AADAMA JAICHOMADA MOVIE REVIEW

Though Aadama Jaichomada (won despite not playing) is set in the murky cricket betting business milieu, the movie isn't as dingy as the business is - it is more of a jolly roller coaster ride.

 

A police trail to find the kingpin of cricket betting operations, a smiling dead man whom no one could have murdered, a theater owner who awaits huge losses for his yet to be released production venture starring his son, a Police Commissioner leading a pack of incapable men, the lead lady's fetish for bathrooms – such seemingly unrelated idiosyncratic affairs, which fall in place towards the end, are what the movie is made of. Director Badri and the dialogue writer Shiva toy with these peculiar traits in churning out a laugh riot, for the major part of the movie.

 

The movie rides heavy on performances, as the quirkiness, the spine of the movie, will work only with solid histrionics. And, the performances, led by Karunakaran, Bobby Simha and Balaji Venugopal, definitely live up to the mark, and save the film. Another reason for too much reliance on the actors' prowess is that everything else – the canvas, music, and cuts - is just about decent. 

 

Karunakaran plays the role of an innocent man who gets caught in a felony, yet again. And, he impresses, yet again! Even the most simplest of dialogues gets colored with humor when mouthed by him. However, he has to work more on getting the chemistry with his heroines right, if he looks to play more lead roles.

 

In a sharp contrast to his Jigarthanda character – in both profile and performance - a shaven Bobby Simha plays a police officer here. He plays the role of an effete cop who tries hard to not be one, with aplomb. He believes that all a cop needs to do is to wait, rather than act, to catch criminals. Director Badri packs the script with scenes that prove this belief of Simha right, gives him an action block, and follows it up with a scene that strips him off all the action to make him a laughingstock that he is.

 

Balaji Venugopal, the third lead, gets the best situations of the movie. Everything about his character is scandalous - he cheats on with a married woman, he orchestrates the whole betting plot and even his end is slanderous. 

 

Other actors - KS Ravikumar, Aadukalam Naren, Radha Ravi, Chetan, Vijayalakshmi - deliver neat performances. 

 

Running for just 2 hours, the biggest plus of Aadama Jeichomada is the director's strength to fill the movie with unintelligence - be it the dialogues, the characters or even the situations - without which the movie would have failed big time. However, one has to admit that he could have totally avoided the speed breaking and tiring duet songs!