Writer: Ramesh

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Watch this if you liked: “Minsara Kanna”, “Paramasivam”

After giving us hit film "Dasavatharam" last year, K.S.Ravikumar's Deepavali release "Aathavan" is presented with a different approach and ends up being an all round commercial entertainer that is inspired from various Tamil films.

The movie revolves around contract killer Aathavan (Surya), who kills just about anyone for money. His guardian Ibrahim Rowthar (Shiyaji Shinde) gets an assignment from Abdul Kulkarni (Rahul Dev) to kill Judge Subramaniam (Murali) who is about to give his final judgment on organ trade case against Abdul Kulkarni in few weeks. Now Aathavan is instructed to kill Judge Subramaniam. Unfortunately the Judge survives the assassination attempt. With the help of Bannerji (Vadivel), a cook in the judge's house, Aathavan now comes into close contact with the judge's family consisting of his mother (Saroja Devi), niece Tara (Nayanthara) and others. Unfortunately all his plans to kill the him fail every time. Aathavan has to think of a different way to complete his contract.

In this movie, Surya proves he is a versatile actor who can do all kinds of roles, including playing a bad guy like Aathavan. Besides playing a contract killer, he also joins hand with Vadivelu to do the comedy track equally well. Emotional scenes aside, he also does some dancing and some attractive fight scenes, which makes him an action hero for the masses. Nayanthara looks pretty and her onscreen chemistry with Surya is good but she and Sarajo Devi don't have a heavy role to play except dancing and singing. Murali (who passed away last month) fits the judge role well while Shayaji Shinde has nothing much to offer. Vadivelu's comedy track is a major plus point for the film and he occupies maximum screen time to bring the roof down with the laughter that he can command. Harris Jeyaraj's music and song tracks are impressive, especially 'Hasili Fisiliyae' and 'Yeno Yeno' which remain in our minds even after we leave the cinema hall. Action sequences are well choreographed, especially the hit-and-run Kolkata chase scene in the beginning which reminds us of the opening for "Casino Royale". The special effects where Surya is transformed into a 10-year-old in flashback looks realistic and credit should be given to team behind this work.

On the whole "Aathavan" has used all types of formula of a commercial film like action, love and comedy, making it the ideal family entertainer for this Deepavali.

Cinema Online, 18 October 2009