Aayirathil Oruvan (One in a thousand) - a review

thevortex

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Aayirathil Oruvan (One in a thousand) - a review
January 23rd 2010 18:40

This was one of those days I walked out of the movie hall proud of being a Tamilian. I dont mean that in a narrow separatist way at all. Inclusive and Indian I sure am but it is the nature of the beast that all of the various states have their own rich histories and tapestries. And yet we dont reach down there and pull out things that we can be proud of.

In fact I regularly moan about the lack of any science fiction laced literature or even something dabbling in something fantastical, something out of the ordinary in Tamil. And yes, you would be right if you extend this apparently 'down to earth' attitude onto the region's cinema as well. Hardly any 'fantastical' feature films made in the language. All this when the region is rife with countless mysteries and numerous 'unexplained' things, not to mention awe-inspiring, larger than life heroes of the past.

Whenever I mention this, people regularly come up with the name - Sujatha. Well, I hate to say anything but nice things about somebody who is not among us. But see whatever little I have read of his works I saw them as being directly inspired by the likes of Asimov and Arthur.C.Clarke. I am still waiting for authors and creators who can make the science fiction genre their own through well considered, original works.

Back to the movie. Lets start with the regular one liner. A cliche for want of a better word. This is a one of a kind movie. Now that that is over with, lets move on into the details. This is a fast paced, pithily narrated, boldly adult take on what could happen if our civilization as is meets with another stuck in the medieval times. Is that not romantic? To me, that is mouth wateringly so. There is so much scope in such a subject. And yet there have not been too many (or is that any) good movies on that subject.

As a naive and direct leader of a 'coolie' band on ship, Karthi of 'Paruthiveeran' fame comes through with full marks. Yes, he has put on a bit too much weight which does not look good on him. He needs to get rid of that. In the various moments of the movie, he comes through in the right proportions as the arrogant, bashful womanizer to start with, moving onto the despondent, distrustful and forced accomplice in the middle portion to finally the man who had found the calling of his life. The transition is smooth, seamless and powerful. Credit for this goes as much to the script, screenplay and direction as to the actor.

Talking of putting on weight, there are some on whom a few extra folds always look welcome. Reema Sen is one such beauty. The dusky maiden has come up with her best performances till date - no doubts at all. How powerful is her role in this movie? Are you thinking of Ramya Krishnan in Padaiappa? In many ways, Reema's role in this movie easily moves ahead of Ramya's in the other movie? Hers is a role laced with mystique, sexiness and doused in discrete poison. She is not just ravishing to look at but has also emoted very well in all the requisite scenes. When she shares the screen with Partibhan look out for the sparks. The only way she could have done better is if she could have dubbed for the movie herself. If ever there was a movie crying out for that from every one of its performers, this was it.

Talking of dubbing, Partibhan has no need of such aids when indulging in Tamil verbals. His is comparatively a smaller role but nevertheless well etched out. Nobody else, one feels, could have done justice to the passion, anger, revulsion and purpose of life displayed, as Partibhan did. He brought humanity into the role of the King estranged from his kingdom. His yearning for his homeland - Thanjai (Thanjavur) was palpable. To no small extent was this helped by the soul-strirring song 'Nel Aadiya Nilam Engae' in the movie.

The other female character in this movie - Andrea- has serious problems coping up with Tamil the language but still comes through largely intact. She is heavily overshadowed by Reema when it comes to glamour and song sequences but there is always something appealing about the silent damsel in damstress even when a siren is nearby. That is Andrea's role here and she has done that to the best of her ability. Her role does not offer her too much scope in this movie, but whatever it did offer was lapped up eagerly by this young actress.

So, is everything hunky dory about the movie? No, not at all. First off I dont think the movie will win too many plaudits when it comes to critics or even the largely conservative Tamil audience. There is a lot of very strong language and the director Selvaraghavan is not shy of showing his heroines as glamorous and unashamedly sexy. There is no bashfulness about either the love scenes in the movie or the violent ones. This may not be a put off for everybody. But to many I would see this as being slightly off putting. By no means is this a negative point from my perspective.

So what is really wrong? Not too much, but the biggest let down would be in the graphics department. Such a movie made at significant cost - 32 crores according to Wikipedia - deserves better graphics. Seeing blue bursts when bullets are being shot and seeing laser gun type of emissions from normal machine guns is a huge turn off. Thankfully the story and screenplay are overpowering enough for us to forget this and focus on the story. The performers too help by lighting the stage by their larger than life performances. Still, this mistake is not helping the movie. The graphics in the movie is not as bad as Dasavatharam in its depiction of the Tsunami. I am confident that not many movies can fare as poorly in the graphics department as that movie.

There are a few minor complaints with the script. What was Pratap Pothan doing? He appears as his younger self in a newspaper cutting and later on as a nondescript older man who has almost lost his senses. And then he vanishes. Such a poignant performer deserves better. But probably we are facing up against the time limit.

To summarize this movie could be a trendsetter. This could usher in the era of bold directors who dont shy away from making movies which depict individuals with real passions in every sense of the word. I would be even happier if interest is generated in many of the historical subjects that Tamil literature has which lend themselves beautifully to being presented on the bigger screen. Those are big 'would's' and 'could's'. But this movie may just pull it off.

And therein lies the crux of how much it has affected this reviewer. Hats off to the Aayirathil Oruvan team! You have pulled off something which can be classified as a one in a thousand effort.

PS - Can non-Tamil viewers watch the movie and still derive enjoyment? I think so,yes. Believe me there are long stretches of archaic Tamil being used which most modern Tamilians may not be able to make too much sense of.
 
Wow Bala.... that was some review.:) The first reports i got about the movie was that it is crap.Happy to get a different take from you. Yet to see the movie.Even as i write this, my son is out at Mayajaal watching this flick.Will wait for his opinion on the movie. But he is not much of a reviewer of good and bad films.Don't think any Vijay fan can be:lol:(hope you are not one:))

Well about Karthi ... When i first heard that he was doing a movie i didn't think much of it. 'Another sibling of an actor on the scene' was my indifferent thought.But when i went to the movie i felt as if he has slapped me with his performance. Stunning was the only word to say.For a first timer he simply sizzled.So many like Prabhu, Karthik,Surya,Vijay had to struggle to prove them sleves. But this guy surprised us in his first movie itself Good to know he has come through well in this movie too.

Never watched a Selvaraghvan movie so far. This may be the first.Your mentioning of the words Chola,King and Thanjai has brought me the memories of the epic novel by the great Kalki 'Ponniyin Selvan. Read it when was in 10th standard and living with my grand parents at a place called Kattumannar Koil near Chidambaram.The novel starts at that very same place i was living and called Veeranarayanapuram in the Chola days. The lake(veeranam Lake) takes the name from the deity there Veeranarayana Perumal.Sorry for the digression.Couldn't resist it.:)

cheers,
sri
 
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Thanks for writing, As Sri had rightly pointed out I've been reading mixed reviews all over the Internet. I've already made up my mind to watch his movie this weekend, so hopefully have something to write in.
 
Not at all a digression, Sri. In fact Ponniyin Selvan was the epic I had in mind when I talked about Tamil literature having to offer a lot to modern Tamil cinema.

Reviews are bound to be mixed for a ground breaking film such as this.

About Selvaraghavan films, I actually liked Kadhal Kondaen and Pudhupettai was not a bad effort really.

And Teky - look forward to your thoughts on this film.

One of the best things to happen to this movie might have been the replacing of Yuvan Shankar Raja with G.V.Prakash. The movie has mesmerizing period songs as well as light ones suiting our current times. I am curious to see what people here make of the film's music.
 
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