Remember Gautham Menon doing that cameo role of a police officer in his 2003 directorial 'Kakka Kakka'? If you are having trouble in recalling that bit, no worries, you can see the director appearing in an almost similar role in his latest movie 'Yennai Arindhaal' in which Ajith plays the lead character – Satyadev IPS.
The cool father-son bonding the director portrayed in 'Vaaranam Aayiram' was lovely. How can you forget that? Okay. In case you have, here's Nassar playing the doting father to Satyadev in 'Yennai..'. The teenage memories of the protagonist where the father gives him tips of his life grace the screen every now and then.
Our hearts pounded in anxiety and it pained to see when the leading lady was attacked in 'Kakka Kakka' and 'Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu'. The dutiful hero cop in both those movies had to see their dear ones getting tortured by the villains. You see where I'm going? Oh yes, 'Yennai...' has the same scenario and you will know it at least 15 minutes before 'that' happens.
Here's a peek into the story.
The film starts with the flight of Thenmozhi (Anushka) from Boston to Chennai and she meeting Satyadev in the plane. She falls for his looks and continues to be in awe for his azhagu (beauty). It could be the director's way of going against cliches. Thenmozhi goes on raving about Satyadev's apperance, irking the audience a bit and finds out about him by googling post their air travel together.
When Thenmozhi is trying to get a chance to meet him again, it turns out that it was Satyadev who came looking for her. The baddie Victor (Arun Vijay) launches his attack, we wonder why. Then the past unfolds in Victor's and Satyadev's narratives, we get to know about Hemanika (Trisha) and her daughter Isha (Baby Anikha). Love and smiles follow.
Once the plot is back to the present, we know where the rivalry between Satyadev and Victor stands. Fights, gunshots, murders and screams (a lot of them in fact—Satyadev goes Victorrrrr and Victor goes Satyadeeevvvv) accompany the plot till the end.
Ajith is best suited for the role and he does his part with aplomb. He looks suave in one of his get ups, neat in another and rugged up in one another. He has put on weight (looks even curvy in one or two instances!) and it hinders his dance moves to some extent in a song.
We can see that Arun Vijay is trying his best to be the deadly villain he has been asked to. Unfortunately, he is just about okay. Vivek as Revolver Richard, a police buddy of Satyadev, is good for a giggle or two and Baby Anikha of '5 Sundarikal' fame is cute in her role. Trisha looks gorgeous with her pretty smile and Anushka has nothing much to do.
Songs by Harris Jayaraj feel good to the ears; thumbs up for the melodious 'Unakkenna Venum Sollu'. Top-notch background score enhances the mood of the film. Dan Macarthur's camera captures the mood of the movie effectively. Other technicians—Anthony as the editor, Rajeevan as the art director—have done their parts well too.
Written by Gautham himself with the help of Sridhar Raghavan and Thiagarajan Kumararaja, 'Yennai Arindhaal' can't be called a bad movie. It is very very okay-ish. There is nothing new that excites you and you can just about manage to sit through it.
You might feel that you've seen all of it in other GVM movies—the father-son chemistry, love vs duty for nation, shocking crime pattern and a pretty villainess.
A Gautham Menon movie all the way.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5