Aadhi Bhagavan is the 4th
directorial venture of acclaimed director Ameer Sultan after Moounam Pesiyathey,
Raam and Paruthiveeran. In just 4 films Ameer has chalked up an image for
himself.
No one can certainly forget Paruthiveeran which brought
nativity of Madurai to our living room. The characters were chosen and crafted
to perfection.
After the setting such standards it is easy to understand the
hype and expectations one would have going into the cinema halls. How did it
fare?
Before we get into the actual review let’s see who’s who and
the team behind the movie. Jaya Ravi and Neetu Chandra play the leads. The
movie was produced by one Anbu Films and features music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Cinematography
is by R. B. Gurudev and K. Devaraj and editing by Ram Sudharsan. The film took
a whopping 3 years for completion
First things
first. Ravi appears in dual role. Aadhi and Bhagavan. Aadhi is a gangster in
Bangkok, living a luxurious life is separated from family for having earned the
wrath of his mother for choosing a career she is not happy with. And enters Neetu
Chandra as his lady love where he finds comfort and solace. Just as he proposes
for marriage, Neetu Chandra says that he needs to go to Mumbai to meet her
father and gets his permission. The first half was moving around aimlessly and
you start to wonder whether this is another story of a don correcting his ways
and blend into society with his love of life.
But
then the real story starts to unfold when the second role of Ravi is introduced
as Bhagavan, who is a local don in Mumbai, wanted dead or alive by the police after murdering brother of a cabinet minister.
The story is escalated when it was revealed at the end of first
half that Neethu Chandra is actually companion of Bhagavan. To save Bhagavan from Mumbai police, Neetu
Chandra, drafts a plan to lure Aadhi into a trap to create a case of mistaken
identity. Did Neetu Chandra managed to score her plan or whether Aadhi escaped
forms the rest of story.
There was never a dull moment in the second half. The story
unfolds quickly and scenes were racy at the same time clear. We can easily
understand why a particular character is acting in a particular way. No scenes
were wasted.
Adhi
was not convincing as a gangster. He looked like a romantic hero. His
performance as a gangster is pretty soft. However, Bhagavan as a twisted don was
convincing. Ravi did a commendable performance. Particularly in carrying the
role of Bhagavan who is an effeminate male. The effort he took to portray the
body language was perfect. Neetu Chandra was a revelation. She is by far the
most original “bond girl” I have seen in Tamil movies. She emotes well and
scores a perfect 10 in action scenes. She was indeed the better performer than
Ravi.
The
Camera works is awesome. Bangkok night scenes were canned superbly. Angles were
carefully chosen and scenes were shown from the best angle. Particularly few
scenes like Ravi and Neetu embracing, Bhagavan waiting in the room of the politician
and of course the chase sequence towards the climax. The movement of the scenes
was refreshing.
Music
wise, its definitely not yuvan’s best. The theme music was engaging. The
romantic numbers should be done away with. The agadam bagadam slowed down the
pace a bit. Overall the music was quite disappointing.
One
thing which paused me a bit was the way Aadhi knowingly avoided to strike the
vital parts of Bhagavan to finish him off after earlier indicating his clear
intention to do so. Anyhow, the director has hinted on a sequel towards the
end. It would be interesting to see if it really materializes.
Overall,
the movie is a entraining watch. I enjoyed this one better than Viswaroopam. I
would recommend for a watch.
