DISCLAIMER: The review is full of my perceptions and my opinions, so I have not made up anything for the sake of promoting a film or an actor. I have written this review as a normal movie critic and not as a Vijay fan. If you wish to see how a Vijay fan's review will look like, I can link you to that ;-) There is always an opinion that all Vijay films look same and he does the same thing in all films. If you have taken his films in the recent past, they all had a happy-go-lucky person with rugged characteristics with romance, sentiments, comedy and action aplenty, not to forget well choreographed songs. But the role of Vijay was just an entertainer who delivers a power packed performance with punch. He has set the cash registers ringing with such films in the past. But “Azhagiya Thamizh Magan” is not a typical entertainer-Vijay film; it is a film of actor Vijay – and that too for the first time in a double role- with entertainment. [I can’t help people who feel that this line is a joke :P]
Spoiler alert: The plot or story line follows next. Please avoid this marked section if you have not yet seen the film.
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The film revolves around Guru (Vijay), a character who is good at heart and is in love with Shriya. The first half of the film is about how they fall in love and how they convince their parents for marriage. One gets to see lot of Vijay’s usual elements here including a well choreographed intro song. Then comes the ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) of Vijay by which he visualizes few things happening in future. It troubles him a lot and before he gets over the shock of it, he visualizes himself killing Shriya. This makes him move away from her to Mumbai. There he meets Prasad (Vijay again) whose passions are money and honey (read girls). Guru now chases Prasad to prevent him from killing Shriya. The rest of the film takes us through a roller-coaster ride of thrills and twists that leaves you entertained.
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The USP of ATM is Vijay. With a performance like never before, he takes up the burden of the entire film on his shoulders and delivers it impressively. He pleases you as Guru in the first half and stuns you as Prasad in the second half. The previous role of Vijay in grey shades was in Priyamudan, but it was just few years after his entry into cinema when he had neither experience nor expertise to perform a negative role like this. Now he has well seasoned as an artist and it clearly shows up in ATM. His comedy timing, dance and action are good as usual, but it’s the villain Prasad character that stands out at the end. Vijay has clearly shown a difference in body language, expressions and voice modulation of both similar looking characters which is appreciable. [Again, if you hate watching Vijay on screen there is nothing that is left for you in the film ;-)]
Shriya has more-than-enough of a role in a hero oriented film and has footage throughout the film. She looks gorgeous, emotes adequately and dances gracefully. Namitha as such had nothing to do except for dancing in skimpy clothes in a glamorous song. The film could really have done without her character. Santhanam has evoked a few laughters in a decent comedy track. All other supporting cast has done adequately, though few good actors are wasted in insignificant roles.
The major advantage of the film is the brilliant music of A.R. Rahman which has been transformed visually into well choreographed songs. All songs are a visual treat and Vijay is brilliant as always in the songs. Lawrence’s work in the “Ella pugazhum” song is brilliant. The outstanding one is however “Ponmagal Vandhal” remix which has been very well shot and edited, and comes at the right situation in the film. Another plus is the camera work of Balasubramaniyem, which has given the film the right look and feel. The visual effects are mostly well done, special mention to the double act scenes and the climax fight. Editing by Antony is crisp, not to forget his work in Ponmagal song. Background score by Rahman is also good.
Coming to the drawbacks, the film has a few scenes with poor visual effects, especially in the chasing scene before climax, which is very overdone. The film makers should take into consideration that urban audiences are well advanced today and especially, after watching lots of Hollywood movies such mistakes will really look very odd to them. There are parts of the film that are tailor made to satisfy Vijay fans. The screenplay sags in some places, a few scenes that are inspired from Hollywood flicks and there are a few logical loopholes which are obvious.
But before one blames Bharathan for these, he has done one thing which was not tried by any of the directors till now. He has extracted a performance of the career till now from Vijay which by itself is a credit for him. So one can forget all his other short falls and for a debutant, he has tried his best to give a clean entertainer suited for all audience.
Verdict: An laudable effort with good entertainment.
By the way, the serial has a very good and well shot title song.
The story is stopped at a point when they come out of the theater and our hero asks her out for dinner. From here, Archer gives 4 endings to the story, each of which is thrilling and enjoyable. The best thing is 3 of these 4 endings have the same conversation with same dialogs, but each of them said in a different context. And each ending is based on who that "other person" is, whose ticket was sold in theater. :)
