Yennai Arindhaal Movie Review
Director: Gautham Vasudev Menon
Cast: Ajith, Trisha, Anushka,
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Yennai Arindhaal is a typical Gautham Menon movie and one can call it as the director’s cop trilogy. After Suriya (Khakha Khakha) and Kamal Haasan (Vettaiyaddu Vilayadu), this time Ajith wears the Khaki and it is yet another episode in a police officer’s life.
The film starts with Thenmozhi (Anushka) who meets the mysterious Sathya Dev (Ajith) in a flight and from there we basically get to know the story of Ajith, an undercover cop who befriends gangster Victor (Arun Vijay) in jail. Later, like any other undercover missions seen in upteen movies, Ajith unmasks himself at one point of time and kills the head of the powerful gang and puts Arun Vijay back in prison. The rest of the film is a mere cat and mouse game between the duo.
To be honest, Yennai Arindhaal is just a rehash of all Gautham Menon movies in the past, but here the novel factor is the emotional quotient between Ajith and his daughter Isha (Baby Anikha ) and the mature yet cute romance between Ajith and Trisha. But sadly, those sequences come only for thirty minutes.
Coming to the main theme, the film lacks the reason behind Arun Vijay’s revenge against Ajith and it is left to the audience as it is obvious that Ajith is the protagonist and Arun Vijay is the antagonist. Yennai Arindhaal definitely has its moments and keeps us entertained but somewhere down the line, the mixing is inappropriate.
To point out, the initial gangster portions lacks detailed depiction and it seems that a lot of scenes are chopped off, may be an extended version will do the needful but as of now the back story is not convincing. Also, romantic portion between Anushka and Ajith falls flat which is strange for a Gautham Menon film.
Performance wise, it is Ajith’s best work in recent times. The actor is full of energy and constantly shines in the classic emotional portions and racy action sequences. The scene where Ajith yells at Ashish Vidyarthi is one of the best mass moments in the film and also the scene where he single handedly threatens group of goons while safeguarding Anushka and Anika evokes an electrifying atmosphere. After Ajith, it is Arun Vijay who takes the film to a different level in the film especially his phone conversations with Ajith is terrific.
Trisha looks beautiful and elegantly emotes in the brief role but her presence is felt throughout the movie, thanks to her pleasing face, endearing performance and good characterization. Anushka like all her recent films (Irandam Ulagam, Lingaa) looks jaded and mature in a not-so-well etched out role.
Technically, Dan Macarthu’s cinematography is scintillating that he captures both the tense and emotional portions with vivid color tones. Harris Jayaraj songs (has a sense of déjà vu) and background score along with editing by Antony is commendable.
Overall, Watch Yennai Arindhaal for Ajith’s majestic screen presence and the underlying emotional current.
