A picture is worth a thousand words.. not often one happens to see a movie that says a million words.. rather teaches you a million things.. Aayirathil Oruvan is one such and I was privileged to watch it on the first day of its release.. From the title card.. rather even before the title card the movie catches your attention.. starts in a period of the chola kings and moves back to te present.. A simple plot.. a dad and a daughter ( Andrea and Pratap Pothan) are both archaeologists.. Pratap goes missing and Andrea with a team of soldiers along with Reema and Karthi goes in search of missing Pratap.. Well.. Selva gives you everything you ask for.. From the very beginning till the end credits the movie gripped me in my seat.. So many things catch your eye and yet so much goes missing the first time you watch it.. The first half is filled with adventure and travel.. Reema and Andrea capture the screen as glam dolls and Karthi spills humour here and there.. But the grandeur with which the scenes were made.. Man.. I just can't describe.. The meeting with the tribal leader.. the Seven obstacles.. The war with the tribes.. So many.. So many.. Reema comes around like Angelina of tomb-raider.. probably better in style and looks ;) .. and the number of artists on screen.. you'll lose count after a thousand or a two.. there's so much on the screen for the eyes to see.. so many new things.. so many things we never would've imagined to take a spot in a tamil movie..jelly fishes for instance.. the highlight of the first half according to me was that shadow concept.. wow.. selva was at his best.. and Ramji's camera brought every ounce of Selva's imagination alive..and there comes the second half.. trust me the movie takes its peak with the entry of Parthiban.. I never thought I'd admire him this much.. None ever would've imagined him in such a role.. Selva made fantastic use of his acting skills.. The make up and the body language and simply his expressions.. Parthiban outplays every single person on the screen.. I watched the movie in a neighbourhood theatre and the audience were sick.. really sick.. They din seem to like the second half much.. But for me the second half was like four five times huge when compared to this first.. Parthiban .. I'm not able to restrict myself from mentioning his name.. Every single movement of his captured my attention.. He was perfectly moulded for that role.. and I cannot forget mentioning G.V's BGM .. "the arrival of the king" and "the celebration of life".. two of his master pieces.. but I still feel that Yuvan would've done a better job.. but nevertheless G.V's score was nothing short of expectations...And Vairamuthu's words.. I wonder how everything perfectly fell in place for this movie.. Also Selva's penned songs for this movie.. What more can a director do?! The movie was nearing climax .. The war scene.. A big WOOOOOOOOW for that! Camera,bgm,stunts,artists,location and PARTHIBAN!!!! The sequence was an art in itself.. And prior to that Parthi's expressions during his encounter with Reema.. he stood out from the entire cast!
Nell aadiya nilam engae..
Soll aadiya avai engae..
Vill aadiya kalam engae..
Kall aadiya silai engae..
When he was acting out these lines.. I couldn''t hold back my tears.. I don't even know why.. But it brought tears to me.. There were around ten of my friends watching the movie but only two of us whole-heartedly liked it.. Selva stunned us.. Trust me.. I never ever thought I'd see Reema and Parthi in a spectacular sword fight..
Final words:
After every big movie I feel that this is going to be the movie of the decade.. but after this movie I really feel that another such movie would never be done by any director here after.. Beautifully weaved storyline and 245 days of hard work din go waste.. Selva has brought out tamil cinema to a bigger stage.. All tamil cinema needs is people like Selva and producers like Ravi who have the guts to take up projects like this..
People who really understood the movie will have a different perspective of Tamil History after watching this movie..
Hats off to Reema Parthi,Selva,Ramji,G.V,Vairamuthu,Andrea and ofcourse the protagonist Karthi.. This movie is indeed a visual treat..
P.S: I may not be a acclaimed movie critic and it just might be only me who gets to read this piece again.. but the only way I could express my excitement and experience was to write about it.. and you have to be me to know how it feels to have seen this movie.. :)
Cheers..:)