It has taken seven long years for director R Ravikumar’s dream to reach the silver screens, and I have to admit that his hard work and the team’s efforts to deliver a visual feast have truly paid off. It is one of the rarest Tamil films to do complete justice in translating the ambitious vision on paper to the screen. It isn’t an exaggeration when I say the scale and making of the film are truly on par with the standards of Hollywood.
Having addressed the most pressing question first, let me move on to the other striking aspect of the film: The Tropes. The film doesn’t just stick to English films in this area; it liberally borrows from Tamil too. Starting from killing off black people in the opening scene to making a ‘science teacher’ heroine deliver moral science lessons to motivate the hero, the film ticks off a lot of checkboxes across film industries. But, thankfully these hiccups are not deal-breakers as the visuals of Ayalaan and its witty ideas give us enough to munch on and be extra kind with the blemishes.
Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Rakul Preet Singh, Sharad Kelkar, Siddharth Isha Kopikkar
Director: R Ravikumar
Ravikumar also does effective damage control for his dated portrayals by employing liberal doses of sarcasm and self-awareness. It seems as if he dutifully made a list of dated clichés that annoy us and wrote dialogues to counter them on screen. Picture this, the hero is a passionate organic farmer who tirelessly preaches about saving life forms and farmlands, but his close friend casually says, “Modha unkita irundhu dhaan da vivasaayatha kaapathanum! (We will have to save farming from you first!)” In another scene, a super villain delivers an ambitious monologue about shifting his focus from mining to weapon manufacturing, but a visibly baffled ally goes, “We are making weapons now! Who are you, Tony Stark?” The director’s idea of taking a dig at his work creates a lot of difference as they make us laugh along with the film rather than laughing at it and not be bothered about the lack of novelty in the plot.
I also quite liked how Ravikumar subtly registers his socio-political stand in the form of easter eggs in the tale. It’s hard not to think of parallels when Sivakarthikeyan’s Tamizh takes on a villain named Aaryan. When a car rams into a cola truck, the director makes sure there is a passing frame of graffiti that reads, “No beverages!” Oh, he also packs enough references for SK fans to go gaga. When Tamizh is asked to recreate the Orion constellation, he thinks for a second and goes for the iconic Maan Karate pose, and the next second Rakul’s Thara goes, “Haii, Natchathiram theriyudhu!” (Hey, the star is here!)
Sivakarthikeyan, who has shouldered Ayalaan from the day of its inception till the release, lets the VFX and visuals do the heavy lifting. It is a surprise that he delivers a barely functional performance in his most-hyped film to date. Though he feels effortless in his strong comical zone, his acting feels wanting in the emotional parts.
Though many of us have seen ET, Koi Mil Gaya, and other interesting iterations of the Steven Spielberg classic, Ayalaan feels closer because the alien Tattoo lip-syncs Tamil better than most of our non-native actors, and the idea of making a famous, homegrown actor like Siddharth voice for it is an icing on the cake. Since the film succeeds in making us buy the alien in the initial couple of minutes, the tried-and-tested emotional formula of projecting the character as an empath and do-gooder akin to its human counterpart falls into place without much hassle. And now that we have started rooting for the kind-hearted Tattoo, we aren’t bothered much about the cardboard villain or his sidekicks.
Despite sticking to the familiar beats, the racy screenplay of Ravikumar and the editing of Ruben ensure that none of the sequences consumes a minute longer than what is required. However, the usually dependable Rahman lets the film down with his songs and background score. It is unfortunate that the scenes, which could have potentially made the entire theatre erupt just pass by calmly, without the much-needed support of a rousing BGM.
As I stepped out of Ayalaan, I was reminded of a particular stanza from “Vera Level Sago” which goes, “Endha Singam Siraga Ketkudhu? (Which Lion prays for wings?) Endha Parava Neendha Thudikudhu? (Which bird longs to swim?) Kedacha Parisa Rasika Palagidu (Be happy with the prize you have got!) Vera Level Kaathiruku Unaku! (A bigger treat is awaiting you!)” Is it just me or is it Ravikumar cryptically stating, “It is okay for a film to stick to the basics and be what it is meant to be. But if we celebrate this whole-hearted attempt of his enough, we are in for a bigger treat in the sequel!” Well, that’s a question only Ravikumar or Ayalaan 2 can answer!
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