Counting the number of references that are made in ‘Aaraattu’ to Mohanlal’s previous films can be an engaging activity to indulge in while sitting through the almost three hours of all-round star worship. For the script is replete with those, with a few landing well and a majority falling flat. In some sequences, like when Neyyatinkara Gopan (Mohanlal) visits an old ‘tharavadu’, the references come so thick and fast, that it is hard to keep up.
The worst of it comes in a scene involving Indrans, playing a paralysed man, with Gopan breaking into the song ‘Thamarappoovvil Vaazhum’ from ‘Chandralekha’, in a reference that spoils the memory of the original with its absurd attempt at comedy. Director B.Unnikrishnan is unapologetic in what he has set out to do, which is a good thing, for we do need commercial mass entertainers. Yet the same spirit does not translate into creating something that is original.
‘Aaraattu’ also chooses the easy route chosen by some recent superstar films in drawing on the star’s earlier films, and using their nostalgic value to satisfy the die-hard fans. Screenwriter Udaykrishna’s trick here is to portray some of these references to Lal’s films as spoofs, even while raining upon us cliche after cliche throughout the entire film. He wants to appear to be making fun of these superstar cliches, even while using the same things to further the unimaginative plot.
At the centre of the plot is Edathala Mathai (Vijayaraghavan) who lords over Muthalakotta village, and wants to prevent the Government from taking control of his large swathes of land for cultivation. Through wheeler-dealers, he comes into contact with Neyyatinkara Gopan, to whom he leases the land, in an attempt to fill it up and prevent cultivation. But Gopan seems to have other intentions.
The thin plot line appears to be an excuse for a celebration of the star from every angle possible. An extended tiff with Anjali (Shraddha Srinath), an upright RDO, and a gang of four youngsters, who resist his moves, are also weaved in, but none of these characters have any kind of depth to them. The scriptwriter even forgets some of them, as towards the end, he is concentrating on delivering some ‘twists’ and a done-to-death background story, which only manage to take the film further down. Even for the most ardent admirer of A.R.Rahman’s music, the musician’s cameo appearance and concert performance, would come as a disappointment, thanks to the way it is portrayed.
‘Aarattu’ has quite a number of scenes where the entire village crowds around Gopan in admiration. The scriptwriter and the director seem to expect of the audience such a level of wide-eyed admiration of the star, for there is nothing else for the film to bank on. The obsession to recapture the spirit of the old Mohanlal films is also quite evident here, but such unoriginal mashups are a disservice to the actor, who still can be used in much better ways in the commercial mass entertainer format itself.
Aaraattu is currently running in theatres
