If Achcham Enbadhu Madamayada had featured a Silambarasan who’d reined in his roguish heroness, Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan seems to have done a complete factory reset on the actor. This obviously couldn’t have come as a surprise given the title – full points to the one who came up with that rhyme. STR not only lives up to it, he also goes the extra mile as he’s wont to do. He also contradicts himself every now and then, but that’s the least of my worries.
In AAA, Simbu channelises the traits of every Tamil hero. He wants to do a Rajinikanth, so he picks up his mannerisms, gives them a STR twist; he wants to do a Kamal, picks up his lines, tweaks them to his heart’s content; he wants to be Parthiban, so he tries to induce an …offbeat plot element which just ends up being extremely bizarre. Needless to say, none of them work.
The script is also liberally referenced to self. During an instance, Shriya Saran and Simbu sit in a theatre watching … a T Rajendar film. Shriya, full of admiration, says: His son is wonderful. STR tries to look modest, fails. It’s good fodder for some self-deprecatory humour, but STR would rather take it (and himself) a little too seriously. Also, just in case we forget, there are pointers to his other movies: an essential bridal qualification that STR deems fit is that the woman like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. He also rehashes Thalli Pogadhey and the ensuing accident into a parody of sorts featuring Rajendran and Kovai Sarala.
When YG Mahendran, who plays father to Shriya is forced into an anti-comical role, you begin to wonder why these actors – all accomplished in their own right – would want to associate themselves with such an excuse for a script. They all play their parts, though – for better for worse, for richer for poorer. Then, Tamannaah appears – all chirpy, bubbly and more adjectives of that kind. STR, who by now, is a much-feared don, and in his early 50s, sits up and takes note. She calls him ‘thatha‘, but he doesn’t feel very grandfatherly towards her. And before we could wrap our heads around this relationship, there are declarations of love, betrayal, and revenge.
Recommended
Meanwhile, Kasthuri flits in and out of the screen as a special agent appointed to nab the ‘don’ who does nothing but cavort with women in different locations. There’s absolutely nothing by way of story. STR is a don that barely engages in any crime, but wants to turn a new leaf; he doesn’t. He wants to marry Shriya; he doesn’t. He tries to be the one with the heart of gold; he fails. He protects a woman’s ‘honour’, but later threatens dire consequences as a jilted lover. He takes unseemly digs at Vishal and Dhanush, engages in drunken revelry, pokes fun at the warning, takes great pleasure in being juvenile, employs double entendres – some of which sail right over my head – and, offers lessons to the men who were ‘cheated’ in love.
All this notwithstanding, GV Prakash appears in a cameo, to counsel STR, as the wise drunken friend who nudges the hero over the cliff. At that, GVP is successful. A crazy Madurai Michael, as credits roll, is promising retribution in part two.
But, that’s a worry for later.
*****
The Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangathavan review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.