Maniratnam (Mani sir) has scripted or rather conceived yet another master-piece which transcends normal or ’’commercial’’ cinema. In the list of his all-time great films, ayidha ezhuthu would feature in the top 3. The movie has seen many rumours and unwanted talks precede its release. Rumours of trisha killing siddharth and jyothika playing a guest role are all put to rest.
The movie gives 3 different feels to it. Aggressive and violent; revolutionary; and the chill-out feel.
Inbasekar (Madhavan) shoots Michael Vasanth (Surya) on Napier bridge, and this is witnessed by Arjun Balakrishnan (Siddharth). This incident takes us to the activities and happenings in the last few months of all the 3 people.
Inba is aggressive, fiery, power-hungry, poverty-stricken, desperate and confused. This is much to the chagrin of his beloved wife, Sashi (Meera Jasmine). Inba is asked by his brother Guna and their boss Minister Selvanayagam (Bharathiraja) to ruffle up a few students in Madras University. On successful completion of this exercise, we are led to the next character, Michael Vasanth, a University student.
A brilliant student who turns down a scholarship and an offer to go abroad, Michael is revolutionary, passive, thought-provoking, inspiring and ambitious. His girlfriend Gigi (Ish Deol) is well aware of his path in life, and adds support to him. Michael educates the illiterate village-dwellers about standing up for their own right, politics and the human individuality. This path of his leads him to cross swords with Selvanayagam, and as a consequence of such actions, he is shot by Inba.
Arjun Balakrishnan is a fun-loving, disco-dancing, US-aspiring, carefree, happy-go-lucky cliched urban youngster. He wants to go abroad and have fun with girls. He meets Meera (Trish) in a disco and falls in love with her. He proposes to her just after she tells him about her engagement to another guy in Sivakasi. They talk for a long time in the bus, and get down in Napier bridge. That is when Arjun witnesses the attempt on Michael’s life.
Michael survives; Inba is on the tip of his nerves that his attempt failed; and Arjun is flabbergasted at what happened in front of his eyes. Michael’s classmates advise him against involving any of them in further politics. Just when we think Michael’s actions are turned into deaf ears, Arjun, who was instrumental in saving Michael, opts to stand for the assembly elections. He undergoes a complete change of outlook, change of character, and gets more responsible towards his country.
Inba, on the other hand, is asked to be bumped off by the minister. And guna is assigned the job. Inba emerges the smarter of the two by killing guna and threatening the minister. The minister sees himself in Inba and grooms him as his own trusted aide. This sequence of incidents transform Inba into a reckless guy, who runs after Arjun, in a bid to kill him. And Michael saves Arjun by showing Inba what ’’belief’’ and ’’faith’’ is all about. Inba, meanwhile, would have killed his own friend (Sriman) who tried to stop Inba from harassing the student candidates.
Ultimately, truth triumphs. And victory belongs to the youth. The youth have won. And the youth have lost.
Technically, the story and screenplay are absolutely gripping. A R Rahman shows the rest of the world that he is Indian, not global, and comes up with a composition that reflects his Indian Talent. The sounds are techno, and the songs are trendy, but the feel is purely Indian.
Photography by Ravi K Chandran reflects the 3 different colour themes for the 3 principal character-scenes. For instance, ’’Hey Goodby Nanba’’, picturised on Arjun and Meera has a blue theme; Dol Dol picturised on Inba and Sashi shows red; and Jana Gana Mana on Michael shows green.
Lyrics by ’’Kaviperarasu’’ Vairamuthu are very inspiring in Jana Gana... and excellent in ’’Yakkai Thiri’’.
Other surprises in the movie include Bharathiraja’s brilliant performance, Meera Jasmine’s excellent tamil pronounciation in sync sound, Strong supporting starcast like Prasanna (5-star fame), and the very realistic ending of the movie.
Madhavan and Surya can add feathers to their caps. Both are worthy of expecting national awards, though it could go to Madhavan, whose character was more complex.
Siddharth: acted well, because of Mani Sir. Mani made Prabhu act in Agni Nakshathram. How difficult is Siddharth? But Siddharth has shown wonderful orientation towards comic timing and dialogue delivery. Great maturity from ’’Boys’’.
Ok, Ok. The cons, right? Wel... I could spot very few. Like the illogical absence of a plaster-cast on Surya during jana gana... which reappears after the song. Barring this particular goof-up, the movie is just brilliant.
I have difficulty in visualising Ajay Devgan in such a young student character. Ayidha Ezhuthu is surely a classic. A must-see, rollicking ride through philosophy, reality, individualism, patriotism, betrayal, survival and triumph.
Get going, watch it, and love it. And buy the DVD for your collections.