Aadhavan– Falls short of expectations

Star-casts: Surya, Nayanthara, Saroja Devi, Vadivelu, Rahul Dev, Murali and others.

Banner: Red Giant Movies

Production: Udhayanidhi Stalin

Direction: K.S. Ravikumar

Music: Harris Jayaraj

Rating: 2/5

Make sure, if you’re watching K.S. Ravikumar’s film and don’t give in rooms for any rationality. The filmmaker never cares about logics and makes sure his hero is portrayed in larger than life roles. “Aadhavan’ doesn’t boast of anything exceptional in terms of storyline. Remember Rajnikanth’s “Thai Veedu’ –where the protagonist is misused by baddies to harm his own family members. Well, if you’re an ardent buff of Tollywood, one can find the traces of “Nandhavanam 120Kms’. Indeed, the guy over here has a long term memory loss after triggering bullets into his father’s chest while Surya doesn’t go through this problem.

Let’s start off with the film’s synopsis…

Aadhavan (Surya), a sharp shooter has never missed his target until now. But when he is assigned by Dr. Reddy (Rahul Dev) to bump off a magistrate Subramaniam (Late Actor Murali), ready to unveil the list of culprits involved in organ-racketeering of poor children. Unfortunately, Aadhavan misses his target on magistrate and now hatches plans to get into his house to accomplish this task. But every time, he concocts a fantastic plan to kill the magistrate, he’s fails terribly with it.

Does Aadhavan succeed with this mission or not forms crux of the story with a sudden twist in climax.

Surya plays his part well as directed by Ravikumar. But his dancing style remains the same in all the songs. As well the stunt sequences in assassination drama remind us of “Ayan’. In some comedy sequences, it’s more evident that Surya imitates Vijay. But it’s Vadivelu stealing the show with his fabulous comedy tracks. Indeed, he offers more substantiality to the film with best humour quotients. Nayanthara has nothing to perform and looks aged. Saroja Devi does justice to the role. Rahul Dev sleepwalks through his role and so does Shayaji Shinde. Late actor Murali excels with his usually seen overpowering performance.

Musical score by Harris Jayaraj fails to live up to expectations. Barring the title song and the final one “Hasiliye’, none of the songs seems to be enjoyable. The backgrounds score could’ve been yet better. Cinematography is exquisitely done while Don Max’s editing is sleek and stylish.

The first hour moves around with action, fun “n’ frolic while the latter part keeps dragging. Ramesh Khanna could’ve penned a yet more powerful story and the screenplay stumbles down halfway post-intermission.

“Aadhavan’ is completely disappointing for those audiences who expected a lot from Surya. It’s a film not worth watching. But then, if you’ve already booked your tickets, make sure that you don’t get annoyed with dragging screenplay and insubstantial story.

-R. Richard Mahesh/ Sampurn Media