Most of Arjun's self-directed, comparatively successful movies have revolved around patriotism. After the failure of the
softer, family oriented Vedham and the violence and glamour heavy
Ezhumalai , he once again returns to his pet theme with
Parashuram, where he plays a police officer. But though the underlying intentions are good and the
theme he tackes is practical, these get lost in the commercial formula he has chosen.
The misguided youth in TamilNadu, disillusioned by lack of jobs, are lured by Akash(Rahul Dev), who is using them as
pawns in his game to destabilise the country. Parashuram(Arjun), a police officer, gets to know this through the statement
of a Tamil youth who was shot dead while fleeing across the border to India. Anjali(Kiran) is in love with Parashuram while
Meena(Gayatri Raghuram), a petty thief, is able to give him a little help since she inadvertently saw Akash having a meeting
with some of the youth. Parashuram gives shelter to Shiva(Abbas), a bright young man working as a waiter.
Arjun manages to find a believable idea for the way a terrorist infiltrates our country. The disillusionment of jobless youth
being taken advantage of is a good foundation and the few examples portrayed here are believable. But the same
believability doesn't extend to the main terrorist himself. He is initially acceptable as a mysterious figure with no
background. But his background is revealed late in the movie and his transition to a terrorist with a grudge against India
is unexplained. It paves the way for some suspense after he is presumed dead but the payoff is not worth it.
Arjun peppers the movie with a few twists that momentarily raise our interest but most of the movie is predictable. Infact,
the one big twist is actually a letdown since the proceedings(keeping the main terrorist hidden, for example) point a bigger twist
that would have been really invigorating. The twists are mainly in the form of one of the characters shifting its loyalties but
after a while, we are not really sure who the person is working for and don't really care either. The climax tries to be a little
different but seems rather silly since it relies on a rather huge assumtion - that none of the people working for the terrorist
have actually seen him.
With the testosterone-heavy proceedings, there is not much scope for one heroine, let alone two. So Kiran and Gayatri
Raghuram are completely marginalised, making an appearance just for the duets. Atleast Gayatri has an interesting
introduction with her robbery showing a few signs of cleverness. Unfortunately, there are no other scams once she aligns
with Arjun. Kiran appears out of nowhere, taking pictures of Arjun when he is nabbing criminals! No background, like a family
or a jobs, is ever mentioned.
Arjun fits the role of the police officer quite well and his way of dealing with both the misled young men and the criminals is
believable. Kiran proves that Anbe Sivam was just an aberration as she goes back to
over-makeup and under-dressing. Gayatri Raghuram looks cute but doesn't have much scope, for either acting or dancing.
Abbas slips into his role well while Rahul Dev makes a good villain. The music is supposed to be by A.R.Rehman but I
wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't actually seen his name in the credits. Not a single song makes any kind of a mark.
|