Aranmanai 2 Review: Ghosts & laughs
Director: Sundar C
Cast: Hansika, Siddharth, Trisha
Sundar C’s Aranmanai 2 is a pucca paisa vasool popcorn entertainer, which is packaged with all the commercial trappings like glamour, slapstick comedy and thrilling moments. Set in a familiar milieu, one can easily predict each and every scene and the film will work big time with common man seeking pure time pass entertainment.
Koviloor village is gearing up for consecration of the Amman temple during which the goddess will be powerless. Using the situation, selfish exorcists perform a pooja to bring ill spirits under their control. And a powerful ghost Maya (Hansika) emerges from the grave and enters the Zamindar's (Radha Ravi) palace (Aranmanai) and puts him into coma.
When Zamindar’s family conveys the information to his son Murali (Siddharth) and his fiance Anitha (Trisha), who are sizzling on the beaches of Bangkok, they immediately fly down to the palace and starts experiencing paranormal activities. Meanwhile, Anitha’s brother Ravi (Sundar C) finds out the reason behind Maya’s vengeance towards Zamindar’s family, which must be watched on the big screen.
As we all know, Sundar C is a past master in packaging comic thrillers and with Aranmanai-2 this franchisee film has become bigger. In this film, Sundar has explored the tried and tested horror formula to the fullest. While the first half of the film moves with regular glam songs, comic portions and build ups, the tempo raises only after the introduction of Hansika’s character, a powerful role.
Once the contrived formulaic flashback of Hansika gets over, the film moves at a rapid pace with some laugh worthy moments from Soori-Kovai Sarala-Manobala trio. Performance wise, Siddharth has nothing to do while Sundar C has a very important role.
Among the heroines, Trisha is there throughout while Hansika gets an awesome entry and a superb introductory song. Trisha excels in the glam portions and she also scares us in the second half. In her brief screen presence, Hansika is the soul of the film and her character adds the emotional angle to the story. The actress has done full justice to her role and Aranmanai franchise films in future is incomplete without her character.
But the surprise element of Aranmanai 2 is Sundar C, who is apparently showcased as the real hero of the movie and he has done a neat job by carrying the film on his shoulders. The rest of the cast and crew including Soori, Kovai Sarala, Manobala and Radha Ravi are adequate.
Cinematographer UK Senthil Kumar ‘s angles captures the eerie scenes well but much cannot be attributed to the songs of Hiphop Tamizha. To conclude, Aranmanai 2 will not disappoint the masses who are continuously supporting entertaining horror movies in Kollywood.
