Aayirathil Oruvan

"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

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

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.

This is the best Tamil movie I have ever seen!It is surely one of a kind.If you are an ardent movie fan,this is a MUST WATCH MOVIE. Hats off to Selvaragavan!India has got her own Christopher Nolan.

The first half makes you wonder if you are actually watching a tamil movie or not.My friends warned me that the second half was a bit confusing.But you have my word,the second half is even better than the first.The biggest plus is that the movie has an awesome script and a very good story.

But anyway it ain't a Hollywood movie with budget in billions.So there may be some technical flaws in animation,Graphics and the like.But this is compensated by the mind blowing music by G.V.Prakash.He is another plus to this movie.

To conclude Selvaragavan & Team have done a great job in taking Tamil Cinema to new standards.Am eagerly waiting for the sequel to this movie.

CHOLAN PAYANAM THODARATTUM!!

Here is a movie that wants to have fun, the cast wants to have fun. The audience ends up having fun in first half. karthik is hilarious. Andrea handles the limited demands of his role quite well. Reema Sen brings her ever-present charm and beauty to a role which is notable for being one of the few action-adventure roles written for a female that is not obnoxious in recent memory. It takes a big U Turn in Second half,where parthiban rules the remaining part.You can't take your eyes off parthiban.

It's kind of a Indiana Jones meets Apocolypto Movie .This is the best Adventure I have ever seen in tamil. It depicts the horrors of the & the tragedy of Chola Civilization, and I know, I have not seen a film of such a powerful & Superbly directed by Selvaragahavan, magnificently photographed by Ramji, perfect performances by karthi and Reema Sen, and, especially, Parthiban. beautiful, brilliant score, brings the whole horror and tragedy, Action Adventure. This is Selva's Triumph. Congratulations!