AAHA KALYANAM MOVIE REVIEW

Yash Raj Films, established by the legendary big daddy of Hindi-cinema romance, Yash Chopra is venturing into Tamizh cinema for the first time, under the baton of Aditya Chopra. Yash Raj has remade their own super hit rom-com 'Band Baaja Baaraat', which catapulted 2-film old Anushka Sharma and debutante Ranveer Singh, into the A-list of Hindi cinema. With a proven subject and a production house renowned for their larger-than-life productions, can debutante director A.Gokul Krishna pull it off, successfully ?

The entire film is about the relationship between the lead pair, hence a pair with great vibes and chemistry is essential for this script. Though he is well known in the Telugu industry, this is only Nani's third straight Tamizh film. Its good to see Nani enacting a role made memorable by Ranveer, without aping him ! Nani's interpretation of the hero's character is evident in his own unique style, body language and dialogue delivery. His command of Tamizh is good, though there's a heavy Telugu accent to it (which was even made fun of in the film). His expressions are cute and lovable, though he plays a youth of uncouth mannerisms. He could have definitely do much better with his performance, and improvisations in voice modulation can elevate the range of his dialogue deliveries. Debutante Vaani Kapoor, who made her debut in Hindi with 'Shuddh Desi Romance' and won a Filmfare Award for it, makes her Tamizh innings with 'Aaha Kalyanam'. She definitely has the talent and capability to deliver greater performances and is a very graceful dancer as well. Alas, her looks plays the spoilsport. Make no mistake, she is indeed a very beautiful lady but her facial features makes it look impossible to accept her as a Tamizhian. And with a dubbing artiste giving her the vocal backing, it feels almost as if you are watching a dubbing film, for the entire duration. But Chinmayi Sripada unquestionably, deserves half the credit of Vaani's good performance, for her impeccable dialogue deliveries and voice modulation, which perfectly matched the personality of the Vaani's character. Badava Gopi, M.J Sriram, Karthik Nagarajan, Krishnakumar, Saikrishna and etc makes up for the supporting cast, whom unfortunately had poorly developed characters, except for Simran's cameo.

The film has high production value, thanks to the 'Yash Raj' effect. Jules Idi Amin Varghese, Kaushik Velendra and Sandeep Roy handles the costume department, and they did a great work, not only with the lead pair, but with a host of extras and dancers, as well. And sharing equal, or even more accolades is the production designer R.C Velu who has done a phenomenal job with the limited budget. The sheer number of uncountable, various sets must have taken a toll on him, but he deserves applause for the rich and colorful look he gave, even-though each wedding sets were different from each other. Great job from both the production and costume designing teams ! Loganathan Srinivasan has given a bright tone for the film, with his cinematography work. The rich art detailing were well captured, but the glossy element was somewhat conspicuously missing. Bavan Sreekumar's editing was spot-on, with the neat flow of the screenplay and an acceptable running time.

Dharan Kumar's music, is passable, which for Yash Raj's standards, is a big letdown ! The "Aaha Kalyanam" theme track appears occasionally, throughout the film. "Koottali Koottali" is the opening song played during the credits and featured the lead pair, living their individual lives, in montage sequences. "Kadha Kadha" is the first wedding song, and had excellent dancing by Vaani, choreographed by Brinda master. "Bon Bon" is the first wedding song, picturized on Nani and Vaani, after the culmination of their partnership "Getti Melam". The song had good camera movements and colorful art design by R.C Velu. Both versions of "Honeyae Honeyae" was combined into one song, and was the best conceptualized song. It featured various wedding styles of different cultures, shot in beautiful montages, which were apparently designed by the lead pair ! "Mazhaiyin Saaralil" is the only duet song of the film, showcasing the falling in love motions of Vaani on Nani. It had a nice street set-up, filled with yellow flowers and also a scenic green landscape, interspersed by some montages. "Padhiye Padhiye" is a pathos song, also shot in montages, and featured the separated period of the lead pair, with their own wedding planning companies. "The Punch Song" or "Thala Song" is the most lavishly shot number in the film. It had great lighting, a big platform and a big crowd, which made the song look opulent in aspect. Dharan's background score was okay, but certainly not his best.

Since this is the official remake of 'Band Baaja Baaraat', debutante director A.Gokul Krishna, a former associate of Vishnuvardhan, has taken the safe route by being faithful to the original and is simple a scene-by-scene replica. The original story by Maneesh Sharma and screenplay by Habib Faisal, is left unruffled nor experimented. What makes the film livelier and easy to connect with, is the brilliant dialogues written by Rajiv Rajaraman. The cute and hilarious banter and repartee of the lead pair was only achievable thanks to Rajiv's funny dialogues. The conversational dialogues between Nani and Vaani, is the real highlight of the film, which keeps us engaged. Though A.Gokul Krishna has not done anything wrong with this film, there is an omnipresent niggling feel of watching a dubbing film throughout the running time, and the absence of more authentic local nativity, compounds that feeling even more. Habib Faisal's screenplay is not dull, though the pace drops a little in the second half. 

'Aaha Kalyanam' - Fun, cute and feel-good ! Minus the wow factor.


Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL