Aadukalam Movie Review – The Best of Dhanush

STORY

The movie unfolds in a suburb in Madurai where rearing roosters, maintaining them and using them for fights are a way of life and a matter of honor and lifeline to many people there.

The main prestige in winning the rooster fight is that the winner will be called as Pettaikaran. Luck would have it, it was always Jayabalan who wins the fight and retains the title to good effect.

Durai (Kishore) and K P Karuppu (Dhanush) are the key aides of Pettaikaran(Jayabalan) who learn the tricks of the trade from their mentor. Karuppu does everything and works tirelessly for Pettaikaran. Obviously ego flare up between Durai and Karuppu is bound to to be there.

On the other hand Pettaikaran’s main adversary in rooster fights is Rathnasamy (Naren) who is a police officer belonging to a family of people who involve themselves in rooster fight. Pettaikaarar is known to have an impeccable track record of successes when it comes to fowl fights especially with Rathinam’s.

In an unexpected situation, Pettaikaran challenges Rathinam to a fowl contest, which makes Rathinasamy to adopt all fraudulent methods to scuttle Pettaikaran. When Pettaikaran loses at the start, enters Karuppu to save his master’s pride. He matches Rahtnaswamy’s tricks and emerges winner. A jealous Pettaikaran now disowns Karuppu. The victory brings laurels in Karuppu’s shoulder and soon he becomes a star in the neighbourhood. Pettaikaran plan a plot to avenge him. By the time he realizes what is happening around him, its too late and things go way beyond his control. In the end what does he do to solve the brewing issue is being said in the most logical way possible.

In the midst of all this, Karuppu comes across an Anglo Indian girl Irene (Tapasee), living in the nearby railway colony. Innocent Karuppu tries ways and means to impress Irene.

CAST REVIEW

In terms of acting, Dhanush steals the show with his brilliant display of skills. He is right there giving an astounding performance from frame one. He is at ease with Madurai diction of Tamil. WIth a perfect body language, Dhanush walks away with all aplomb. He makes you wonder if anyone else could have done justice to this role.

Tapasee, in the role of Anglo Indian girl is simple, sweet and elegant.

Jayabalan is a perfect choice for the character of Pettakaran. With the right kind of expressions and body language, he demonstrates a new type of villainy and Radha Ravi’s voice adds strength to his role.

Kishore and Naren have performed their role to perfection.

PLUS POINTS

The major plus point of Aadukalam is its strength in characterization. The essence of true friendship, love in hatred and hatred in love and betrayal are highlighted in a excellent way by the director. Vetrimaaran proves that he is after all an adept raconteur with an eye for details. Every scene substantiates his efforts.

The rooster fights, which are digitally generated is perfectly rendered and it is a treat to watch.

Music by G V Prakash Kumar is one of the strong pillars of the movie. Songs and background score go hand-in-hand with the theme.

Dialogues and razor sharp editing (Kishore) besides cool visuals of Velraj adds strength.

NEGATIVE POINTS

On the flipside, the film is a tad lengthy in the second half and there are patches of slowness that could have been avoided.

The movie also has few technical short-comings especially in a certain places where the dialogues are almost inaudible.

VERDICT:

Dont miss it !!!