Aadhi Bhagavan’s narrative starts in Bangkok with the life of an upcoming don Aadhi Shanmugham (‘Jayam’ Ravi) who does anything for money. He meets ‘Karishma’ (Neetu Chandra) revives her from misery. While he is about to tie the knot with her, things turn upside down as he is taken for a ride by another mafia group that tries to steal his identity. Aadhi fighting the odds and emerging out of the quagmire has been told in a predictable way with an appreciable twist.
The first half unfolded at its own sweet pace and as we are about to get frustrated with the movie, a twist kicks in just before the intermission and regains our confidence. But that was the only twist that formed the core of the script. Other than that the movie looked pretty ordinary for Ameer’s standards. The movie travels from Andhra to Bangkok to Mumbai and thus there is a language issue - the characters were shown mouthing dialogs in their own language and everything gets dubbed in Tamil; I felt that it was a novel way to instill authenticity but at the same time it proved to be a slight discomfort since it gave a feel of watching a dubbed movie.
‘Jayam’ Ravi in a double role (I didn’t know it was a double role before watching the movie) had a tough time wearing the hat of an action hero as he resembled the same candy floss romantic guy like in so many other movies. He has also tried to sound masculine with a base voice since his voice has an inherent shrillness. The other character demanded him to portray some effeminate traits and so it would have been a challenge for any hero, but he has done a good job at it.
Neetu Chandra as Karishma/Rani had the meatiest role for a heroine. She took the plunge post interval and challenges the don girls who have been portrayed in Indian cinema so far.
Supporting cast were of little significance as they are either killed at some stage or would help in killing someone.
Technically the movie was nowhere near Ameer’s last few ventures as the camera and editing were disappointing. Editing especially could have been used to trim the movie by 20-30 minutes by chopping unwanted songs and that could have made the movie much more engaging.
Music by Yuvan was below average and the song placement was another dampener that Ameer would concede to his beeline of woes.
The first disclaimer before watching the movie is one should not try to read the story since the twist might sound predictable and the whole story would fall flat. So please go with low expectations. The next one is the overdose of action and violence. The movie is nowhere near Ameer’s league of his previous ones and falls much below expectations. Ameer could have done a better job with the content and a streamlined screenplay.
Verdict: Not a Must Watch (Don’t read the story before watching!)
Rating: 2.5/5
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