Kireedom -- Movie Review

Ajith has never been my favorite actor and I was very apprehensive about watching his movie in a theatre. The last movie that I saw of Ajith in theatre was "Kandukondain Kandukondain" and that was way back in 2000. For lack of anything worthwhile to do, I have ended up watching movies like 'Red', 'Citizen', 'Anjaneya' & 'Paramasivan' in the
computer and these movies did deliver great comedy & tragedy movies rolled into one. I knew that I was taking a huge risk when I decided to watch 'Kireedom' along with my friend.

The movie gets rolling with 6 prisoners escaping from the central jail and they end up running (With their prison uniforms intact) into the marketplace in broad daylight with rain also providing perfect foil. Someone kicks one of the prisoners in the chest and the prisoner flies in the air to land 50 ft away. The camera pans towards the person who kicked the prisoner and it is none other than our very own 'Thalai' Ajith. Add to this some extraordinary stunts and stylish poses (Ajith and the other prisoners pause to allow our hero to tie his bootlace in the most stylish fashion possible) and I squirm in my seat. This sequence ends with Ajith catching all the 6 prisoners using a long 35 feet iron chain and the entire police force saluting him. One of the police who is seen saluting him is Raj Kiran. I start to cringe as my worst nightmare seem to be materializing in a wide screen infront of me. Then, the scene pans out to show Rajarajan (Raj Kiran) getting up from his bench in the police station (Rajarajan is a head constable) and we understand that it is his dream to see his son Saktivel (Ajith) as a police inspector. On retrospection I feel that the director Vijay has come up with a perfect scene. It would have satisfied the hard-core Ajith fans with a grand hero entry without compromising on the importance of the scene to the overall movie as it showcased perfectly the dream a father has for his son.

And thankfully, this scene marked the end of 'Ohh My God, how can they be so stupid?' kind of scenes. It is not just Raj Kiran who sits up after the dream but the story as well does at this point. The story is about the dream of a father to see his son become a inspector and how fate scripts a different route for the family forms the rest of the story. The movie, a remake of a malayalam movie of the same name, reeks with realistic scenes and performances. There are no exaggerated melodramatic emotional scenes and even the songs (barring the 'Thalai' song) are beautifully placed in the scheme of things.

We all believe that we have complete control of our lives and that external unforeseen events are just minor irritants that force us to deviate from our chosen path a wee bit. Is that a fact or fiction? This movie questions the above belief as the hero is forced into a situation that is totally out of his control & he is forced to be just a player who plays out the role dished out to him without having any control over the flow of things. Ajith plays the role to 'almost' perfection, the minor complaint being his monotonous voice proving to be his undoing in highly charged scenes.

Raj Kiran comes up with the best performance of the movie. He seems to have been created for these kind of roles & he dishes out an admirable performance. The maturity, the anger, the dreams, the understanding, the sorrow of a father comes as naturally as mosquitoes flocking an house in West Mambalam. I could even go on to endorse the view my brother has about him that one can expect Raj Kiran to attain the position of 'Sivaji' Ganesan in these kind of roles. And to even compare someone with 'Sivaji' is no mean achievement. Well done, Raj Kiran!

The rest of the cast play out their roles as expected and the team work pays a lot of dividends. The technical team has done a commendable job. The camera, the editing, the screenplay and direction are upto the mark and make the movie a complete one. Special mention needs to be made for the songs tuned by G.V.Prakash Kumar. Three of the songs will remain in the minds of the viewer for sometime atleast.

Final Cut: A movie that can be watched and enjoyed for the sheer honesty and lack of melodramatic elements.

Rating: 7/10