Movie: Aranmanai 2
Direction: Sundar C
Cast: Siddharth, Sundar C, Trisha, Hansika Motwani, Poonam Bajwa, Soori
Music: Hiphop Tamizha
Cinematographer: U K Senthil Kumar
Editor: N B Srikanth
Genre: Comdey, Thriller
Rating: ∗∗
What is it about: The film is supposedly a sequel to the film Aranmanai (2014) directed by Sundar.C. The film happens in a village named Koviloor, which is gearing up for a ritual of the Amman Temple during which the Goddess becomes powerless. Taking advantage of this situation few greedy exorcists perform a ritual bringing the evil spirits under their control. During this a dark and powerful demon emerges from the grave hurting the Zamindar’s family, what follows next forms the crux of the story directed by Sundar.C.
Why it’s disappointing: Just because few films from this genre made good business last year, the deluded filmmakers go on in making the same stuff once again. The first film was an illogical one, but it had comedy element which overshadowed the nonsense fed to the audience. That made it a success. In this sequel that dash of spice was missing, in fact we can see it was totally lost. The film poses itself as a serious horror flick whose sequences are designed to convey that, but what defeats the purpose is the laziest approach to think something new to make this a different one.
When it comes to this genre, we can’t expect logic or reasoning. Highly agreed to that notion, won’t argue on that. But even the nonsense can be fed in a glorious way, giving a good entertainer. The film didn’t have anything as a selling point, but pretends to make its leading ladies as one.
Trisha was a total waste of talent, after making a solid appearance in “Thoongavanam”, she made a fool of herself in this. The social media was raving about her hot appearance in the film, which was not hot enough or something we haven’t seen till date. Then it shifts the audience focus on Poonam Bajwa with low hip sarees and zooming in to 70mm (figuratively), whenever she has to bend down to reach something. And finally comes Hansika, who hardly had screen space and performs her short cameo with decent grace.
The film has a horrendous sound design which in the name of Dolby Atmos mix give you a headache. The film edit goes haywire, with scenes appearing at random. The music by Hip Hop Tamizha was a let-down, the only track which had an average appeal was the end title-roll video, and that seems good due to the visuals and choreography.
It’s heart-breaking to see Siddarth wasting his potential on roles of this satire. The usual formula of bringing in many characters to fill the gaps in the movie where the screenplay runs out of ideas remains to be a favourite for many directors till date. Sundar.C should have made a film which he’s known for, and that is mindless masala comedies. Venturing in to horror once again makes this one a disaster.
What to watch out for: There is a series of events which occur in the second half post interval involving continuous gags, which makes you laugh hard for about 10-15 minutes leading in to climax. That really lifts your spirits from the disappointment for the rest of the runtime. This particular part of the movie, may deceive the audience while walking out of the theatre, thinking they had a good time, a very smart move by the director.
Verdict: Sundar.C fails to make you laugh or scare you, instead makes a huge room for disappointment. A film which could have been a total entertainer falls dud lacking creativity. I would say, not a worthy watch. But who can stop the deluded audience.
