Thursday, February 01, 2007

Aazhwar


Since Ajith's career graph has always oscillated wildly between periods of success and failure, Varalaaru's big success after a series of flops pointed to the beginning of another successful phase in the actor's career. But Aazhwar spoils those hopes and indicates that it was a very brief stop at the top for Ajith. It is a cliched revenge tale that, for the most part, is silly and amateurish.

Shiva(Ajith), who lives in a mansion, works at the Government mortuary. Asin, the granddaughter of the woman who runs the mansion, is intrigued by Shiva's serious nature and tries to woo him. Actually, Shiva is a vigilante who, disguised as various Gods, kills dreaded rowdies. Both the police and the rowdies try to find out who is eliminating the rowdies.

The romance between Ajith and Asin is developed with the seriousness that Ajith's story deserves. Considering the emotional baggage he carries, romancing and joking around with Asin would have seriously damaged his character and the director wisely avoids this. Ajith here is a man of few words and fewer smiles and this earns him our respect. No such luck for Asin though. Hers is a half-baked character whose love for Ajith has little basis and her lying doesn't help either. Eventually, her job is limited to indulging in some artificial conversations that serve as take-off points for the songs.

We've had more than a few revenge movies where the hero eliminates the bad guys while wearing some kind of disguises. But Ajith's godly getups here have to figure among the silliest disguises ever thought up. The sheer logistics involved in him wearing the costume and other accessories, putting on the makeup and moving around unnoticed are difficult to overlook. The line he utters "Kadavul... Naan Kadavul" lacks punch and comes off more like a cheap shot(at who, I'm not sure) for losing the role in Bala's Naan Kadavul. So the murders, intended to be thrilling affairs, end up being sequences of unintended comedy. Worse, the silliness isn't even consistent. The elimination of one of the most important bad guys is done with him out of disguise only so Keerthi Chawla can spot him walking out of the house.

When the hero is on a mission, his alter-ego is usually shown as timid or cowardly in order to differentiate his two personas and divert suspicion away from him. But Ajith here in his daily role is not much different either since he goes around bashing goons and saving interns from lecherous doctors. These sequences proceed without any real purpose and the happenings are actually confusing. The policemen on his track are thankfully not turned into comedians but their chase itself smacks of amateurishness.

Ajith's flashback manages to overcome the cliched and predictable nature of the proceedings to be quite touching. It presents a loving family with likeable characters but doesn't overdo it. Since the number of characters is limited, they do not become cardboard characters present solely to increase the body count. We come to know and like them and so their fates have an effect on us. More importantly, the flashback manages to minimize the silliness of Ajith's earlier acts since it provides quite a few valid reasons for Ajith's choice of disguises (and even his ineffective punch dialog).

Ajith finally looks handsome and healthy with neither the flabby look he had in movies like Ji nor the too-thin, haggard physique he sported in Paramasivan and Tirupathi. He is his regular self mostly and is likeably naieve and simple in the flashback. Asin looks great and shows her comic aptitude in a couple of places. None of the villains are around long enough to make a mark, with the main villain showing up only towards the end. Its nice to see Vivek after a long gap but he isn't given any standout material. A few funny one-liners and wordplays are all he manages. The duets fail to impress mainly because they are inserted so awkwardly and actually interrupt the film's flow. Pallaandu Pallaandu... is the only melodious song and is picturized in a deservedly soft, mellow manner.

23 Comments:

At 9:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As much as I like Ajit (and fellow blogger 'Vijay' always has tons to say about my soft corner for 'thala').. this time, I am disappointed to say "What else is new?"..

Oh well!

Kreedom, here we come! :-)

 
At 10:50 PM, Blogger Filbert said...

Srivatsan, that was a good one. LOL :) If even Ajith fans can't sit through the movie, I can't imagine how bad the movie should be.

 
At 11:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The real problem of this movie is that nothing is new its a rehash of all Shankars movie, with a pinch of Basha dialogues added. 'Avan rathathulaiye addithadi uripoirukku'.

