Movie Reviews
Aaru.

Dec 21, 2005, 07:42

Director - Hari
Cast - Suriya, Trisha, Vadivelu, Aishwaria, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kalabhavan Mani, Jaiprakash Reddy, Aryan.
Genre - Action

It's the familiar scenario one got to see in recent gangster films, so there's not much novelty by way of plot here. There's the politician-cop-underworld nexus too and the final reckoning when the protege turns against his mentor. But where Hari scores is in his presentation. He's kept the pace racy, and has exploited to the full the inherent violence in a film of this genre. Nowhere does the narration lag, the adrenaline flow is maintained throughout, as action scenes pile up in quick succession, giving no room for boredom or distraction.

And it's not just the action scenes that are racy and violent. The same pace is maintained in the songs and the vibrant dance numbers. In fact, even Vadivelu's comedy is not spared. Most of the time the poor guy gets mauled, slashed or beaten up when his efforts to play the know-all backfires!

Suriya infuses a lot of verve and energy into the role of Aaru (short for Arumugham), comfortable with the lingo, performing his action scenes with gusto and his emotional scenes with flair.

Aaru is an orphan from the slums who grows up under the patronage of Vishwanathan (Vidyarthi) who's Nathan & Co, purportedly a real estate business concern, is a front for his various illegal activities. Aaru does Nathan's dirty work, as he, with his slum buddies, causes riots and takes on the might of Nathan's rival Reddy.

And then comes the turning point where Aaru, hurt and betrayed, takes on his own mentor. Trisha as Maha gets to do much more than heroines in action flicks normally get to do, and adds a touch of sweetness and vulnerability to her role.

With Aaru shifting his ambience as he takes on the various foes of his boss and later going into hiding in a forest to plan his strategy against Nathan, it's stunt master Rocky Rajesh who gets ample scope to choreograph a variety of stunts, and with various backdrops. And Rocky never lets go the opportunity.

It's director Charan's first production venture and there are no pretensions here. For 'Aaru' is just what it professes to be. A total violent action flick, which may not be an ideal fare for the faint-hearted, but a fitting one for an action lover.

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