Tamil Hindi Telugu Malayalam

Aravindhante Adhithigal & making MELODRAMAS in 2018

PUBLISHED DATE : 28/Apr/2018

Aravindhante Adhithigal & making MELODRAMAS in 2018

Aravindhante Adhithigal & making MELODRAMAS in 2018

Suhansid Srikanth

Aravindhante Adhithigal, directed by Mohanan, starts with a prelude.. a mother leaves a kid with no explanations for him or us. And the story that leads from here revolves around this incident.
 
The boy then taken under the care of Madhavan (played by Srinivasan) grows into a man, runs a lodge that runs with tourists who visit Moogaampigaa temple throughout the year. And the story kicks in as Varada (played by Nikhila Vimal) visits the lodge for her Aragentram in the temple.
 
The landscape of the film is limited. There is a trademark title song we see in almost every Malayalam film these days that brilliantly captures the city where the film is happening. Shaan Rahman's soundtrack easily tugs attention to the montages.
 
The film is set around the temple.. and half of the film revolves mostly in the lodge. We get used to the characters effortlessly. There is a local music videomaker in the town who wants Varadha to act in his music video. I chuckled when he feels how apt a title 'Vannu.. Irunnu.. Poyi..' would be for his next music video.

There is Aju Varghese who runs a trekking jeep, playing Aravindhan's sidekick. But the real funny character to me was Urvashi's. Her performance reminds me of her role in PanchaThandhiram. Watch out for her rant when her daughter with broken leg is bedridden. Been so long since we saw her in such a lively film where her character has a space to be in the control of Urvashi, the actor.
 
At times, the film goes into an exaggerated staged dramatic comedy zones. Like the broken tap scene that kind of mess up the lodge.. It ends up as an inciting incident for the film but it is played out badly. Or a sequence in the beginning where a loud Tamil family (easily the weakest portrayal of Tamils since Chennai Express) that smashes like sixteen idlies at a stretch and constantly checks whether they get discounts and free stuffs.. The problem is not that it isn't really a big issue in a film like this but it breaks the otherwise calm and say a heartwarming tone the film carries.
 
As the film proceeds, the overtly narrated backdrop and characters are not helping one to hold the flow. Except for the mystery behind who is Aravindhan's mother and why she left him.. the film has nothing much to deal with. There is a space where the film has a suspense, giving a hint that the dance teacher GeethaLakshmi, mentor and inspiration of Varatha can be Aravindhan's mother. But we get that she isn't the one.. in the immediate next scene. Even the lead scenes to them wasn't convincing enough. And Shaan's sa ga ma ga pa scores aren't helping either. I was confused why she gave a tensed, silent look when Varatha asked her about choosing Karna - Kunthi saga to perform his time. Much like Aravindhan, the film as well stands lost halfway.

And as the film approaches climax, we get a heavy feeling that we are watching a 2018 version of Thalapathy minus ManiRatnam's filmmaking on screen. From the prelude of a mother leaving a kid to her grief in the later years.. From the boy's constant loneliness to the peak of emotions when they meet in the end, the film is all the way a story we have seen in various shapes and forms in all these years.
 
Vineeth Srinivasan as Aravindhan is cut out for characters like this. I mean.. there is not a single misstep happening with him in playing this believable, entire town pleasing boy who is in the good books of everyone he meets in his life. The naadan charm and innocence his face has easily puts us into his happiness, thoughts and worries.
 
In the melodrama film sinked into.. the hook that seemed interesting to me was Aravindhan not entering the temple all these years. (I liked the conversation where Srinivasan tells the mother that Aravindhan is being like an atheist not because he was grown up by a  communist man!)
 
More than us knowing who is his mother or him meeting his mother, the climax was the town coming to see him entering the temple finally. We see him with his mother inside the premises.. looking at the happenings inside the temple.. and at one point.. as the sanctum opens, we see an expression of 'life sorted out' in his face. That redempts him from the mystery he faced all these years.

User Comments