AALAVANDHAAN
A movie review by Balaji Balasubramaniam
| Cast: | Kamalhassan, Raveena Tandon, Manisha Koirala, Kitu Gidwani, Sarathbabu |
| Music: | Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy |
| Direction: | Suresh Krishna |
Vijaykumar(Kamalhassan), an army major, is all set to marry his sweetheart Tejaswini(Raveena Tandon), a TV newsreader. He takes her to meet Nandhakumar(Kamalhassan), his twin brother who is now the inmate of a mental asylum. Vijay and Nandhu had been illtreated by their stepmother as kids and while Vijay had escaped her clutches by being adopted by his uncle, Nandhu ended up in the asylum after killing her. Seeing Tejaswini brings back memories of his childhood and believing that she is just a reincarnation of his stepmother, he escapes from the asylum with the intention of saving his brother from her.
Kamal tries a lot of things in this movie. When they work, they work very well indeed but when they don't, the result is a failure of the same scale. One such unique and trendsetting feature in this movie is the use of animation. Used at two places, it illustrates how the same technique can be both effective and a turn-off, depending on how applicable and useful it is. Kamal's hallucinatory trip in the shopping mall after he is stoned is interesting initially as a clever way to showcase a trip into his mind but it goes on for way too long. Since it is just a stand-alone sequence that goes nowhere, the use of animation here seems more like a show-off. On the other hand, the animation at the end of Kamal's encounter with Manisha is brilliantly executed. It serves to reduce the level of gore, allows him to perform superhuman acts and speeds up the sequence.
The flashback is handled very well and manages to be absorbing inspite of the age-old story of kids being ill-treated by their evil stepmother and their father, who is under her spell. But after this, the movie descends into regular masala fare with false alarms, chases, explosions and even a cheesily executed balloon ride. But the final Kamal vs Kamal encounter is a technical marvel. Though the use of graphics is rather obvious at a couple of spots, the sequence makes it easy to believe that we are seeing two actors facing off each other. But the result of this encounter, with signs of a change of heart in both characters, is disappointing. The movie does manage to end with a nice, ironic touch though.
Kamalhassan creates another memorable character in the psychotic Nandhu. All his attributes, be it his appearance, way of talking, mannerisms or style of walking, have been designed with an eye on being unique and they combine to create a fascinating character. The army major is just a passenger and Kamal looks really aged in that role too. Raveena just has to look scared most of the time while Manisha Koirala, in a cameo, is suitably spaced out as the dance star on drugs. Few of the supporting characters make much of an impression though. The boys who play the twins are a great choice.
It is the technical aspects that really catch our eye. Alternating slow and fast camera movements have been used liberally and the technique is really effective in some scenes(like the chunk of stone that hits the army major). The morphings have been done flawlessly at the end of the flashback sequence. Photography(Tirru) is rich and colorful in the song sequences. Though the soundtrack is disappointing on its own, its meshes well with the movie. Kadavul Paadhi... is catchy and sung in a liberated manner by Kamalhassan and features some subdued but well-choreographed steps. The dance livens up Africa Kaattuppuli.... Unnazhagukku... is the only 'conventional' duet track and is pleasant.
