Thiruvilayadal Aarambam -- Movie Review

Introduction: I am not known for watching movies that doesn't have a well known director or a star cast on which you can put your hard earned money. 'Thiruvilayadal Aarambam' was an exception for the simple reason that I was hearing some good reviews and Dhanush & Prakash Raj are good actors who can be relied upon to give a decent performance. Did the movie meet my expectations?

Story: Thiru (Dhanush) is a young guy who is in search of a job. He is interested in starting his business for which he seeks the help of his father (played by Mouli). During this time, he falls in love with Guru's (Prakash Raj) sister (Shreya). As is the 'normal' trend, Guru is a rich guy & he doesn't want to marry his sister to a poor guy like Thiru. Whether Thiru is able to win the acceptance of Guru & take his sister's hand with his permission forms the rest of the story.

First Cut: This is 'supposed' to be a comedy movie and it does satisfy that tag to an extent. But, only to an extent. One of its major shortcomings is the lack of a good screenplay. Comedy movies can have the most craziest of stories or even lack a story and still could make for interesting viewing if the screenplay is interesting & fast-paced. This is one area where the director leaves us longing for more. The director seems to have decided in the beginning itself on where the climax should take place and the dialogue for each of the character. When he could not do that with his originally decided story, he invents new situations and adjusts the screenplay to match those situations. This proves to be the undoing for this movie. There are indeed a lot of scenes where the director is able to bring instant laughter with his witty dialogues. Sadly, witty dialogues here & there does not transform a lousy movie into a good watch.

Performances: Sadly, the acting talents of Dhanush & Prakash Raj have been wasted as the screenplay moves from one scene to the next without building up any scope for these people to show their histrionic capabilities. Shreya does what I expected her to do. Look dumb with sub-zero acting skills & bad dialogue synchronization. Also, the low budget of the movie left Shreya with very little to wear on screen :-) . Mouli & Saranya (She plays the mother of Dhanush) just make up the numbers & have very less to do in terms of acting.

Other aspects: Imaan scores two brilliant melodies in "Vizhigalil vizhigalil" & "Kannukul enno". The remixed song "Ennama kannu" is also decent enough. The blatant use of tunes from songs of other movies(instrumental) could have been avoided for it sticks out like a sour thumb. The "Vizhigalil Vizhigalil" song has been picturized beautifully (Especially note the blue tinge that is present throughout this song). Editing is decent enough but there were a few places where the story seems to jump suddenly as if the editor slept while doing his work.

Final Cut: You would be better off watching the comedy clippings when they show it in the TV channels than going for this movie.

Rating: 4/10