It is a light-hearted take on the murky side of cricket, involving illegal betting and spotfixing. Laced with dark humour, Aadama Jaichomada keeps one entertained for the most part.
Karunakaran plays a taxi driver, who finds himself entangled in the seamy side of cricketing affairs. The actor, who is part of the trendsetting films like Pizza and Soodhu Kavvum gets to essay the lead role. He has justified the trust bestowed on him by the director, convincingly bringing out the innocence and bewilderment of Panneer. Simha, fresh from the rave reviews he’s garnered for his gangster role in Jigarthanda, gets to play a contrasting character. He plays the pompous cop Boominathan with equal flair. The rest of the characters are colourful, the actors fitting in neatly. Like Balaji as Dayalan, K S Ravilkumar as the senior cop, Radharavi as the financier who is determined to get back the money he had loaned for a film, Naren as the hapless producer Gangaiah and Vijaylakshmi as Panneer’s disgruntled wife. Panneer’s trouble begins when Dayalan, a bookie he was driving around in his taxi, is found dead, and he gets hauled in as suspect. With cricket semi finals taking place in Chennai, the police have to fight against time to unearth the betting network. There is a lot of suspense created around Albert, the mysterious kingpin of the racket. But not much is worked out on that front. The dialogue penned by actor ‘Mirchi’ Shiva contributes to the film’s entertainment value. There is a light dig at Vishwaroopam. Boominathan’s superior wonders why the former didn’t suspect Gangaiah to be a fake cop, when Gangaiah passing as a Maharashtrian spoke in fluent Tamil. The reply the senior gets is, ‘If Afghan terrorists can speak Tamil in Vishwaroopam, why can’t a Maharashtrian cop speak Tamil ?’ The latter part takes on a thriller mode with an interesting twist towards the finale. Taking just about two hours of viewing time, Aadama Jaichomada has its good moments and is a breezy watch.