Aagathan - Review

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In Kamal's Aagathan, Goutham Menon (Dileep) meets Shreya (Charmi) on a bus to Bangalore, and after a while disappears leaving her a note. He reappears later as her suitor on her farmhouse, where her father Col. Hareendranath Verma (Sathyaraj) waits to meet his son-in-law in anticipation.

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Goutham might very well be a do-gooder, if you know what I mean. He is seen indulging in a variety of Good Samaritan tasks when he is not playing the highly successful survivor who has had it tough in his life role. He almost jumps out of a running bus in a frantic attempt to rescue an old lady who has just been hit by the vehicle. Later of course, he is seen running around a busy Bangalore road helping a street vendor pick up a few guavas that had made their way out of the basket. And yes, there is this institution of disabled children and their one-day picnics too, of which he is inevitably a part of, where he gets to do his little bit, by buying the kids ice creams.

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How do you expect someone not to fall in love with a man who is adorable and human as the one just described. Shreya falls heels over the head in love with Goutham, and follows him around like a drenched kitten on the look out for a leg to brush against. Goutham meanwhile plays the elusive hunk to perfection, and has the girl eating out of his hands in no time. The cat and mouse game gets all pepped up with a few songs thrown in. If chasing someone around is your idea of a perfect romance, you might have a few pleasant moments here.

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Ravikumar's script holds a surprise for us in store that is revealed a bit too early. We are barely half way through the film, when the climactic jolt arrives. If you have been through similar cinematic adventures, you hold a fair chance of guessing that shocker. And so, the bombshell having been dropped, the film goes round and round unsure as to where it should go next. It's a steady drop from there on, and there is no use turning back after a while.

Dileep looks quite dashing in Aagathan; dressed crisply, he looks every bit of the role that he has been asked to play. There are no revelations when it comes to his performance though; we have seen it all. Charmi looks charming all right, and I am not sure if anything else is expected of her character that often appears too one-dimensional. Sathyaraj is whom we should be talking about here, since the actor debuts in Malayalam with the film, but I should say I was pretty disappointed. He does the best of what he can, but frankly he deserved a better introductory offer.

Ajayan Vincent had caught our fancy ever since he did a few magical tricks with his lens in Bhramaram. He repeats his spectacular feat in Aagathan as well and provides us with some brilliant visuals that are intended to, and that indeed take your breath away. There is no denying the visual spectacle that Aagathan is, and if I could, I would hand over the entire honor of making this film watch able, over to this brilliant cinematographer who is undoubtedly one of the best we have today.

There is another person who doesn't entirely disappoint in Aagathan. There are at least a couple of songs set to tune by Ousepachan that have the trademark stamp of the music director all over them. Certainly not the best of his tunes, but infinitely more hummable than several other songs that we get to hear these days.

Aagathan has an 'I know what's round the corner' quality all over it despite a stunning backdrop and an unusually subtle soundtrack. It's a psychodrama gone wrong, precisely because the denouement that it hopes to cash on is a bit too obvious, and comes at the wrong instant.