Bharath Vijayakumar

The salutations for STR keep changing. It was 'Little Super Star' first. It then became 'Young Super Star'.He then decided to let go of these titles. In his latest venture it read as 'Neengal Illamal Naanillai'. This isn't a salutation per se but something he wants to tell his fans. But why I am talking about all this? Because I kept trying to make sense of the film and I failed and I now have to write something. I guess Adhik too was in a similar position. He had to make this film. But did he have something to tell? 

Plot:

It is merely a prelude to Part 2. I am merely assuming part 2 will make sense. Even then, 140 minutes of prelude is something you got to see to believe.

The film takes off from Dubai where the police are on the look out for a don. You need not have to guess who the don is. The flashback unfolds and we have STR as 'Madurai Michael' trying to play to the gallery. 'Trying' is the key word here. The biggest doubt throughout AAA was whether the star was 'self-boasting' or 'self-trolling'. If it was the latter, a big hug to him. But I doubt if that was the case. The movie itself travels on a similar trajectory. It cannot decide if it wants to be a spoof or a star vehicle. 

There are only two types of scenes in the film – the hero boasting about himself and the others boasting about the hero. In between there are generous doses of advice on how a boy should behave and how a girl should behave. The CBFC can add another important statutory warning. 'The advises given are extremely injurious to your life". The second half of the film revolves around a 58 year old man falling for a younger girl. He keeps reiterating to his friends that his love is 'pure', in the sense that it is about the heart and not the apparatus below the belt. Of course you agree. He sees her in a short skirt and falls for her. Her heart was 'exposed'. Tamil filmmakers need a class or two in biology. They tend to mistake other organs for heart. All this happens after body shamming a dozen women who stand in queue to get married to 'Ashwin Thaatha'.

Now coming to Ashwin Thaatha, the character that was supposed to be the USP of this film. Firstly a 58 year old man might be a 'Thaatha' to a kid or a teenager. But here he is a 'Thaatha' to everyone.Tammanna keeps calling him a Thaatha. I hope she was not playing a minor in the film. The makers also seem to believe that grey hair and a paunch is what defines a 'Thaatha'. But STR looks like he is actually suffering from premature greying.

Something happens towards the end of the first half involving a murder attempt gone wrong. It looked as though the film finally got going. Well the very next scene we have Shreya trying to emote and all that momentary hope goes for a toss. We really got to wait for part 2 and see if the complete picture gives a different perspective. But as of now AAA looks like one big joke on the audience. Leave everything. Would you make the dupe for action scenes so obvious at so many instances and that too in the all big build up to the hero in his introduction. I still keep hoping this was an intended spoof by Adhik.

Bottomline:

I kept wondering at what sense the title made. Not that the other things did. The only logical conclusion I could come to was that the second 'A' in the title (Asaradhavan) refers to anyone in the audience who comes out unscathed from the film. The search for such a person could be never ending!!!  

Rating : 1.5/5