Aayirathil Oruvan

This Movie was released during a Pongal. Had to over power crowd to get the tickets and was dumb struck by visuals, screenplay and non stereotypical variety. Not only that, it pushed me to learn more about these two rival kingdoms. But very unfortunate that many don't know their own history and viewers expect the director to "TELL everything instead of SHOW" The end result- movie which is supposed to be celebrated as the movie of the decade ended up as an average Venture. Feel sorry for the poor taste of the viewers at that time for this movie being ended up as Glorious Flops and celebrated now. But Its too Late.

Selvaraghavan one of the most versatile directors in Indian cinema has attempted a new genre and has succeeded. His imagination has no limits and has reflected on the screen very well. This movie shows the vast history of South India (something not seen before).

The backbone of this film is around the cast consisting of Karthi, Reema sen and Andrea. All of them have given great performances especially Reema sen who has grown as an actor.

The first half of the film is an adventure on tone with Indiana Jones but the obstacles and concept is purely Indian which makes this film unique. The comedy timing of karthi is exceptional which keeps the first half fast paced with some great visuals. The pre-interval scene sets the pace for a great second half.

The second half of the movie is a little slower than the first half because the more detailed characterization. Parthiban plays the chola king to perfection and his dialogue delivery is flawless. Reema sen dominates the second half with less role for Karthi and Andrea.

The battle scenes towards the end might not be the best we have seen but are great keeping in mind the budget constraint.

The visual effects of the film are exceptional again keeping in mind the budget available.

The cinematography by ramji is one of the best i have ever seen. His visualization of the battle scenes, kingdom , seas, deserts were so close to reality.

G.V.Prakash's BGM score was good but not great which could be the only negative point i see in this movie.

Finally the director of this venture Selvaraghavan needs a pat on the back for this great attempt. It might not be as great as his career best Pudupettai but is still one of his best Go and book your tickets as soon as possible !!!! Rating 8/10

I review this movie so late because, I really didn't like it when I watched it for the first time.The second time I saw it,I felt that this movie has to be reviewed here.Its true that there were huge expectations and the movie was a bit disappointment.I feel the same even now.But there are more good things to talk about than the cons.

My first acknowledgment to the story writer(Selva).This is really a unique movie, so original in its script and content.I have never seen a fictional Indian movie so original and so thoroughly researched,as it deals with ancient Tamil culture.I couldn't believe that such an idea has splashed up for Tamil movie makers.The way he takes us to ancient Tamil culture and links it up fictionally to present culture is really breath taking.I bet that the story as a whole is just so fresh and new to Tamil or even Indian cinema.Kudos to you Selva.

My second acknowledgment to the director(Selva).Except for the graphics,the way the director has extracted work from all the departments is breath-taking(since this genre is so new to Tamil).Music,art,action,photography,editing,actors everything fits in well with the script and kudos to the crew for such an effort.

Now comes the screenplay(Also Selva!!!).I feel that this is where the movie is a big let down.The first half was really terrific and was in going with correct pace.The second part acted as the spoiler.There were tooooo many things to be shown and explained,so the director had to just rush with the script,which made the viewer baffled of what was happening around.

Having penned such a wonderful script, the movie could have been divided into two or more parts.Say, the first part can deal with the adventurous trip to the ancient Chola Kingdom.The second part could show what happens there, all the twists and turns and the third part could show what happens at the end.

This is where I feel that Tamil movies are a notch well behind the films from other parts of the world.Taking risk and being bold enough to split the movie into parts.So that everything could be explained in detail and in the manner the director wanted,especially in such scripts.

Having said this, I still feel that if the movie is watched once again,it will surely be loved.

This movie is for, those who are always compare Indian movies with Hollywood cinema. Even Hollywood movie makers can not made movie like this in this budget.

Movie is well crafted from start to end. There is no lag in the movie. If you feel lagging then you are not watching movie with your full concentration. Some people claim, AO is the movie for genius movie watchers? definitely not. This movie tells story in a layman's language. If you are still confused then you are watching this movie for name sake. After 5 years I am writing this review in IMDb. Because this movie is worth to talk and write for another decade.

