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In a recent interview, parts of which went viral on social media, Mohanlal shared thoughts on the hate campaign faced by his movie Marakkar Arabikadallinte Simham. He also expressed disappointment over random remarks like ‘editing is not upto the mark,’ which the actor thought should only come from people who ‘know the basics of cinema.’ Further, Mohanlal made a comparison of how superstar films are treated and received in Telugu film industry vis-a-vis movies in Malayalam film industry, which in his opinion are receiving ‘unnecessary criticism.’ The director of his latest movie Aaraattu, B Unnikrishnan, who was part of the interview, also shared the actor’s views on criticism and political correctness.
It is in this context that one gets to watch Aaraattu, which the director himself said is an ‘unrealistic entertainer.’ It is brimming with outdated and cringey concepts of heroism, including dialogues with perverted double meanings mouthed by the hero that elicits expressions of attraction from fellow women on screen. The screenwriter of the movie Udayakrishna who has been the co-writer of many such ‘unrealistic entertainers’, including Mayamohini , Christian Brothers, Mr Marumakan, Pokkiri Raja, Pulimurugan among others, has not compromised a bit on his imagination and writing skills for Aaraattu as he has used the same patterns and formulas from his previous movies.
A hero who is introduced with much hype into an already established plot. Few characters to describe the ‘avataram’ our hero is, few characters to do the humour track, a few women characters impressed by hero’s flirting skills and ‘mass moves’, some dangerous looking villains to get beaten up by the hero, a twist that just falls randomly from the sky. Adding to this is constant references to some old movies of Mohanlal.
The movie starts with the story of a village where four youngsters have formed a ‘batallion’ to safe guard the interests of the villagers and engage in social work. Vijayaraghavan plays a feudal landlord named Edathala Mathayichan who has acres of paddy land where he intends to build a township. But the battalion, villagers and RDO make sure the intention of Mathayichan and his sons don’t materialise. In order to overcome the barrier of villagers and government officials, Mathayichan brings in a trump card who is Neyyatinkara Gopan played by Mohanlal. As usual even before the introduction of the hero, a hype is built around the character and as expected, Gopan comes with a special move – lifting his opponents by their leg and smashing them to the ground. That, apparently, is the mass factor of this Mohanlal ‘avatar’. Also Gopan talks in the Thiruvananthapuram slang at times, mixing it up with Thrissur and Valluvanad slangs. And when he threatens a villain, he uses Telugu.
The movie is muddled with references from old Mohanlal movies to a recent film like Lucifer. During the course of the movie, Gopan sides with the villagers instead of Edathala Mathayichan. The movie gives hints about the real intention of Neyyatinkara Gopan at times and it’s easy to guess that Gopan is here for a bigger ‘mission’. The second half reveals the real intention of Gopan’s arrival in the village, which connects with an artificially stitched plot twist which involves four youngsters and a guruji. Another highlight of the movie is the casting of legendary musician AR Rahman as himself in the climax. The director and screenwriter seem to be keen on highlighting the influence of Mohanlal to rope in a musician like Rahman for this movie by over emphasising the friendship between Rahman and Neyyatinkara Gopan. It might not be a coincidence to remember the Sreenivasan movie Dr Sarojkumar while watching the climax shot of Aaraattu, where Mohanlal fires two bullets at the viewers. One might just remember the satirical character of Sreenivasan in Dr Sarojkumar announcing the title of his next movie Vekkada Vedi which means ‘Shoot me’.
As mentioned earlier, there are still some fans left who can laugh at the lame double meanings ‘jokes’ said by their favourite actor which was evident from the giggles heard in the theatre. Siddique and Johny Antony try hard to generate laughter with low-brow comedy but sadly it doesn’t work.
Coming to acting, the laborious effort from the side of fans and filmmakers to bring the ‘vintage’ Mohanlal back on screen seems to be futile. Age never goes in reverse gear and it is wise for any actor to play characters that suit the energy level and maturity of their real age. However, Mohanlal plays the exhibitionist character of Neyyatinkara Gopan, which is a mix of many of his past characters, convincingly. Mohanlal doesn’t seem to bother about reinventing or re-analysing himself as an actor or choosing scripts that could challenge him as an actor. Shraddha Srinath, who plays the role of a strong willed government official, comes across as artificial especially when lip sync is concerned. Vijayaraghavan, who has done many memorable villain roles in movies like Ekalavyan, Roudram etc., falls short of being an intimidating villain owing to the lack of depth in his character. KGF fame Ramachandra Raju, introduced with much hype as a villain, just comes in to get beaten up by Neyyatinkara Gopan. Talented actors like Indrans, Lukman and Kottayam Ramesh are wasted in the movie. Late actors Nedumudi Venu and Kottayam Pradeep play insignificant roles in the movie.
The whole movie actually felt like a very bold statement from the makers: “We will make the same movie with different names. There are people to watch it and brag about it. It’s all business. And through our movie, we might mock your so-called political correctness”. Fair enough.
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