Athiradi – Passable with an enjoyable last 40 minutes!

Bharath Vijayakumar

Contrary to the title and mood of the film, Athiradi begins on a tragic note, and the title slowly pops up without any ‘athiradi’. It is kind of similar to how the title of Nelson’s Beast showed up on screen. But unlike Beast, the start of Athiradi sets up the entire film and is an important recurring theme of the film. Athiradi is predominantly a comedy but one that is built around an emotional issue. It isn’t a dark comedy. Not sure if there is a term called ‘Emotional Comedy’ but maybe that is what Athiradi wants to be.

But the film really comes to together in its final leg where chaos and madness rule. There are no misses here and even if there are, you hardly have time to note because there is one gag after another. It is Vineeth Srinivasan and Shaan Rahman (composer) who bring most of the laughs. The maniacal energy in this final half hour or so, really propels the film and helps to end the film on a high.

Bottomline:

Athiradi remains watchable for the most part and keeps working on and off. But the final 40 minutes is complete madness and works wonders in a packed auditorium.