Monday, January 23, 2006

Aathi review - Cinesouth

He gets up after being felled repeatedly, he laughs as blood drips from him, he emerges from a smashed car as if sauntering to have snacks, even when his shirt back catches fire he is cool as if dipping in the Niagara…that's what Vijay reels out in his film, enough to string a garland of abnormal happenings!

Father, paternal grandfather and grandmother, grandpa and grandma, uncle, aunt…Villain Saikumar vanquishes the whole family that has been living together in peace and harmony.The young Vijay and Trisha escape from Saikumar's clutches and grow up in different places, with the common aim of taking revenge on Saikumar.

When it becomes known that Trisha is Vijay's `intended' bride, the villains raise their hands. Rifle shots ring out, knives slash across the air and finally Vijay and Trisha take revenge on the villains.Vijay usually does not change even the medicine bottles in his films, but in this, the action hero has done things a bit different.

Forget about Vijay's fights and his dance. The story is not great, so it is a strain to find out what on earth was in `Athanokkate' that the film had to be made in Tamil. Saikumar is impatient to get his hands on Vijay who has been dodging him, when Vijay appears before him in person. The villain has a henchman at 2 feet intervals, but Vijay coolly washes his face in mineral water, throws out challenges to the villain with his legs crossed, and dares him to lay a finger on him.

Having learnt all this, the villain does not leave even a scratch on Vijay and sends him off. Then there's a gaping loophole in the story. When Vijay challenges the villain, his voice modulation in that scene would be a feast to his fans.Like the moon shines down when the dark clouds part, Trisha enters the screen, but the beauty suddenly drags out the DGP's guts and makes us applaud her action.

If one expected that she would outshine Vijay in acting, one is disappointed because she does her usual dancing stuff showing off her slim hips. The villain who trembles at the very glance of Vijay has the grand name of RDX but his characterization is like a damp firework. Vivek's comedy is something we have been seeing for the past many years, so his comedy times are bad times for the audience.

Saikumar makes Santhanabharathi a minister but he turns out to be weak character. When he sits on the roadside drinking tea and gossiping with the villain, it seems like an illogical cover up of something.

Vidyasagar's music for `ennai konja konja…' is very melodious. Playback singers Hariharan and Sujatha are so good that their voices should be insured!From Trisha's entry into the film till the climax scenes, cameraman Sounderarajan has made a poem on celluloid. Brinda, Kalyan and Shobi have done good choreography.

Vehicles driving at 40km an hour get totally wrecked on collision, so it is rather difficult to appreciate the fact that stunt master Peter Hain makes Vijay and the villain escape from cars driving at thrice the speed. It looks rather ridiculous and makes one laugh.This film is a carbon copy remake of `Athanokatte' but through all the reels, one cannot find director Ramana's touch in any of the scenes. That is rather unfortunate.

`Aathi' is half baked.

Wow...
Vijay who draws audiences
Camera
Vidyasagar's music
Dance masters

Buss...
Story
Screenplay
Direction
Comedy

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