ARASAANGAM – Go for it !!!!

 

 

I have always been a die hard fan of our Captain Vijaykanth, the saviour of tamil cinema. He has never failed to entertain the audience and I have always considered his movies “value for money”. Though his 149 films career include flop movies like Kshathriyan, Chinna Gounder and Vallarasu his blockbusters like Narasimha  and Dharmapuri set the box office on fire and grossed more than Titanic. Infact Spielberg was so impressed with Captains acting in Narasimha that he offered him the title role in “Godzilla”. But because Captain has a policy of acting only in tamil movies, he politely declined the offer. Kamal can show-off by playing 10 different roles in a single movie, but he is no match for Captain who has played the same role in 100 movies!!

 

Arasangam is Vijaykanth’s 150^th movie. When I came to know of its release, I decided to watch it at any cost. The movie kicks off with a series of assassinations of prominent personalities in Tamilnadu. As usual, the police are clueless about the plot behind these murders and hence request services of a special agent in solving the crime. Now as we were all expecting our Captain’s 1000mm face on the 70mm screen and were getting ready to whistle, there is a twist in the story…No, the special agent isn’t Captain. Its some other guy !! And by the time all this is over, its well past 15 minutes into the movie, and still no sign of our hero. The next twist in the movie comes a few minutes later when the agent boards the flight to Chennai, but doesn’t  reach his destination. He goes missing mid-flight !! This case seems to be a much more complex one and so the police seek the services of a mastermind police trainer to crack these cases. This is where Captain gets introduced, but to everyone’s surprise, without much fuss !! No party flags, no bombs, no songs and not even the trademark close-up smile!! :) A flashback love story (watch out for this part as Captain tries his hand at comedy)  narrates how Captain and the agent became mama-machan. The best thing about the flashback is the Director’s touch of humanitarianism. He portrays the heroine (some newcomer with a damn huge mouth !!!) as a deaf girl. Sources say the heroine pleaded that she be given a deaf & blind character as that would logically fit the concept of a girl falling in love with Captain and also since she can get away without listening to Captain’s english, but finally the director seems to have agreed to just the deaf part.

 

Captain’s investigations lead him to Canada where a voluptuous babe teams up with him to crack the case. Just as I was wondering “who is more voluptuous – The babe or Captain”, there was a scream of agony in the theatre…the guy behind me was spitting out blood and was in severe convulsions!! There was an expression of total shock on everybody’s face…Within seconds there was total chaos..That’s when I saw the gory scene – the turning point in the movie, never ever picturized in the history of tamil cinema. Censor board had failed in its duty.. Captain was dressed in a fluorescent orange tight t-shirt showing off his 60 pack abs, flashing his trademark smile!!! So pregnant women, faint hearted and children below 12, please stay away from the movie.

 

 

A few minutes later comes the next shock, which is probably the highlight of the movie. We have seen James Bond fight sharks & crocodiles, MGR fight Lions, Rajni fight Tigers, and even Karadi fight TR, to save someone. But this movie has one of the most stunning fight sequences where Captain saves the babe from the wildest of beasts ( If your guess was a Tyrannosaurus Rex, think again !!) – PIGS !!! During the fight sequence it does get a bit confusing trying to differentiate Captain and the pigs, but eventually the one who is victorious has to be Captain, so we weren’t really worried !!  

 

 

Captain ku “Risk ellam rusk saapdura mathiri” nu we all know. He proves this by showcasing his proficiency in english. The Canadian police and public are so awe-struck  they start conversing in tamil. Apart from his regular spesal, eyewas, englis, pakistan, mizzion, etc he also uses some complex words like Hi, echoose me, dank you, Ejit, no, yes, ny name is, etc and the best of all being his punch dialogue – “Action first, formalities next !!”…A series of twists and turns lead to the climax where Captain proves why he is still numero uno !! Captain and the villain are on top of a building…A train is fast approaching…Captain face ah kaatraanga, train ah kaatraanga, face ah kaatraanga, train ah kaatraanga…Captain jumps off the building with the villain, bounces off the platform and goes right through the train door !!  :) Beat that !!

 

But yea, finally Captain cracks the case, enforces justice and saves India. All said and done, the movie is definitely worth the money. Though it feels like a low budget Vettayaadu Vilayaadu, its worth watching for this is probably one of Captain’s better movies off-late. Political/statistical dialogues, dumb heroines dropping dead by Captain’s charm, Pakistani terrorists, punch dialogues, close up shot of Captain, boring songs, and even Captain’s favourite “red-eye” factor have been consciously avoided in this movie. Kudos to Captain and the Director for that. I would definitely rate it better than the boooooring movies Santosh and Mohini I saw few weeks back. Go for it if you are Gapdain’s fan, strong hearted and a pig lover !!

 

 

 

 

 

~ by karadikutti on May 23, 2008.