Aravaan.
Another weekend, another movie, but this is one movie I was expecting for a long time now. The promos looked impressive, the trailer was excellent and this is an offbeat movie (not the type much seen these days) thus the expectations were high. Add to it an excellent offer I got from PVR, I got a “buy one ticket get one free ticket” offer with which I could convince my wife to watch the movie (She had said she will not watch this movie after seeing the trailer). Thus the movie experience was doubly sweet.
Aravaan, is a movie which made me do some research on it after seeing it; the star cast was apt, so was the performance of its lead characters, direction was very smart too. The plot revolves around two thieves Kombhodi (Pasupathy) and Varipuli (Aadhi) and they carry the weight of this epic quite well on their brood shoulders. It’s good to see a young actor like Aadhi try variety of roles than taking the tried and tested (and sure to fail) track of masala movies, it’s even more encouraging to see Pasupathy portray characters which demand emotions and do justice to his potentials.
The story revolves around a village “Vembur” which is known to be a village of thieves; it is this village which is responsible for all the thefts around “ettu patti gramam’ (8 surrounding villages). Kombhodi is the leader of the group of thieves, and in the opening sequences they hit a rich man’s house. It is by selling the loot from their heist that these thieves help the whole village feed. Eventually the village comes to know that there is another thief who goes around collecting vital information about potential targets posing as being from Vembur. It’s now up to the thieves from Vembur to find out who the outsider is and retrieve a “Diamond chain” which he looted from the princess of Madurai, in return of which Vembur will get 100 rucksacks of rice.
Kombodhi finds out that Varipuli is the talented thief who is impersonating as being from Vembur and doing the rounds looting. Kombodhi follows Varipuli and eventually captures him and retrieves the Diamond chain. Kombodhi is impressed with varipuli’s skills and takes him Vembur to join the gang. As Varipuli is getting acquainted to Vembur, the older thieves in Vembur challenge Kombodhi to strike Kottaiyur (A neighboring village) which has always foiled all theft attempts. Kombodhi, Varipuli and team pulls off the heist, but Kombodhi gets caught in the process and Varipuli rescues him in a daring act. Kombodhi prompts varipuli of his past and that’s when the flash back begin when Kombodhi understands that Varipuli (Chinna, the characters real name) is a Baliall (a man destined to be sacrificed) as his villages was accused of murdering a man (Bharat, in a cameo performance) belonging to the rival village Mathur.
The rest of the movies go about showcasing how and why the real murder took place, does Chinna get sacrificed? Watch the movies to know answers to these questions. The movie is excellent for all the technical aspects, though the music dept could have done some homework considering the fact that it’s a period movie, but the cinematography, art e.t.c were excellent. The tamil dialect used in the movie takes you to the earlier worlds, and the locations of shoot was chosen with real care. The cast also included Dhansika as Vanapechi (Chinna’s Wife), Archana Kavi as Chimitti (Kombodhi’s sister), Karikaalan, Anjali (in a special appearance), Shweta Menon (in a special appearance). Though the movie is about Human sacrifices which was a practice in the pre British Indian ERA, the director has tried to relate it to Capital Punishment of the present times and the relation does work in the movies favor.
Aravaan is a must see movie if you like watching period movies which are technically sound and has been well supported by some brilliant acting. I would give it 4 out of 5. Enjoy the movie guys.
