AMARA KAAVIYAM MOVIE REVIEW

Love - the only theme which our Tamizh cinema directors will never get bored of dwelling in. And what a beautiful title, especially when the film is set in the 1980s' era ! 'Amara Kaaviyam' has been making the right noise, due to it being actor Arya's film, under his own production of The Show People. Jeeva Sankar of 'Naan' fame directs this second film of his career and feature's Arya's brother, Sathya in the lead role, alongside Malayalam heroine Miya George, who makes her Tamizh debut. With M.Ghibran's critically well-received musical score, can this flick attain 'immortality status, in the annal of Tamizh cinema ?

Sathya, who's debut 'Kadhal 2 Kalyanam' is still yet to see the daylights, makes a good impression and has shown improvement in regards to performance. He looks confident, has a good screen presence and composure in dialogue deliveries. He performs well in the action sequences too and with better directors and script, he can definitely become a talent to watch out for. Debutante Miya George, looks super confident, thanks to her experience in doing Malayalam films. She has what it takes to be a very good actress and has a very sweet and pleasing screen presence. Her next choices of film roles, can dictate her place in Tamizh cinema. Wishing these two youngsters a great career ! The rest of the cast such as Ananth Nag, Thambi Ramaiah, Arul Jothi, Vaidyanathan, Elizabeth, Rindhu Ravi, Sudeepa and etc were apt choices for their realistic and earthbound performances. 

The film has very good production values and quality technical outputs from the technical crew. V.Sai's costume designing was apt, and is in adherence of the social, geographical and time period elements of Ooty and Kodaikanal areas. Om Prakash's action choreography suits Sathya's physical built and the fight sequences were realistically shot and executed. The second half fight sequence, shot in slow-motion is a highlight of it. V.Selvakumar's art direction is a big plus for the film's production values. The set properties, be it from vehicles, to furniture, household items and even grocery items were well set up and established the 1980's era, perfectly. Kudos to him ! Editing by Suriya, complements the pace and narrative style of the director and all the cuts are very smooth and doesn't create any jarring effect. Jeeva Sankar handles the cinematography himself, and the cameraman in him has excelled to the core ! Visuals played an important role in the film and it carries the movie forward. The beautiful locations of Ooty and Kodaikanal were magnificently captured by Jeeva Sankar and the watercolor like tone gives the film a misty/dreamy and almost ethereal look, throughout the film. Jeeva Sankar definitely keeps up the reputation as an assistant of the late Jeeva.

Its definitely not an overstatement, if one says that M.Ghibran's musical score is the soul of the film. His songs complemented the script's style and all songs are appropriately placed in the screenplay. The peppy "Saridhaana" is the introductory song of all the main leads and has more montages of Sathya, in establishing his role as a school-going teenager. "Edhedho Ennam" is the first melody shot on the lead pair and has plenty of montages, with some of them having beautiful landscapes, as backdrops of the song. The hill station effect was very well brought out, especially. "Deva Devadhai" is a rather intimate melody and was shot indoors completely and has plenty of reaction shots from the lead pair, which was well cut by Suriya. The haunting melody, "Mounam Pesum" sung by the legendary K.S Chitra, also has montages of the lead pair, temporarily staying away from each other, due to a decision taken by themselves. Though the song has an interestingly tricky situation as its backbone, the love feel was very well conveyed. "Thaagam Theere" is a pathos song, and has montages of the lead pair living separate lives, away from each other. M.Ghibran's background score certainly upraises the mood and impact of the scenes and some portions will definitely strike a chord with the audience, for the soothing background score from him. Another feather in the cap for M.Ghibran !

This film will definitely remind us of the classic 1980's film 'Panneer Pushpangal', directed by Santhana Bharathi and P.Vasu, (not to forget the beautiful songs by 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja) due to the geographical aspect of an Ooty hill station location and the theme of high school romance. Juvenile love story is a tricky element to tackle, a wrong approach of the theme, will end up with the filmmakers sending out a wrong message. Jeeva Sankar, handled his subject decently and has come up with good characterization for all the artistes, but the intensity of an infatuation turned love feeling, among the young teenagers is just missing in 'Amara Kaaviyam'. Jeeva Sankar tries to sink in the love mood and feel of it, with slow-motion reaction shots and a very langoriously paced screenplay. But the dramatic moments are often brushed off so casually and almost, most of the scenes are underplayed. Though its applaudable, that the characters are portrayed realistically, not every single individual is going to be very practical in their approach to the issues and dilemmas, affecting them. Also, the non-linear approach with the story-telling doesn't really make sense, especially when you give away the end of the climax, right at the interval point. There are some minor loopholes in the film's screenplay and though the climax portion is touted to based on an real life incident, which took place in Tanjore, it does send a wrong message and the almost glorification of such juvenile act of love, is totally unjustified. Nevertheless, the film is an decent attempt and hope it becomes a good platform for those involved, to enhance their careers in Tamizh cinema.

'Amara Kaaviyam' ? - Nah, not really. No way, it'll be one !


Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL