Sathya(Navdeep) moves from Nagercoil to the city to enroll in a prestigious Engineering college. He falls for Sandhya(Samiksha) his collegemate, though he is not too expressive about his feelings. Sathya runs into Adhinarayanan(Prakashraj), a dada, and his adopted son Kutti(Arya) a couple of times and is turned off by their predisposition towards violence. The violence intrudes his life when Sandhya gets shot by Arya during a fight. So Sathya goes to the police and files a complaint against Kutti.

Arindhum Ariyaamalum is the third movie(after Amudhe and 6.2 ) in recent times to take me by surprise on the route it takes. With an everyman hero, romance and an all-powerful dada, the first half points to a masalafilm along the lines of Run or Dhool , where the hero takes on a much more powerful adversary. The fact that Navdeep arrives in the city from another town and the friction between Navdeepalso point to that. But a plot point introduced midway is a pleasant, unexpected surprise and takes the movie on a very different track.

Inspite of the familiar feel of the underlying material, the screenplay keeps us entertained in the first half. Navdeep's confusion about Samiksha's identity and her attitude towards him keep us smiling through the romance. Prakashraj and Arya take care of the action with scuffles with their enemies, friction with the police, etc. The three of them come together in the second half but not exactly in the way we imagine.

The plot development changes not just the story but its whole tone. The story that was slowly moving towards an action-packed second half takes a turn and becomes sort of a comedy. The comedy is a little slapstick but makes us laugh since it arises from legitimate causes. The inability of Prakashraj and Arya to express their newfound feelings correctly and Navdeep's conflicted feelings towards them are what result in the laughs. The director also exhibits a definite Manirathnam influence. To convince Navdeep to accompany him home, Arya uses the same tactic that Karthik used on Revathi in Mouna Raagam while the scene where Arya talks to Samiksha's father reminds one of Mammootty's conversation with Charuhasan in Thalapathy .

Navdeep suits the role of the young man. Samiksha looks better in modern dresses and reminds one of several other actresses in different angles. Prakashraj is dependable as always. He is believable both as the rowdy and the man struggling to make Navdeep understand his real feelings. Arya is the real find though. He has a casual way of dialog delivery that seems both stylish and very natural and fights well. Krishna gets a few laughs though he shows a tendency to shout.

Yuvan Shankar Raja has tuned some peppy numbers that suit the youthfulness of the film. The songs are also picturized quite differently. Sil Sil Sil Sil... borrows its situation from Dil To Pagal Hai but works in that it gives off a jolly, uninhibited feel. Thee Pidikka... deserves to be better used than in an item number but is choreographed well. Water seems to be common point in all the song sequences but it is undeniable that it adds gloss to the picturization.