Film: Ennul Aayiram
Director: Krishnakumar
Cast: Maha, Mareena Michael, Shruti Yugal, Vincent Ashokan,Sivaji.
A romantic suspense thriller, Ennul Aayiram is a 25-year-old’s journey through life as he traverses through a series of emotions related to love, seduction, personal loss and fear. Helmed by debutant Krishnakumar, who has apprenticed with director Vijay, the film has a team of freshers in its cast and technical crew. Bold in its theme and presentation, appreciable is the director’s attempt to strike away from the routine scenario.
Maha, son of theatre and movie actor Delhi Ganesh, makes his debut, the film his home production. What is appreciable is that he has selected a plot that is offbeat and experimental, rather than the safe formulaic stuff, debutants with their home production to back them, normally go for. And it’s a script that gives the actor ample scope to exhibit his talent. Confident and uninhibited, Maha with his smouldering eyes and expressive face, essays with easy assurance the role of Ashok, an attendant at a bar of a star hotel.
Rain seems to be a salient feature in the film, pouring at crucial moments in the protagonist’s life. For what seems to be a bold move for a debutant actor to perform, there’s Ashok’s seduction scene with a lonely woman (debutant Shruti) he encounters one rainy night. She would reappear later in his life. It happens to be a rainy day too, when Ashok meets the love of his life, Suhasini, and shares his umbrella with her.
Mareena Michael (from the Malayalam screen), with her wholesome appeal, is a promising find. And as the duo plan to marry, Ashok’s past catches up with him. With the woman of his one-night encounter taking up residence in Suhasini’s apartment building, one waits for a messy triangle to unfold. But the director puts a quick stop to it. And the reason is the many coincidences and accidents that either take away lives or cause multiple fractures. A security guard at a cemetery is accidentally killed when a rod pierces his body; a woman gets hit by a running vehicle and is killed on the spot; the priest at a church is found dead. Ashok himself is hit by a speeding vehicle and returns with fractured bones.
The screenplay meanders in the second half. The narration could have been tightened and crisper. There are incidents here that explain some of the moments in the earlier part, leading one to look at them with a new perspective. But it’s a bit complicated, making one feel that a simpler narrative style would have helped better. Also, certain episodes like Ashok’s loss of his mother seem mere distractions. The episode related to Ashok’s tryst with the priest too seems contrived. The songs are too many and mar the flow.
The camera angles and the colour tones used (debutant Athisayaraj, associate of Neerav Shah) help sustain the mood and feel. Vincent Ashokan essays with cool efficiency, the cop investigating a murder. The chase-scene with Ashok on the run, and the cop and his team at his heels, reminds one of a similar scenario in the English film Run. It’s a poignant finale, Maha handling it with flair. Though not completely satisfactory in its take, Ennul Aayiram is a commendable effort from a debutant maker.