Azhagiya Tamil Magan - Review

‘Azhagiya Tamil Magan’ banks heavily on Vijay’s charm and performance. The Ilaya Thalapathy has lived up to the challenge created by the huge success of ‘Pokkiri’. He looks stylish and handsome. He lights up the screen by his dynamic performance. Director Bharathan has exploited Vijay’s strengths well. He has provided a perfect entertainer for Vijay fans by giving ample chance, including dual role, to Vijay to come up with a stylish, action packed, romantic heroism. Vijay plays both hero and villain. The first half is filled with romance and a mystery surrounding Vijay’s Extra Sensory Perception (ESP), while the second half is dominated by the tug of war between the two Vijays. Let us first look at the storyline. Guru (Vijay) is an athlete and business management student. Abhinaya (Shreya) is the daughter of a business baron (Ashish Vidyarthi). They meet and, what else, fall in love. The movie goes on to show how the lovers manage to get the permission of the parents. In the meantime, you get to see a different dimension in the tale while the romantic drama is unfolding. Vijay visualizes some bizarre scenes inside his mind. The scenes are disturbing and worse, they become true in the real life. A psychiatrist (played by Dr. Rudran, a professional psychiatrist) confirms that it is ESP power and says that the imageries visualized by Guru would actually happen sooner or later. Unfortunately Guru visualizes another scene which he would never like to see happening. Sensing a danger to his sweetheart, he runs away to Mumbai from her to save her. In Mumbai he stumbles upon a person, who looks alike himself. This gives him a different meaning of the horrible incident visualized by him. Before catching the man, played by Vijay again, Guru gets into an accident and the new man moves to Chennai where he is mistaken as Guru. Stylish and care free Prasad, the look alike Guru, is a greedy person, who would do anything to earn money and enjoy life. Abinaya mistakes him for Guru and gets him to her house. Sensing his strength, Prasad decides to act as Guru and marry the rich Abhi. The real Guru comes back and tells everyone the truth. But no one is ready to believe him, as he is outplayed by the wicked Prasad in each and every move. Finally the truth prevails but not before the tensed battle between the two with lot of twists and actions. Before going in to details we must say that ESP is not a proven scientific fact and hence the director putting it as a matter of fact is unacceptable. We could have digested it if the director had presented it in a different manner without pretending to be scientific. Coming back to the script, the director has come up with a new idea in form of ESP to provide twist in the tale. Though the idea of double role is not new, Bharathan had made the tough of war between the two interesting by conceiving a few interesting sequences. The first half however, is dragging too much to the comfort of the audience. The efforts to convince the father and mother, one by one, play as speed breakers. The way the girl falls for the hero lacks imagination. The ESP imageries and Vijay fighting with Vijay have been executed well. The director has done well in presenting Vijay - the USP of the film. The hero looks handsome, and stylish. The second Vijay in particular, is simply awesome in his styles. Vijay has presented a virtual treat for his fans by his mannerisms, actions, voice modulations, and body language. Shreya, arguably possessing the most stunning and sexy figure among today’s heroines is simply ravishing. She and the director, of course, pretty well know that acting is not her forte and hence bank on her USP, which is her curvaceous body, to make the proceedings, especially the songs attractive. Namitha is effectively used for a scintillating song. Santhanam as Guru’s friend doesn’t go overboard and provides some comical relief. Good performers like Sayaji Shinde and Ashish Vidyarthi are wasted in insignificant roles. A.R. Rahman’s music is outstanding. In fact that songs sound better when heard – and seen – in the movie. ‘Maduraiku Pokaathey’ and ‘Valaiyapatti’ are quite attractive. The remix version is more convincing when seen in the context. The background score is effective in the scenes when Guru gets ESP images. Balasubramaniam’s camera work is spectacular, especially in song sequences. The scenic beauty of Phuket Island and other locations are amazingly captured. Larencce has made wonders in choreographing. Vijay’s dancing movements are quite stylish. Overall, ‘Azhagiya Tamil Magan’ has nothing new to offer but the movie definitely entertains.