So I walked into the hall with neutral expectations as I heard a wide range of reviews on Maattrraan from excellent, to decent to bad 2nd half to out of the world Suriya movie.

What I saw for the next 2 and half hours was probably the most unique package that a neutral viewer can get out of a movie.

Anand's movies are usually filled with twists and turns shown to audience in an intelligent action packed commercial format.

The story content revolving around the mystery behind an energy drink leading to a past Genetic engineering thesis woven with many surprises and an unexpected link with 1992 Olympics (world games as per the movie). Well it had them all.

When I walked in, the movie's USP for me was of course Suriya's double act as CONJOINED TWINS as everyone who had watched it were raving about Suriya's performance.

But I was taken by surprise when I walked out of the movie hall with the creative thought process Anand and his team should have gone through to come up with a story line like this. Anand and co take a bow.

Maattrraan had its commercial elements too. It had the attraction of the CONJOINED twins concept, entertaining 1st half with the lead pair's characterization without losing the plot and a fairly racy 2nd half with all the mystery unravelling.

I say fairly racy as I personally felt the movie could have been done without a few long fight sequences in Ukvania and at the roller coaster though the roller coaster stunt was well choreographed. To satisfy the diehard Suriya fans I guess. So may be Anand didn't miss a trick here too.

Add all this to the USP of this movie - SURIYA as conjoined twins.

Well all the hype about the Conjoined Twins role played by this versatile actor was proven worthy. Wow what a performer. You could almost forget as you started watching the 2 roles (Akilan and Vimalan) for some time that they were actually being performed by the same person. The difference Suriya brought into the 2 roles be it body language, voice modulation, walks or attitude. Well let me say that this guy is a special actor. The scope especially in the 1st half was immense.

He had to be cool, be a brat, and be a flirt - Akilan. Also be socio centric, responsible and polished - Vimalan. On top of this bring out the physical spacing and chemistry between 2 conjoined twins be it during dancing or walking together or the emotional pact. The pre-interval seen where Akilan drags Vimalan and crawls to the auto asking for help was a stunner.

Suriya, you are a PHENOMENAL ACTOR SIR.

Obviously a 2 and half hour movie on Genetics / thesis, science and a mysterious energy drink to satisfy the greed of a Psychic researcher would bore an average Tamil movie watcher. So obviously there has to be a commercial format within which all these have to be embedded to make it a complete package for the viewer. This is precisely what Anand has done with utmost success. He has woven the commercial elements like songs, romance and used a heroine intelligently in the story.

How many Tamil films have we seen with such a complete package in recent past?

Well I know of one - MAATTRRAAN !!

Well the TWINS made my weekend a happy one !!