When
someone like Selvaraghavan,
one of the most talented and
successful directors in the
industry today spends almost
three years on a single project,
you tend to guess that he must
have something up his sleeve.
If that particular "something"
turns out to be something radically
away from the norm and does
get translated on screen even
with moderate success it will
inevitably capture the people's
imagination, and trendsetters
will be born.
For starters AO is definitely
not everyone's cup of tea. Brimming
with eccentricities, what starts
off as an INDIANA JONES type
action adventure, snowballs
into a clash between the descendants
of the Chola and Pandia dynasties
dating back to the 13th century,
needless to say involving treachery,
prophesies, black magic and
an epic end battle. By very
cleverly letting the story unfold
in a fictional mode, Selva has
avoided possible historical
potholes and has let his imagination
run amok yielding some very
unpredictable yet not wholly
enjoyable results.
You actually end up feeling
having watched two movies at
the price of one when you exit
the cinemas. While the first
half passes through in a whisker
the events in the second half
take their own sweet time to
unfold testing your patience
on more than one occasion. Surely
it could have been pruned better?!
One cannot but help marvel at
the level of creativity and
boldness of filmmaking involved.
In many a sequence, strokes
of genius are evidently visible.
On the other hand some never
before seen graphic violence
and nudity may turn off many.
The ancient, chaste and pure
Tamil used in the second half,
though a delight to hear could
have a similar effect.
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