Ayirathil Oruvan – Movie Review

Hmmm…let’s see…What do you get if you mix The Mummy, Gladiator, Alien, and any other sci-fi/ adventure English movie you can think of with a liberal dose of bollywood ishtyle dance routines – voila! Ayirathil Oruvan!!!

Daringly different, gripping, and visually appealing, AO, is a class apart – until the interval. It is a story of an archeological group that goes in hunt of a statue stolen by a group of Chola warriors from the Pandians, god knows how long ago. To reach the place, the group has to cross seven obstacles and dangers.

This simple and a promising plot could have been well-executed, only if the script-writer hadn’t fallen asleep after the first two hours of the movie. What starts of as a racy plot, sags, and dies an unnatural death, a few minutes after the interval. The adventure suddenly turns into a ridiculously melodramatic story that suddenly has one of the lead actors playing a queen in stupid outfits.

The highlights of the movie are the actors, visuals, and crisp editing. Karthi, as the daily wage laborer/hero, scores a million points for his acting skills. He is one of those rare actors who can prove a point with just a nod. Both of the heroines are supremely hot, but considering that it is a movie, the sugar babes could have also acted a little bit.

The music is forgettable. One of the songs with a popular Tamil devotional tune with English lyrics sounds preposterous. Evidently, the music (which is usually a trend-setter in all Selvaraghavan movies) fails to impress.

Graphics are first-rate. A scene which has snakes crawling all over the tents looks so convincing. There are a lot of horrific murder, human sacrifice, and war scenes in the movie. The war scenes are extremely visually appealing and notable.

This movie is a classic case of an excellent script, with an exceptional director, and extraordinary actors, but too many concepts. My verdict – It is definitely worth a watch, for the attempt.

Apathy...

Life's small moments teach you a lot more than you can envisage. Years of classroom lectures can probably help you rattle off point-after-point in a heated discussion, but basic lessons in sharing and love is something you can never find inside an air-conditioned room.

For instance, I happened to notice a group of gypsies, whose house was the platform, on my way to office. Two little famished kids, stark naked, were sipping tea from one small glass. That probably was their breakfast. Along their way came a dog, wagging its tail at the tea. One of the kids quickly pulled a broken plastic toy, which doubled up as a plate too, poured some tea into it, and offered it to the dog.

Tears welled up in my eyes when I saw such a magnanimous action two little souls were capable of performing. Inspite of giving away the little they had, they were content. It was charity in its purest form and found only among people who had nothing to give.

Even I, who passed them everyday, who could have bought them breakfast, had selfish walls built around me. With thoughts of reaching office on time, I had walked away like the rest of the crowd, pretending to ignore the blatant poverty on the other side of the road.

Indeed, what have we as humans conquered, if we have not the heart to stop for a minute to show empathy?