Film -Ayirathil oruvan (THE ONE in a thousand)

Director Selva Raghavan

I had the misfortune of watching the well advertised, much reviewed Tamil film “Ayirathil oruvan (THE ONE in a thousand)”. “Brave attempt at trying to come out with something new in the placid world of Tamil cinema”, “stunning visuals and grandeur”, “.breaking away from the shackles of the stereotypes”, the reviewers raved. Apart from the reviews, all the main actors too had done their bit in the print media by way of interviews recalling their spine-chilling and bizarre experiences while the film was in the making. Most importantly, the film took three long years to complete due the “density of the plot and the depth of its treatment” is what we were all told. And we were also informed that the director had to suffer a divorce, thanks to the film.

The film revolves around a bit of the Chola –Pandya rivalry; where the Cholas were pushed out of their kingdom to an Island somewhere near Vietnam. The heroine Anita Pandyan (Reema Sen) is in search of the idol of their deity, taken away by the Cholas, while on run. The second heroine Andrea is in search of her father, an archaeologist, who was lost somewhere in the Island while tracing the Cholas.

You have two heroines and unfortunately one hero who is condemned to carry the burden of the two heroines, literally, on his back. Well. He drops these compulsive ‘climbers’ then and there. It is yet another story that the second heroine cried foul before the press as her role thinned down after the first half.

We have this sexy and revolver wielding (she even manages to use them with ease, shooting down adversaries with both hands simultaneously) heroine, who is an archaeologist by training. She is supposedly strict; and hence filthy words flow with ease from her mouth while dealing with subordinates.

Karthi, the hero reminds us of his first movie paruthiveeran; his performance was acclaimed, for the right reason, in that film. He has the same ruffian role in this film too. However, in this movie, he cries too often. As it happens, finally he emerges as a real hero after a long absence in the second half.

The first half was boring enough and the graphics- supposed to be scary- were hilarious. Then we hope against the hope that the second half will give you something worth the money and the effort. That is where you go wrong. Despite the weak storyline you somewhat understand the story in the first half. But the second half leaves you blank. Thank God, the disclaimer said that the story is not exactly from any historical incidents: otherwise one would have searched the volumes of south Indian history to understand the plot.

But then you have this seductive number by Reema Sen, the first heroine and those who were interested in watching her cleavage and her flat belly the money spent was worth. Of course, there is no dearth of sexy numbers by these heroines.

And Partheepan, the Chola king looked like a king (raja part) in the village drama and he acted “too sincerely” for the money paid to him. His dialogues were too long and at the end of the sentence you almost forget where he started from. And he dances (Thandavam) too: Don’t ask why? I don’t have an answer.

There is a lot of violence and lots of men (supposed to be tribal) as if they were in a fancy dress competition. Most of them get killed. Of course, some of them at the hands of the heroine, brandishing two revolvers, and others by the army officers accompanying the trained archaeologist.

The film reminds one, in some frames of a series of English movies including Macanas Gold. But the director vehemently denies that the movie has anything to do with any of the Hollywood productions and let me trust him. What is wrong if two persons in two different parts of the world and living in two different times think alike?

The end of the film made me weep. I wept thinking about the money wasted along with a Saturday afternoon.