Monday, June 20, 2011

Avan Ivan review: "Brilliant performances but sloppy storyline!!!"

In the last few years, the Tamil film industry has been carving a niche for itself in terms of meaningful, hard hitting realistic movies. There has never been a dearth of performers in their industry with audience lapping up the daredevilry of their demi-gods. However, with time the audience has showed signs of being responsive to more meaningful cinema which led to the rise of a new set of directors & technicians. Prominent among them being  director Bala, who is said to have revolutionised Tamil industry with his brand of films like "Sethu",  "Pithamagan" etc. So naturally there has been a lot of anticipation & expectations surrounding his latest release "Avan Ivan". The question now is whether he will be able to maintain his lofty standards...


Bala's movies has always dealt with the most obscure of characters that one would come across in society. Here too, the trend isnt different as he has created two half brothers, as different as chalk & cheese. The story happens in the landscape of Theni, where these two siblings hails from a family notorious for being thieves. The two siblings are always at loggerheads & trying to outdo the other with encouragement from their foul mouthed mothers. Walter Vanangamudi (Vishal) is the squint eyed who detests robbery along with being absolute crap at it but harbours the dream of becoming an actor. His half brother, Kumbudren Samy (Arya) though is street smart & humorous, with a panache for the family trade. Inspite of their lineage, they were the dear ones of the zamindar (G.M Kumar) popularly referred to as the Highness by the community for his support & concern for the people. The film basically tracks the relationship between these three characters & what all events unfolds in the two hours.


The USP of Bala's movies has always been its strong storyline backed up with some brilliant characters. However, the same couldnt be told in this, as the biggest bane here is the lack of a credible storyline. The movies basically lingers around for the whole time with hardly any events happening except for one right at the very end which culminates in a very predictable but stunning climax. There are however a few positives as well with the main point being the protagonists having well etched characters giving them ample scope for performance. As opposed to previous ventures, Bala has chosen to tackle the comedy genre & has been successful to a extent also. Coming to other technical aspects, the visuals by Arthur Wilson were awesome backed up with some equally proficient editing by Suresh. Another major plus point has been the impressive BGM by Yuvan Shankar Raja which was completely in contrast to what he has created until now. 

It's common knowledge that Vikram, Surya & Arya all came into prominence after their performances in Bala's films. This time around, the dice fell upon Vishal & he has given a killer performance. Its his best performance to date with all likelihood of getting an award as well. Arya, though not given as much scope as Vishal has been more than capable to meet shoulder to shoulder with him. G.M Kumar also deserves praise for his performance. As for the remaining cast, the female leads had poorly etched characters & didnt impart much to the story.

Verdict: Bala's track record & the star power of Vishal- Arya will ensure an outstanding initial for the movie, which will go a long way in making it a hit. However, the lack of a credible story might deny it to have a sustained run. In short, its Bala's weakest movie to date with a very sloppy story, however there are some brilliant performances due to which I feel you guys should give it a try!!!

Regards...Ben



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