Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (AYM) Review - A Meandering Ride

PUBLISHED DATE : 11/Nov/2016

Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (AYM) Review - A Meandering Ride

Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (AYM) Review - A Meandering Ride


Gautham Menon and Simbhu’s long delayed release is finally out. The movie starts out trying to please the fans who may have cherished Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya (VTV). The first half takes a lot of time to establish the relationship between the lead characters. However, the director decides to take a complete U-turn as the genre switches from love to action. 

 

First Half – Dreamy Ride


The leisurely narration of first half relies on moments. AR Rahman’s chartbuster songs is fired at viewers one after another in quick succession. Gautham Menon intentions are clear as he indulges in recreating the VTV moments with a small twist of placing the hero and heroine under the same roof. The dialogues are natural at many places and artificial when it goes overboard in trying to be casual. No attempt is made to move the story forward during majority of the first half. The director's intention is to make the audience savour the moments. Simbu’s convincing performance and AR Rahman’s chartbuster songs carry the first half. Director abruptly gets experimental with a love song intercut with an accident scene. The idea is totally bizarre despite the poetic touch.

 

 

Second Half – Bumpy Ride


Director decides to turn it around completely by switching over to hard-core action genre during the second half. The second half gets a bit surreal with unnatural settings and unconvincing characters. Simbu’s voice-overs get too ponderous and over-indulgent. The situations are unrealistic while villains’ motives are kept as suspense to reveal in the end. The writing is insipid with a bunch of action scenes haphazardly stitched together. The climax portions switch-over to yet another genre as the hero's name is revealed. The final portions appear to be done for commercial compulsions. 

 

Casting


Simbu’s conviction should be appreciated for staying true to the script with a lot of restrained performance throughout. Manjima is a typical GVM heroine and does justice to ultra-close-up shots. Baba Sehgal makes a good debut in Tamil as the villainous police. Daniel Balaji is vastly underutilized with not much scope to perform. Rest of the characters are largely inconsequential. All the friends and family members happen to be miscellaneous fittings around the central characters. The family members seem to be conveniently missing in the house around Simbu and Manjima.

 

Technicalities


AR Rahman’s songs provide some respite despite the questionable placement in the first half. Dan MacArthur’s muted tone is consistent throughout. Anthony’s editing adopt different styles as he adopt different pacing for the first and second half. The budget constraints are evident throughout the film.

 

Final Word


The long delay during the production stage is obvious as conviction fades out as the movie progresses. AYM is a mish-mash of love and action without a coherent script to tie it all together. 

 

Bumpy Nomadic Ride!

Rating: 2.5/5 

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