Aadai, a movie beyond the naked promotions. In depth
the movie have an awesome soul which questions
several social existence around us.
From the announcement and through the promotional
posters and teasers of Rathna Kumar’s Aadai landed the
film in a controversy. Amala Paul took considerably a
bold attempt with her unconventional characterisation as
Kamini.
Amala Paul provides thought provoking commentary on
society and womanhood.
Aadai begins 200 years ago, with the story of Nangeli
and her fight to wear what she wants. After the animated
prologue and the moral science lesson we move to the
present, where the female lead character Kamini and
her friends' lives.
The story starts in the backdrop of a channels high
rated TV show. Kamini, a television producer. She is
successful, her ‘bold’ ideas and relentless perseverance
give the show its TRP boost. She is purportedly a
feminist, much to her mother’s chagrin.
First most of the prior scenes to showcases in depth
characterizations of Kamini, Kamini rides a bike. But
unlike her, she also carelessly races on the streets,
without so much as wearing a helmet. She eats, drinks
and makes merry. Her vocabulary contains the words
“fuck” and “mayiru“. She has an incessant need to
prove people wrong — “bet katriya?” she keeps asking
people, even though no one ever places a bet. She lives
her life on the edge trying to prove her naysayers wrong.
The director, Ratna Kumar wants to show its social
awareness and political standing. So, there’s a double
-joke about a Malayali chaya seller saying he might be
CM or PM one day. A sly dig at centrists. And a series
of digs at everyone named in the MeToo movement
— even the likes of Radha Ravi and Vairamuthu, who
very few men have had the courage to take on. Yet,
TM Karthik, also an accused in the MeToo movement
gets a role in the film. He gets to be Kamini’s boss and
even say “my girl”, about her.
Along lots of technical brilliance, the movie has lots
of flop executions like the scene where Kamini walks
with a mirror to hide her body is a clever mockery of
the audience. The creep from a distant building who
spots Kamini from afar and comes looking for her.
Beginning of that scene, the same creep character
who seems to be an IT employee of aged between
35-40 writing two number addition program in
“Turbo C”, might be the director of the movie is a so
called Engineering graduate never worked in an IT
firm who thinks IT programing is all in turbo C.
Aadai is just an upgraded, performative version of
the same question. In asking that question, it punishes
Kamini for who she is and not what she does. The fact
that the film can’t differentiate the two is its biggest
failing. The film equates Kamini’s feminist sensibilities
with her recklessness. It implies that her competitive
nature, fed by her belief that she (and women) can do
anything they want, is the same as her thoughtless
disregard for the people around her. It tells us that
she’s both a feminist and a sadist in the same breath.
End punch of the movie unnecessarily hitting indirectly
Amala’s bold character. “Vekkamillaama ammanama
vevila vadhuduve-nu nenachen”, (I thought you’ll come
out naked without shame) , and praised for not doing
so. She is given the “right cause” to be bold about.
Bottom Line : However, with a runtime of 141 minutes,
Aadai drags, especially the first half with unnecessary
scene-establishing characters which test your
patience. The basic story begins at the interval but
the surprise character and the sub plot around the
climax further slow the narration.
Cameraman Vijay Karthik Kannan deserves a pat
on his back for shooting Amala's body aesthetically
without any titillation. All said and done, Aadai does
herald a brave new world of women-led films in Tamil.
Rating : 3/5
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