Avatharam Review

Madhavan Mahadevan (Dileep) accompanies his widowed sister-in-law and his little niece to Ernakulam Town, from his hometown village that's Bison Valley in Idukki. His elder brother, who was a Customs Officer, was killed in a road accident three months before, and the bereaved family is back in town to claim the deceased officer's death benefits from LIC and Customs. He meets Manimeghala (Lakshmi Menon) at the LIC Office, and the two soon fall in love. During the legal verification phase of the insurance claim, a few shocking facts concerning his brother's death reveal. Madhavan must unravel the mystery behind his brother's death, and he embarks on a journey that would also take him to the actual mission of the avatar that he is - annihilation of evil.

As per one of the greatest movie makers, a movie is "like a machine that causes various emotions in the audience". What emotion to trigger at which moment or scene of the movie, must be in the precise control of an able movie-maker. Avataaram as a movie does cause emotions in its audience, but the nagging problem is that it never keeps control over what its audience is supposed to feel, especially in the last crucial thirty minutes. One would feel like laughing out loud when the on-screen visual is anything but funny, one would want to applaud when the reel character needs sympathy, one would close eyes when they are supposed to be wide open, one would shake his head in a left-right disapproval note when it is supposed to be an up-down approval nod.

With a plot and story that are as old as the hills, the only way Avataaram could have come out as a decent Entertainer was through an avant-garde screenplay and compelling execution. The first fifteen minutes or so would keep the hope alive and kicking. But with the scene that shows Manimeghala's guardians trying to fix her in an arranged marriage set-up, you get the inkling that your hope of a nice screenplay is going for a toss. It then takes only a few more scenes before you give up completely on the script part, leaving you so disheartened that you stop noticing the execution style. 

With situations that are so cliched, scene compositions and sequences that are so predictable and formulaic, the movie is yet another cinema project that rides on the saleability and popularity of the super star Dileep.

There are two songs in the movie that are choreographed very well. The placement of the first one is not so bad because it belongs to the romance slot of the formulaic movie. But the second one works against the flow and pace, dousing the emotion of vengeance if it was accidentally evoked in any sect of the audience.

Though the cast enlists quite a few impressive names, they hardly have anything to do in this one-man-show movie. Amongst the many characters that are to play second fiddle to the hero, that of ACP Gautham deserves a special mention. No, it's not for the performance, but for the way he is made to appear every time before Madhavan Mahadevan after the latter's brainy operations, looking like an absolute blockhead.

Avataaram does not impress at all. One can only wish that such avataarams do not call on us in Cinemas again.