After watching Ghajini, I became such a big Suriya fan that I was all worked up to watch Aaru before any of my friends had seen it. With hype surrounding the film that its going to catapult him to the league of superstars, I was soooo sure I'll end up with no tickets on the first day.
It was overcast, with a drizzle off and on. I called up a couple of my buddies and thought we'll crash into Mayajaal, the only place where you can expect a sure seat on the first day if u go by 11-12 am. On the way to Mayajaal, we noticed Arardhana is also screening Aaru and thought we'll try our luck there.
It was 12 noon, no sign of any crowds which were denied a ticket to the first show, no annoying hoardings (its common for "to-be-superstars" to have cutouts which cover up the theatre), no crowd waiting for the 2nd show. Weird, assuming this guy is being touted as the next gen of tamil cinema after the Vijay-Ajith-Vikram phase.
I slowly walked up to the security guy and asked him "Will I get tickets for the next show?". He gave a sly look & suggested I bribe him to get tickets. Upon waiting for 1 hr, they opened the gates. By this time a considerable gathering had stormed the entrance. I managed to get tickets & IT was on!!
Intro scene of the movie kinda stunned me. Suriya's singing skills are like a 10 yr old boy trying his hand at an MS classic. After the initial stunt scenes, I was expecting it to be the same Vijay style masala entertainer. But its of a totally different league.
Aaru is a raw, ruthless, gory depiction of a hitman/thug in the slums of Chennai. His character reminds you of Inba of Yuva but Aaru is shown more as a anti-hero than a hero. The story is pretty guessable but the way it is told is simply amazing. Suriya's potrayal of a street thug who stands up for what he thinks is right, is one of the best of his career. Of course, there is the no-logic, wrongly placed songs, female-play-thing-love-interest charecter, 2-3 gaana(tamil rap) songs, really really bad words, comedy track of Vadivelu and the boom-boom background score stereotypes you have to bear with.
One thing that deserves mention is the direction by Hari. He seems to have done his homework on the slum life in Chennai, madras-bashai and locations for which he deserves accolades. The techno song locations are simply amazing. The stunt sequences are breath-taking. Especially the one where Aaru and a couple of goons fight in the waves of ECR beach with neck deep water. Excellent camera work in the fight sequences.
The songs of Aaru are badly placed. Just when you thought the story gets interesting, a song spoils it. The Jassie Gift, Vadivelu & Grace number "Onnu Rendu.." stands out as the only foot-tapping song alongwith the intro song by Shankar Mahadevan. There is nothing much to write home about the background score.
Some of my observations after this movie were
1)Why do gangsters/goons/dada's always travel in Omni/Sumo/Qualis/Safari/Ford Endeavour all the time. Isn't it easily noticable?
2)Why do heroines always do the 3 songs - 2 emotional love scene - 1 scene getting stuck with the villain so hero can rescue?
3)Why do I question logic in Tamil Cinema? Not of much use as Producer Saran will laugh his way to the bank with this one.
On the whole, Aaru is a cake packaged in a box of blood stains which you have to cut using an aruval (famous long knife). Its not a movie meant for' girls who love Suriya's choc-boy image' or for the 'light hearted people'. The A certification is pretty obvious after you watch the movie.
Plus : Suriya, Suriya, Suriya. One of his best performances & so different from Ghajini. And good stunt sequences.
Minuses : Trisha, too many goons/thugs as sidekicks for hero as well as villain, graphics that spoils songs
Review : Boring 1st half, Fast paced n racy 2nd half with a guessable climax. Watch it atleast once.
It was overcast, with a drizzle off and on. I called up a couple of my buddies and thought we'll crash into Mayajaal, the only place where you can expect a sure seat on the first day if u go by 11-12 am. On the way to Mayajaal, we noticed Arardhana is also screening Aaru and thought we'll try our luck there.
It was 12 noon, no sign of any crowds which were denied a ticket to the first show, no annoying hoardings (its common for "to-be-superstars" to have cutouts which cover up the theatre), no crowd waiting for the 2nd show. Weird, assuming this guy is being touted as the next gen of tamil cinema after the Vijay-Ajith-Vikram phase.
I slowly walked up to the security guy and asked him "Will I get tickets for the next show?". He gave a sly look & suggested I bribe him to get tickets. Upon waiting for 1 hr, they opened the gates. By this time a considerable gathering had stormed the entrance. I managed to get tickets & IT was on!!
Intro scene of the movie kinda stunned me. Suriya's singing skills are like a 10 yr old boy trying his hand at an MS classic. After the initial stunt scenes, I was expecting it to be the same Vijay style masala entertainer. But its of a totally different league.
Aaru is a raw, ruthless, gory depiction of a hitman/thug in the slums of Chennai. His character reminds you of Inba of Yuva but Aaru is shown more as a anti-hero than a hero. The story is pretty guessable but the way it is told is simply amazing. Suriya's potrayal of a street thug who stands up for what he thinks is right, is one of the best of his career. Of course, there is the no-logic, wrongly placed songs, female-play-thing-love-interest charecter, 2-3 gaana(tamil rap) songs, really really bad words, comedy track of Vadivelu and the boom-boom background score stereotypes you have to bear with.
One thing that deserves mention is the direction by Hari. He seems to have done his homework on the slum life in Chennai, madras-bashai and locations for which he deserves accolades. The techno song locations are simply amazing. The stunt sequences are breath-taking. Especially the one where Aaru and a couple of goons fight in the waves of ECR beach with neck deep water. Excellent camera work in the fight sequences.
The songs of Aaru are badly placed. Just when you thought the story gets interesting, a song spoils it. The Jassie Gift, Vadivelu & Grace number "Onnu Rendu.." stands out as the only foot-tapping song alongwith the intro song by Shankar Mahadevan. There is nothing much to write home about the background score.
Some of my observations after this movie were
1)Why do gangsters/goons/dada's always travel in Omni/Sumo/Qualis/Safari/Ford Endeavour all the time. Isn't it easily noticable?
2)Why do heroines always do the 3 songs - 2 emotional love scene - 1 scene getting stuck with the villain so hero can rescue?
3)Why do I question logic in Tamil Cinema? Not of much use as Producer Saran will laugh his way to the bank with this one.
On the whole, Aaru is a cake packaged in a box of blood stains which you have to cut using an aruval (famous long knife). Its not a movie meant for' girls who love Suriya's choc-boy image' or for the 'light hearted people'. The A certification is pretty obvious after you watch the movie.
Plus : Suriya, Suriya, Suriya. One of his best performances & so different from Ghajini. And good stunt sequences.
Minuses : Trisha, too many goons/thugs as sidekicks for hero as well as villain, graphics that spoils songs
Review : Boring 1st half, Fast paced n racy 2nd half with a guessable climax. Watch it atleast once.
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