil Oruvan(one in a thousand):
There are several reasons why one should watch this movie and equal number of reasons why one should not go for this. But, before I begin, Director Selvaraghavan needs to be appreciated a lot for daring to handle such a script.
The plot(simplified) is as below:
Archaeologist Prathap Pothan is on his journey to study the remains of chola dynasty and gets lost mysteriously.
A team of archaeologists then decide to continue the mission under the government banner. Reema Sen heads this team. Andrea, daughter of Prathap Pothan also joins the team with a little hope of finding her lost dad. Karthi is the head of the coolies who are hired to help the team for carrying the food items and weapons.
The team faces several obstacles in their path to their destination i.e., the place where Cholas last lived. Several people from the team get killed during each of their obstacle. Only Karthi, Andrea, Reema Sen & a military officer remain.
To their surprise, they find that the Chola dynasty is not extinct but a few of their people, passing generations, still live in the middle of a desert, hoping for a messenger to come and take them back to their home town(Thanjavur) and crown their king(Parthiban). The king and his people are living amidst high poverty.
Well, is one of these guys really a messenger? What is their motive on this search trip? Who remains? is what the second half is all about. I won’t let out the suspense, though several other websites have already mentioned it.
Coming to the Cast part:
Karthi - He has done a good job once again. His one-liners in the movie are the only comedy to cheer. He has well expressed his acting skills and should be well appreciated for his performance.
Reema Sen - The girl who steals the show. She is undoubtedly the main highlight of the movie, from the first scene till the end. After her "Psycho-like" character in Vallavan, she has yet again proved that besides glamour, she can act well too. She has a good and different character to play.
Andrea - There is not much to cheer about this girl and no complaints either. For the role assigned to her, she has performed well.
Parthiban - Along with his trade mark wits & dialogues, he also impresses a lot with emotional scenes. The scene where he expresses his happiness with tears, hearing that his people will finally be seeing their home town and get good food and clothing, is simply excellent stuff.
All other characters do a decent job.
Background music by GV Prakash is very good and goes along with the story line.
The Cinematography is excellent, Picturisation is good. Editing is decent.
Well, with Selvaraghavan, you cannot expect a Telugu-dubbed commercial entertainer or
movie on corruption or black money or comedy film with a bunch of youths or a police story.
He has done what he is best at doing.
He has made the whole Tamil Industry proud by this master creation, which many directors will not dare to touch in their life time.
But,
Too much of blood splashing and head-chops earn this movie a very big "A" certificate and kids and weak-hearted people have nothing to do but avoid this movie. They could have cartoonised these like we saw in "Aalavandhaan".
To add, in one scene, the starving Chola people are shown to be fighting for eating dead humans, for survival. In one scene, Karthi, Andrea & Reema kill a Camel for their food, while they are in the middle of their search.
The torturing scene where the military officers harass the ladies in the Chola group by making them dance nude could have been avoided.
The dialogues of the Chola king and his people in the second half could have had a "sub- title" as I discovered that many of the Tamilians themselves are not able to follow the old and pure format of the language.!
Many scenes in this movie remind you of "Gladiator" or "Troy”. But in a historic subject, you cannot try for a variation, as the costumes and settings are more or less similar.
I didn’t quite like the climax which is in the likes of director Barathiraja who ends the movies like "journey continues" or "time will tell’ types. I recon it shows the inability of the director to decide on a definite end or the fear of public reaction for the un-liking.
So, please don’t go with families for this movie unless you are too fond of the above described action sequences. I mean the ladies & children.
But, do go as friends. After all, you will not get a chance to watch a similar movie, in Tamil for a long long time.
These kinds of movies should be welcomed and the attempts must be appreciated, so that directors get encouragement to go for innovative & different concepts that will make the world turn back at our Indian movies.
To watch out for:
the tiny yellowish orange creature in the sea(graphics) which attacks the people when they arrive on the island
Reema Sen - all the way till the end of the movie
the shadow during sunrise and sunset where people cross the "quicksand". If you didn’t know, this shadow is in the shape of the "Natarajar" statue! Now, This shadow falls at the same place during both sunrise and sunset.! is that a flaw? or one of the assumptions?
As a Tamil movie fan, I’m very pleased to welcome this movie after a long wait. If not for the gory scenes, this movie would have been a massive hit. But it is definitely worth watching once.
Mixed opinions and debates shall continue ;-)