Yennai Arindhal - Review

When I watched Thadaiyara Thaakka in YouTube, I thought to myself, “What more can this guy do to get the well deserved break?” Well the answer has come today – Play the role of an antagonist! He did it amazingly good and he’s the man to have scored many brownie points than anyone else in Yennai Arindhal. I seldom thought that his introduction on screen would create loud cheers and applause but it did and that’s a testimony to how much the people want him to succeed. Now I’ll move on to the actual review of the movie.

This statement could be harsh on Gautham Vasudev Menon but he seems to have exhausted all the tricks up his sleeve. A feel good love story or a Hollywood inspired (Trust me! I’m giving him the benefit of doubt) cop thrillers or a mix of both seems to be there up his sleeve. There’s nothing wrong in making movies in genre that you’re comfortable with but the essence of film-making lies in exploring things you have never touched before. So if my prediction is accurate, then the next movie of Gautham will show whether my assumption of his repertoire is accurate or not.

Now what is the significance of the above paragraph with respect to this movie? It’s the feel of Yennai Arindhal, in which every scene gives the impression that you’ve seen it all before (I don’t want to use the clichéd word Cliché). Like the dialogue in the movie, there’s a thin line between giving the impression of Cliché and calling it director’s touch. The amount of novelty that a director instills into the script will ultimately decide which side of the thin line the movie will be traversing. Unfortunately here there is more cliché than novelty.

Every movie (barring some) is a battle between Good and Evil. This movie is no different but it’s the individuals representing the two sides make the difference. Before coming to the most important person in the movie, I’ll touch a little on Ajith. This definitely deserves a place among the ones with very good performance from Ajith. One scene that comes to my mind is the one towards the end, when Ajith’s delivery starts in a mocking tone, changes to caution the next minute and finally to panic. The change of emotions was handled superbly by him. Overall he has given his usual good performance.

As mentioned in the first paragraph itself, the exciting component of the movie is definitely Arun Vijay. In all Good vs Evil stories, the better the villain, more interesting the movie becomes. The last thing we want to see is the villains like Ashish Vidyarthy (He has a cameo in this too). The best of Arun Vijay was in the same scene mentioned in the previous paragraph where both the actors talk to each other on phone. The evilness was very evident in his expressions but it’s hard to say that he outscored Ajith in that scene. I saw a video of Arun Vijay in tears after fans mobbed him. Although I’m not a big fan of such things, it was heartening to see him happy. Let him enjoy the stardom and his time in the limelight.

I don’t have anything specific to say about the other cast. They have done their part quite well. Since the simple costumes, beautiful locations, gorgeous heroine have all become part of Gautham’s film-making style it’s not really needed to talk in detail about them. But a special mention for Trisha for doing a commendable job. She’s beautiful as always. Vivek’s portions are very minimal, much to the happiness of everyone and he does make us laugh whenever he comes on screen.

Overall, a definitely one time watchable movie for the gorgeous artists on screen and Arun Vijay. This movie (if things go well) will be remembered for the rise of Arun Vijay. I was thinking of settling for 6/10 rating but Arun Vijay’s performance deserves another point making it a 7/10.