Some people says directors like S.S.Rajamouli and Sankar are the two directors who raised the Indian movies to Hollywood standard. But I would say that is utterly false statement. People admired about Naan E and Sankar's so called worthless expenses as Hollywood standard. But real fact is, why we are giving much important to Hollywood movies is, that is because of the concept and beyond level of thinking they have it in their BRAIN. AO is the answer to that THINK BEYOND concept in Indian cinema. If you watch this movie without any distraction you will feel what I felt. The reason I am dragging Sankar and S.S.Rajamouli into this context is, these two directors are worshiped as demi god of making Hollywood standard movie in Indian Cinema. But the truth is Selvaragavan done that without making much noise by giving Aayirathil Oruvan to Indian cinema. So please stop making Sankar and S.S.Rajamouli as big directors in Indian, they are giving masala movies with mix of some gimmick technology.

If someone ask me which movie you can select, if you compete with Hollywood movie, I would say without any second thought "Aayirathil Oruvan" is the movie which would challenge the Hollywood film makers.

Atlast the bitter truth is, this movie is the one real unsung movie in Indian cinema history. My heartiest thanks to real Hollywood thinker and director Selvaraghavan.

"Aayirathil Oruvan is very good Adventure movie i never ever seen before in Tamil movie. Hats off to Selvaraghavan" by prakash. B W some :With Aayirathil Oruvan, Selvaraghavan has inadvertently opened the Pandora box of a new genre as yet unknown to Tamil movies – Zombies. It is the case of Pirates of the Caribbean meets Dawn of the Death where the ancient Cholas, albeit with whatsoever no connection to the real Cholas as the disclaimer maintains, are reduced to dark-as-charcoal skinned tribesmen living in an unknown island in Vietnam, who are ready to gorge at raw flesh at the mere sight of it since they are starved.

So the dark-skinned subjects largely set the tone of the movie and the darkness remains dominant throughout. There is blood and gore, but of a different kind: not the one that makes you squirm, but something that makes you gawk at.

Thousands of years ago, when the Cholas were ousted from their homeland by the Pandias, their throne Prince was sent into exile to a secret location by the last Chola King. The Prince also carried with him a priceless statue of the Pandias. No efforts were fruitful at tracing the location and archeologists attempting the same simply disappear without a trace.

Aayirathil Oruvan

Andrea's dad and archaeologist Prathap Pothen vanishes into thin air in his attempt to unravel the mystery. In comes the archaeologist-cum-gun-wielding-designer-sunglasses-sporting ultra modern chick Reema, employed by the Indian government to trace Pothen. Andrea, his daughter, obviously joins in and they employ Karthi and a gang of burly men as helps. Karthi looks as if he's stepped out of his Paruthiveeran sets to join Reema and Andrea in their quest.

Their expedition unfurls nasty surprises after surprises - body-painted weirdos with strange weapons, quicksand, snakes. Lest we forget, there is also a cat fight between Reema and Andrea on the topic 'Karthi'. They finally reach the zombie land where Parthiban is the ruler whose raw-flesh-eating subjects take them into custody. Reema reveals her real self and exposes the self-centric purpose of her quest.

Karthi has very little to spare for Aayirathil Oruvan. He plays the rustic help, who instantly falls for Reema and Andrea, who cracks witty one-liners much to our delight in the otherwise serious state of affairs. Being his forte, it comes much easier for him without even having to try.

Despite having to mouth profound verses in ancient Tamil, Reema manages to only mime them with improper synchronization and it makes her appear as if she's in a Chinese movie. Andrea is multi-talented, but acting, sadly, is not one of those. But her meager dialogues in Madras Tamil are bang on otherwise.

G V Prakash's music stands out in the 'Ommele Aasathaan' song and a word about the background score: it's a battle between the background score and the blood thirsty human screeches. We would've loved to write about Eerum Ali's costume designing if only Reema and Andrea were not strutting around in just one pair of satin-shirt-shorts-overalls and sleeveless top and baggies respectively. Karthi leaves no scope for Eerum squarely.

Selva's frenziedly unleashed creativity makes you hallucinate towards the end of the movie and delirium sets in soon. It's not enough that a solid disclaimer is in place, a little bit of research about the subject would've helped things in the process. The underdeveloped script lacks everything - starting from strong plot twists to captive locations to graphics to credibility, above all.

Aayirathil Oruvan also ends on a very scary end note: about the journey of the Chola prince continuing as Karthi takes up the mantle