AARYAN Review – An Interesting Concept that shines in parts

Ashwin Ram

Premise: Selvaraghavan is a failed writer who seeks fame. For which he hijacks a famous TV live show and announces he will be killing people on a spree. Vishnu Vishal is the investigation officer for this serial-killing case which forms the crux of the story.


Writing/ Direction: The opening stretch is a banger, nearly a 30-minutes episode without even a trace of the hero is such an unconventional way to start the film. Focusing on Selvaraghavan’s psychopath character, showcasing how he has planned to execute the murders through a TV show hosted by Shraddha Srinath. The entire sequence maintains the mystery factor, appears to be unique and ends with an unpredictable twist. Post which the flow follows the regular thriller template in a racy manner with a streak of murders and Police procedural happening parallelly. Though the screenplay becomes routine after the refreshing initial portions, the first half on the whole is quite engaging, especially the runtime being a crisp one hour. However, However, the second half doesn’t quite retain the intensity and sharpness of the first. The narrative slows down, with the investigation treading familiar ground. While the tension dips slightly due to predictability, the film still carries an engaging premise. there is a challenging idea in the climax, but shown with no believability factor, Both the action sequences and the social message conveyed through the villain’s final testimony video could have been presented with more depth and clarity.



Downsides: Unwanted songs and random fight scenes dilute the impact. The dialogues are flat, draining life from key plot points. The writing lacks smartness, leaning too heavily on convenient tech elements. Logical gaps abound — notably, the victims had prior contact with the killer, yet show no caution even after he publicly names them. Such basic lapses make the execution feel careless.



Performances: Vishnu Vishal is already a proven Police material, so he comfortably fits in the world. Selvaraghavan adds good value as a calm and composed serial killer, rather than being formulaic, his character had lots of interesting elements right from the scratch, despite less screentime, one could feel his presence throughout. Initially it felt like Shraddha Srinath had gotten a solid role, but she did not contribute anything beneficial to the subject after a point. Maanasa Choudhary looks so pretty, but her character is irrelevant to the main story.


Technicalities: Ghibran's work is mixed However he has maintained some silent gaps in the opening episode which helps for world building. Neat camera work, no big complaints and there is an appreciable consistency in the colour tone as well, night shots have also come out well. Editing is crisp and tidy in the first half, the second half needs quite some trimming, and there are flaws with a few scene order as well.


Verdict: A racy first hour with a fascinating opening episode. Gets into a grave situation by becoming tech-dependent in the latter. Repetitive scenes that are neither inventive nor intense is the main drawback for an idea that could have been a lot more.


AARYAN – An Interesting Concept that shines in parts

 
Rating - 2.75/ 5.