Arul

Movie Name: Arul
Cast: Vikram , Jyothika , Pasupathy , Thulasi , K.S.Ravikumar , Saranya , 'Thalaivasal' Vijay , Vadivelu , Vinu Chakravarthy , Kuyili
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Direction: Hari
Rating: 1.5 / 5.0

Inspite of his previous film Kovil being a flop, expectations were naturally high for Hari's Arul.After all, it reunited the director with Vikram, the hero of Saamy, one of the big successesof last year and promised to be even more action-packed and fast paced. But Arul turns out to be a disappointmenton all fronts. Violent, predictable and cliched, it is another step backward for Hari and a black spot on Vikram's resume of hits.

Arulkumaran(Vikram), who works in a mill, is the youngest of four brothers in a family of goldsmiths. Ever since taking theblame for something his brother('Thalaivasal' Vijay) did, Arul has been the black sheep of the family in his father's eyes andhas vowed never to make a gold ornament again. Kanmani(Jyothika), who moves into the opposite house, falls for him butArul doesn't believe in love and keeps his distance from her. The setting up of the party office of the ruling party forcesArul to lock horns with Gajapathy(Pasupathy), the local MLA, and his brother Sethupathy(Thulasi), the party leader.

Saamy, with its nice mix of action, romance and comedy, was an example of a perfectly paced movie but in Arul, Hari seems to have confused pace with action. Arul, especially the first half, is packed with so many fights that even an action fan would be bored. The fight sequences themselves do not have much variety and the situations leading upto them are cliched. Also, Vikram gets one of the worst punchlines imaginable here. The catalyst for Vikram springing into action is someone using bad language and not stopping at that, Vikram asks him to repeat it thrice before delivering a blow! So the movie becomes littered with expletives and foul language and though most of them are bleeped out, it doesn't take long for them to get on our nerves.

Considering the new spin Hari was able to give to familiar characters and situations in both Thamizhand Saamy, the lack of any such freshness is the most surprising aspect of Arul. Starting with the misunderstood,sacrificing son, the ever-scolding father and the affectionate mother, the characters are cardboard cutouts we have seen severaltimes before. There are also a few extraneous characters(like one of Vikram's brothers) that have no impact on the story whatsoever.Sequences like the fight after an old man is verbally abused and the subsequent group song also give a feeling of having seen it allbefore. The portions where Jyothika acts crippled in order to maintain her first lie are the few cute and interesting scenes in the midst of all the action.

The intermission brings a rather unexpected development but the results of that aren't that unexpected. Within a few scenes it becomesclear that we just have a new villain but he turns out to be too subdued and low-key to make an impact. The action thankfully decreases a little in the second half but the scenes are again familiar as Vikram becomes an unofficial leader in his locality and stands up to the politicians.The scene at the wedding manages to raise some tension but the deaths towards the end are both unnecessary and predictable.The breaks in the form of comedy and songs don't serve as pleasant diversions. The comedy alternates between being unfunny anddistasteful while the songs are picturised quite unimaginatively.

Vikram looks strangely disinterested in the proceedings most of the time. He is rather mechanical in the fight sequences and hisdresses, dance steps and expressions in the song sequences are all devoid of enthusiasm. Jyothika looks cute in the few scenes shehas. Pasupathy is successful as an over-the-top villain but the same cannot be said of Thulasi, a Malayalam import. K.S.Ravikumarearns a few chuckles with his dialog delivery and Saranya, though underused in the role of his wife, also raises some smiles with herlaments. Harris Jayaraj disappoints with a very weak soundtrack.