Aayitha Ezhuthu – Out of Focus. Review on Aytha Ezuthu Movie

Aayitha Ezhuthu ? Out of Focus

Mani Ratnam?s film Aayitha Ezhuthu ( the Tamil version of ?Yuva?) had aroused great expectations among the people. The trailers were excellently posted and this created a good hype. But my personal opinion is that Aayitha Ezhuthu is disappointing. Not an empty pot, but the pot was more than half filled. But it lacked something which separated it from Mani?s biggies- the Alaipayutheys or the Kannathhil Muthamittals.

As for as the film?s theme ? ?Youth coming into Politics? is good and has come at the right moment. The story swirling around a single incident ? a reminder of the Alaipayuhey is fine. The camera man has done a good job. The Music by A.R. Rehman is nice and youthful. The areas which lagged behind were the screenplay and the direction.

The audio cassettes and the CDs had created a good background for the movie release. But the picturisation of the songs was extremely poor. As usual of Mani?s films, songs were not fully picturised in the movie- very much expected, though not disappointing. It is his way of conveying the message ? songs only complement the film not the vice versa. When I think of picturisation of the songs, two songs strike my mind blatantly ? ?Yakkai Thiri ? and ?Nenjam Ellam Kadhal?.

The lyrics of Yakkai Thiri focuses on Love- eternal and divine love- the role it plays in the lives of the people. (Yakkai- the outer body, Thiri ? oil wick, kadhal ? Love, sudar- the flame of a lamp). But the filming has got nothing to do with Love, rather with Kama ? the sexual pleasure. It brings out a scene common with the metro night clubs. It would have been better if the lyricist had written it as ? Yakkai Thiri kamam jwalai? (Jwalai means fire, holocaust ). The other song ? Nenjam Ellam? was so beautifully sung by Sujatha and Adnan Sami.

Their voices were really superb. But as far as the filming is concerned, it was just an add-on to Surya?s flashback. As if a kind of equal distribution of songs among the heroes. It was very poorly inserted. I, after coming out of the theatre, even forgot when was the song played in the movie. It would have been better if the song was not filmed.

As far as the direction is concerned, the first half was very interesting and fast moving, filled with violence and romanticism. The second half saw a dip in the mood ? a bit slow and long. I feel the Siddharth character was again an add-on. Not enough stuff to be conveyed in his charaterisation. Also his was romantic heroism- no mere romanticism and vulgarity- flirting around with girls. His character takes a turn and plunges into the movie only after the incident. Till then it is separate and disjoint.

I felt that his role could have been put up in the first half and a bit shorter. This could have kept the momentum of the film. As for Madhavan?s character is concerned, he is unstable, extremely violent and highly short tempered. His flashback portrayed good violence and equivalently good romance. His character was well established within a few scenes and I don?t know why the director had to go on loitering with it.

As for as Surya?s role is concerned, it was good ? a highly focused, jubilant, straight forward and brave mass leader. The entire story was led by his character and should have had more emphasis. Issues could have been introduced and his character strengthened.

The heroines ? Meera Jasmine, Trisha and Isha. Meera Jasmine had a nice role to play. She has done it well. Trisha ? probably important to Siddharth?s character but not for the story. Her role could have been put to an end in the flashback. She had no role after the incident. And Isha had no role to play in the entire movie. Another add-on to convey the message ? ?Youth means romance?. Bharathiraja ? a nice role ? could have had more emphasis.

Aayitha Ezhuthu lacked focus. The message ? youth coming to politics? lost amidst romance. The scens after the incident were too few to cook up the message- a lot of time lost in unimportant issues and baseless songs.

The three flashbacks should have got over by the first half and the second half should have dominated. But it was the other way. The momentum gained in the first half ran out of steam and stopped virtually. Quite a lot of commercialism seen in Mani?s film too. In short, Aayitha Ezhuthu lost focus and missed the path. Really a disappointment for Mani Ratnam?s fans.