AE & I

Before the weekend started, I was determined to do three things: a) See Aayitha Ezhuthu; b) not watch Yuva; and c) Watch AE on screen. Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to report I accomplished all (cue applause).

I was wondering, if there had been no Mani Rathnam (shudder), what would we movie watchers have to be content with? Characters named Rahul and Pooja; squeaky clean, well scrubbed environments; the Alps, New Zealand and Mauritius; mannersims passing off as great acting; Ma, Ma and more Ma - the mind boggles.

I really liked Aayitha Ezhuthu. It's got a raw, edgy feel which makes it different from the other Mani movies. Surya has done a phenomenal job playing Michael. His eyes and his smile speak volumes. I loved the scenes where he interacts with the character played by Bharatiraja. Madhavan was not bad either, but he had the advantage of an author backed role. It's easy to see why Abhishek Bachchan is getting rave reviews for his role in Yuva, where he plays the same character.

The usual Rathnam touches are everywhere - terrific songs that are very well picturised, small romantic moments that make you smile, simplistic but inspirational solutions for political and social problems, top notch cinematography and mind numbing violence. I also liked the fact that for a change, none of the major characters die - including the villain.


What I didn't like: the Dol Dol song stood out like a sore thumb - it didn't fit in with the visuals, was redundant and added very little to take the story forward. I also thought that entire episode featuring Arjun (played by Siddharth) could have been avoided. Yes, it does add a bit of balance to the overall story, but it gave the impression of being tacked on, to attract the younger, college going crowd. Lastly, I did feel that Madhavan's character had shades of Brando - Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire and a little bit - a very little bit - of On The Waterfront.

I can see why Yuva is getting mixed reviews. Though I haven't watched it yet, the actors appear to be terribly miscast - Ajay Devgan should have been younger, Abhishek should have been older and Vivek shouldn't have been there at all. Maybe Mani Rathnam didn't care too much about the Hindi version. Hmm.

Overall, I do recommend watching Aayitha Ezhuthu. It's not Mani's best movie, but it's right up there in the top half. Edgy, raw, violent and very much in your face.