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Going by the slick trailers, one would think that Vijay's home
production ‘Aathi’ would be a great entertainer but it’s not so
in reality. Instead, it is just another film based on revenge
drama with full of violence and bloodshed. The opening scene of
the film involving Trisha and Devan is the best. In the scene,
Trisha in white outfit sits on a white bench and feeds a white
pigeon by a calm ocean. Then Devan comes and sits beside her and
speaks to her. She suddenly pulls up a knife and kills him,
telling that the moment that she has been waiting for years on
end has come true. This very incident indicates that it is a
revenge drama.
In fact, ‘Aathi’ is based on an old family revenge drama of
1970s, wherein a young boy, his cousin and his childhood
sweetheart witness the brutal killing of father, mother,
grandpa, uncles and aunts of their joint family by a group of
rowdies. Then the boy and his cousin part ways and later on go
about taking revenge on the killers of their family members.
They fight against the rowdies without knowing each other till
the climax.
In the film, Aathi (Vijay), who lives with his foster parents
( Manivannan and Seeta) in New Delhi takes up a course in
Chennai against their wishes, as he has an aim to take revenge
on the killers of his family. Coincidentally, Anjali (Trisha), a
student in the same college is also aiming to take revenge on
the killers of her parents with the help of her uncle (Nasser).
Then Aathi falls in love with Anjali. It’s she who brings
back the memories of his childhood sweetheart and his cousin who
love to dance in the rain. RDX (Sai Kumar) heads the rowdy
group. The rest of the film is on how Aathi and Anjali take
revenge on the villains without knowing their real identity.
‘Aathi’ is full of bloodshed and violence with 20 to 25
killings. Some are chopped to death with swords including the
scene where the victim’s head flies in the air and there are
other scenes where blood rushes out following shot at point
blank range. The hero slits off the main villain’s throat with a
broken photo frame of his family picture in the climax.
Director of the film Ramanna may justify the violence theme of
the film but there is absolutely no excuse for the ads that
disturbs the flow of the film. He has failed to accelerate the
pace of the film though action sequences are pushed in. The love
between the lead pair is shown only through the songs and
dances. Vivek’s comedy track is same as his earlier film.
Hero Vijay has made all the difference to the film. His
colored hair, his menacing eyes and the superb action scenes are
the highlights of the film. Trisha is equally good and she has a
good role to play. Vidyasagar has composed some soothing
melodies but the revenge drama has spoiled the beauty of the
songs. Main villain Sai Kumar always screams while his
subordinates are just stereotypes. Prakash Raj and Nasser have
done their roles well. Soundarrajan’s camera work is brilliant
especially in the chase scenes.
On the whole, Vijay is the only saving grace and his strong
screen presence has added beauty to the film.
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