Cast: ‘Aadukalam’ Naren, Abi Saravanan, Venba, Appu Kutty
Director: Ashok Thiagarajan
Music: Raja Bhavatharini
I think the universe heard the statement I made the previous time I saw a film, that I’d rather watch films with mainstream content instead of watching content that leaves me hanging, and gave me just what I deserved. A conventional, predictable, tiringly boring film named Maayanadhi. At a time when I’m already losing hope on this industry for the kind of films being churned out, this film adds to the angst, with a cliched love story that any Tom, Dick or Harry can narrate. It had nothing new, no single element of entertainment, ultimately turning out to be the film nobody asked for.
Kousalya (Venba) and her father Anbarasan (Aadukalam Naren) are inseparable and extremely fond of each other. He is found supporting her in every situation, giving her the freedom to do anything she pleases. Kousalya, who aspires to be a doctor in accordance with her father’s words, falls in love with an auto-driver Senthil (Abi Saravanan) who is well aware of the fact that he is out of her league in all aspects. On knowing that he wouldn’t be able to get her hand with the permission of her father, he threatens to kill himself and gets married to her secretly. A shattered and betrayed Anbarasan leaves his daughter, who loses out on her career.
Mayanadhi Movie Stills Starring Abi Saravanan, Venba
There are no points in the narrative which keep you guessing nor keep the story moving. It was just a tastelessly flat plot that went on with purposeless scenes. Several characters disappeared half-way through. For instance, there’s a provisions store lady, an acid-attacker, a vengeful school teacher, who you think might take the story to a whole new level. But none of them hold even the slightest bit of value. Just when the provisions store lady seemed to be moving the plot a bit, she elopes with a random guy(!) The acid-attacker who appears at the crucial point, the interval block, changes for the better after he feels guilty for hurting his mother. And just commenting negatively about Kousalya is what the “vengeful” teacher is there for. They all seemed to be capable performers. What’s the purpose of competent casting in a film that strives to be bland?
The staging in the film is just unacceptably poor. I found myself guessing what would happen at the very beginning of the scene, and every scene played out just as I imagined.
To top it all, everyone’s found lecturing each other. Senthil’s father is lecturing Senthil, Anbarasan is lecturing everybody around him, Kousalya is lecturing her friends, and not to forget this one annoying auto-driver lecturing Mani (Appu Kutty), Senthil and their other friend. None of these woven into the plot but were forcefully thrown into the script, making me just wait for it to end.
Venba and Abi Saravanan are at ease on screen, but their characters don’t demand an extraordinary performance from them. ‘Aadukalam’ Naren and Appu Kutty are their usual selves. The camera work was great until this one song close to the climax popped up. It had ever colour in the colour scheme with spots of yellow light everywhere, something an amateur working on photoshop would present. Raja Bhavatharini’s background scores and songs are the only saving grace in this mess.
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The Maayanadhi review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.
