Aalwar

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Cast:    Ajith, Asin
Direction:    Chella
Production:    Mohan Natarajan
Music:    Srikanth Deva

The Vedas and other ancient scriptures proclaim that whenever the virtues are in the decline and evil becomes rampant, God incarnates as an Avatar (often in human form) to re-establish Dharma by protecting the righteous and destroying the evil forces. This belief perfectly sets the tone for “Aalwar,” a revenge-genre movie.

The first-time director Sellaa has constructed the movie which is more of style than of substance. The biggest drawback is that the story does not have a strong plot or surprising twists. There is also a palpable lack of chemistry between the characters and this gives the picture a poorly contrived feel.

Sellaa has reinvented the mythological figures with imagination and handled the story in such a way that Ajith walks away with his action-hero image boosted.

Here goes the story…

Siva (Ajith) works in a government hospital as a mortician. Revenge is the name of the game for this young man. Though on the surface he is soft and silent, there is an undercurrent of anger and bloodthirsty revenge running within him. Wherever he sees crimes perpetrated, he responds by giving the baddies a spectacular ‘punishment’: a brutal death.

In two incidents, he appears as Lord Rama and Lord Krishna and kills the criminals (Vincent Asokan & others) with the punch line: “Nan Kadavul!” (I am God!)!

Priya (Asin) comes from Hyderabad and stays in the same mansion where Siva lives. She likes his soft nature and soon falls for him. She tries every trick in her bag to woo him, but Siva remains emotionally unattached.

Meanwhile, the police wake up to the serial killings and cast their net wide to apprehend Siva. How he dodges the police form the first part. In the second half, he narrates in a flash back the trauma that drove him to take up arms from being a simple temple priest.

Ajith’s performance is of three types. When alone, he is silent and morose. When it comes to taking revenge he’s as forceful as a battle tank, crushing the bad guys in his path. In the attire of Gods he looks as benign as Gods.
Asin has performed the smallest ever walk-on role in this film. Even in her few screen appearances, she either dreams of singing and dancing or woos her lover with dialogues that lack heart. There is not much meat in Vivek’s comedy.

Srikanth Deva’s music is a mix of rhythm and melody. ‘Pallandu, Pallandu,’ sung by Unnikrishnan, is a pleasing classical number in the film. Action choreographer Super Subbarayan has used special effects with such aplomb that all the other action masters and movie- gores will take note of. The period settings for Ajith’s avatars are made lively by cinematographer Nirav Shah.

Ajith’s performance is what lifts up the movie despite all its drawbacks and surely it will be a Pongal delight for his fans.

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