The only refreshing aspect was Thala and his looks, augers well for Billa. Then they have not even started the movie yet would not be surprised if Ajith gives another Surya to Tamil movie.

- KP

 
At 11:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The same Screenplay of Alwar would have ben a success if it was taken in a grand manner and the songs were good. Also, there is no coherence between the characters. In the flashback sequence all the characters where etched nicely. But in the main sequence, all the characters go in each direction.

The same film would have been a blockbuster if directed by KSR/Charan.

Good luck next time. Ajith accepts heis failure, but if we take surya/vijay they say all their films are super HIT.

 
At 4:24 AM, Blogger Bart said...

Kadavule.. Kadavule...

 
At 6:53 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bals,
Sivaji,Dasavatharam,Billa & Azhagiya Tamizh Magan..
Which one one will be a super duper hit ?
Pushpa

 
At 6:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bals, Unga pasanga super cuteage irukkanga.. Enna Appa Jadaiya ?? Neenaglum pakkaraduku Handsome irukkinga..
Pushpa

 
At 8:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

can your copycat remake actor do this ??????? i know you know the answer.

source:behindwoods.com

The combination of Ajith and K S Ravikumar in Varalaru rocked entire Tamil Nadu. Now the same film is crossing our border to Andhra to create ripples there with the same director. Yes, Varalaru is being remade in Telugu with Chiranjeevi’s brother Pavan Kalyan donning the garb of Ajith

When Pavan Kalyan watched Varalaru he is reported to have liked the subject a lot and was keen to make the same in Telugu. The character of Ajith in Varalau had impressed Pavan a lot and he was eager to do the film with the same director. Ravikumar has apparently agreed to this project. The shooting is likely to commence soon. For Pavan it is imperative that he gives a hit film. Let us hope and wish that the coalition of Ravikumar and Pavan would prove to be a successful one too.

 
At 9:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@anonymous...

wat u r askin is like can rajni act in kamal movies n vice versa....

each individual has his own style n comparing both will end up nowhere...

wat happened wen u r beloved thala tried to amke a vijay like movie Tirupathi ???????

Answer : the result was disastorous...the same wud happen if vijay tries to do...

so dont ever compare acttors ...each has his own individual style...

wat u r askin is like can Dravid bat like sehwag ???

well obviously i think u know the answer...

so stop posting some senseless post n remember that its the bloggers own views here n he is not trying to say tht its a universal view.....and pls dont again start u r thala puranum again

 
At 9:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

havent seen azhwar and from your review and friends' opinions on the movie, have no plans to do so!

but I really wonder when the last time was that Ajith had a nice sequence of good movies...if I remember it was in '99 and '00 where, from Vaali to Kandukonden...he had some good movies...then Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven released in the theatres and life was never the same again!

after that its been Dhina (2001), Villain (2002), Attagaasam (2004) and Varalaaru (2006)...4 clear hits in seven years...:-(

 
At 10:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

durin past three years the only clear hit given by vijay was gilli,tirupachhi and now pokkiri .
the rest were averages or flops but hyped by media like big hits.
the same thing applies to madhavan also . Run was the last solid hit and then priyasakhi . the rest were flops or averages.

only vikram and Suriya had done better in past three years among superstars.

and after kushi the next solid hit from vijay was gilli right .

 
At 10:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

so value an actor by how much hits he gives in less number of times ?

i think you ve weak memory . see the career graph of vijay,madhavan. then talk.

 
At 10:53 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ajith from 99 to 01 . he gave far better movies than vijay 2004 to till date

99 - 02
vaali,Anandam poongatre,amarkalam,mugavari,kk,dheena,citizen,villian.

04 -07
gilli,madurey,tirupacchii,sivakasi,aadhi,sachein,pokkiri

now you say which one is better

 
At 11:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@anonymous

ajith had a series of hits durin 99-02

vijay had it durin 04-07

and also i must say u forgot abt the movie raja,red which were released durin the period of 99-02

 
At 11:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A hit is measured wrt to the profit the people involved in it gets...

in tht respect over the past years vijay's films are more profitable thn Ajith's films...atleast vijay gives a series of hits unlike ajith who only gives hits once in a while...

Critics dont measure the success of a film but only the collections count...

 
At 11:05 AM, Blogger Pravien said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 11:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

after kushi vijay gave hits like ffriends , priyamanavale...thn went into hibernation wo givin a hit for abt 1.5 yrs and thn gave back with thirumalai..

 
At 2:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am finding this thread more entertaining than the movie...

 
At 5:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

AHAH, I SEE SOME INTERESTING DISCUSSION GOING ON HERE. YES, AJIT DEFINITELY GAVE MORE BETTER QUALITY QUALITY MOVIES COMPARED TO VIJAY, AND IT'S SILLY TO COMPARE VIJAY'S MONOTONOUS ACTING TO THE BETTER ACTING BY AJIT. BUT AS SOME OF YOU HAVE HIGHLIGHTED, AJIT HAS NOT BEEN GOING THRU HIS BEST YEARS AS MORE OF HIS MOVIES ARE TURNING OUT TO BE FLOPS/AVERAGE COMPARED TO VIJAY IN THE PAST FEW YEARS. AJIT'S CHOICE OF MOVIES IS SO PATHETIC LATELY (E.G. AALVAR, TIRUPATHI), EXCEPT FOR SOME EXCEPTIONAL MOVIES LIKE VARALARU ONCE IN A WHILE. AALVAR IS REALLY A LOSER'S MOVIE AND I'M SURPRISED THAT AJIT MADE SUCH A BAD CHOICE AFTER HE SEEMED TO HAVE FINALLY CHANGED FOR BETTER IN VARALARU. WHEN EVEN VIJAY CAN COME OUT WITH A MOVIE LIKE POKKIRI, AJIT CLEARLY LOST THE PONGAL RACE. I CAN SEE THAT AJIT IS ON A DOWNWARD TRAIL IN THE PAST FEW YEARS AS HE'S GIVING MORE FLOP MOVIES COMPARED TO VIJAY. LET'S SEE WHETHER KREEDOM AND BILLA CAN CHANGE THINGS FOR AJIT. GOOD LUCK, AJIT

 
At 6:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interestingly, one has to ponder on the definition of a "hit". It is defined only on the number of days spent at theatres, box office collections, distributor rights biddings etc etc??

Doesn't quality of a movie deserve merit? Character / Narrative driven movies that bombed at box offices will then be deemed flops soley because of the demographic pattern of the audience ie lack of theatre ticket sales / collections. So a deviant group of fanatics can "invest" a sizeable amount on repeat viewings on a crap of a movie to make it a "hit". One has to wonder if this then constitutes a demand - which in turn, drives producers to Vijayakanth / TR styled assembly line movies...like the offerings by self styled little superstars, ultimate stars, top stars, or whatever.

This is the determinant of the quality of movies that Tamil audiences get...that an artiste like Maniratnam shoots Guru in Hindi & dubs in Tamil, when the reverse would have been gratifying.

 
At 3:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maniratnam mainly moved to hindi because no other actor in Tamil other then Madhavan wants to star in his movies.

This is purely monetary angle and nothing to do with Maniratnam's directorial capabilities.

So unless Maniratnam pay's the star his due, since all his movies are his own production none of the established stars are gonna accept the movie.

So that leaves Mani with 2 choices, Maddy and a New face. Mani being a shrewd business man does not deal with established actors without market value.

- KP

 
At 7:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Or, the flip side to that argument will be no big star will want to compromise his "bigness" in turn for a role in Maniratnam's ventures.
"Bigness", I imagine, in this context refers to $$$, or the lack of it!

 
At 8:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Intha ...... ku konja naal munnadi

* Naan inimel paathu than story choose pannuven nnu dialogue vera *

Its good time that he hires a story chooser.

 

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