Review for AJAGAJANTHARAM:
· REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R.
· Language: MALAYALAM.
· Duration: 02 Hours 01 MINUTES
· Genre: ACTION THRILLER.
· Theatre: JB Cinemas Nallila.
· POSITIVES:
1: DIRECTION
2: CINEMATOGRAPHY
3: EDITING
4: ACTION AND STUNTS
5: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS
· NEGATIVES:
1: PREDICTABLE STORY
2: SCREENPLAY COULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BETTER.
3: AVERAGE FIRST HALF
· ONE WORD: Ajagajantharam failed to beat the expectation still a decent watchable flick.
Detail Spoiler Free Review:
· STORY IDEA:
Ajagajantharam tells the story of a temple festival and its various happening. Lali (Antony Varghese) and Kichu Tellus (Ambi) own an elephant called Neysseri Parthan, the plot begins at a place called Aranjali which is all set to celebrate their annual temple festival. Lali will get into a clash with Kannan (Arjun Ashokan) and his friends which will lead to a big fight. The festival will get affected by their brutal fights and how Lali and Ambi will escape from the Aranjali temple festival from the threat of Kannan and his friends are the rest of the story.
· ANALYSIS INTO DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY, AND DIALOGUES:
The movie is directed by Tinu Pappachan who had previously made the hit film called Swathandrayam Ardarathriyil. The story, screenplay, and dialogues are written by the actor Kichu Tellus and Vineeth Vishwam. The movie is produced by Emmanuel Joseph and Ajith Thalapilly under the production company called Silver Bay Studios and the film is distributed by Central Pictures.
Tinu Pappachan after the hit film Swathandrayam Ardarathriyil is back with Ajagajantharam, teaming with Antony Varghese had given a huge expectation for another type of unique film. Whatever the glimpse I saw through the trailer and from the songs had raised my expectations and that’s the reason why I grabbed the tickets for an FDFS show. But unfortunately, after completing the film the final result was disappointing because of the poor writings, partially failing to beat the expectations.
The making of Tinu Pappachan and the technical brilliance is the best thing about Ajagajantharam, what didn’t work out was the predictable story and average screenplay. The story is all about a fight between two gangs at a temple festival and it was visible from the trailer which was promising for a power-packed realistic action film. So the trailer had created some sort of anticipation but apart from the trailer nothing new was seen in the film, the story was missing with the right components and the screenplay was missing some surprising moments. The story is having numerous occasions so all the happenings that connect the story to the climax were not having the proper impact, many scenes are arising but they lacked to provide a punch. The dialogue or the scene which consists of action doesn’t create a sufficient influence on the viewing experience so I felt something was missing in the continuity of the scenes.
When a scene is getting end it doesn’t create a satisfying impact and that’s what the movie suffers till the climax, therefore, I felt some lag in the first half. The story was taking its desired time to establish the story and plenty of characters comes and go so among these some characters were felt unwanted especially the character, Kachamber Das played by Sabumon. The particular character was aimed to create some humor and some sort of action but what finally happens to the character was written bitterly. Importantly the characterization given to the supporting characters also lacked proper detailing, their mindset and their way of thinking haven’t properly match the scenarios of the plot, if a surplus detailed explanation and if more screen space was given the characters played by Lukman Avaran, Vineeth Vishwam and Sudhi Koppa would have turned more effectively to create an impact.
Tinu Pappachan as the director had done his job well, his making and his execution idea prevailed to show his skills. He was having a clear idea of how to direct and make this film in a realistic way so the approach he gave for the film had given more appeal and attraction. The making and arrangements which he implemented and arranged looked fantastic while watching the film till the end I was getting an adequate mood of a temple festival. The temple festival shown in the film was close to real-life, its arrangements, its vibe, and surrounding were naturally brought out by the director so this help to relate the story and making. Tinu Pappachan had also amazingly used the actors, their acting skills were brought out lustrously which helped them to exhibit their best. Seventy percent of the film is shot at night so how the director Tinu Pappachan had undertaken the film deserve special mention because I am sure that tough challenges will be ahead to shot at night but here he had crossed it victoriously and showcased the importance of night because the story is largely demanding the frames of darkness.
The screenplay was carelessly written, no proper depth was felt and the writings don’t offer anything surprising to cherish. As a thriller movie, it is supposed to create moments of thrill and excitement but sadly Ajagajantharam suffers to deliver it. The writers and makers were trying hard to contrive the viewers into the atmosphere of the film but unfortunately, I haven’t immersed myself into their target vibe. For example, when a fight sequence is ending it suddenly changes to the next scene without sufficient continuity and suddenly many characters will appear so it was tough to relate and connect with sudden characters, therefore, I haven’t felt the right atmosphere of eagerness and curiosity to know what next. The first half was less engaging and to establish the character and the story more time was taken unnecessarily which drilled my mood into a dizzy phase. The second half was better with a few thrilling moments but a throughout engaging feel was never felt but towards the climax, the movie went well, I fully enjoyed the climax because of the terrific action. An elephant named Neysseri Parthan shined all over the climax, the action and fights by the central character had satisfied to provide some thrilling moments. So the making of Tinu Pappachan was good but not great, he should have made some corrections in the writing, Kichu Tellus and Vineeth Vishwam’s story and screenplay is the major letdown of this film, utterly shattered writing.
· PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The movie comes with the casting of Antony Varghese, Arjun Ashokan, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad, Lukman Avaran, Kichu Tellas, Jaffer Idukki, Tito Wilson, and many more. Antony Varghese as Lali performed brilliantly, it was his all and out show. He is a promising actor with some unique acting skills and he is proving it through his section of movies and by his natural way of tackling the character. His energy and the way he unfolded the dialogue looked precise, the timing in delivering the dialogue at important scenes was terrific. His style of performing the actions looked powerful, the aggressive attitude was sparkling with the best emotions. It’s an action-oriented film so his character was demanding the personality of a brave daring hero so how he assumed and managed to perform as per the plot looked genuine. Arjun Ashokan as Kannan was excellent, his anger and its emotion which he use to show through his face and eyes looked stunning. His action was also great and the combination scene with Antony Varghese was exhilarated with many thrilling moments. His dialogue delivery was also dominant to keep a tough fight, also the modulation when it comes to the anger was handled vividly. Sabumon Abdusamad as Kachamber Das did a notable performance, his character was having a shade of humor and anger so both of these were done fairly. Kichu Tellas delivered an impressive performance, the way he delivered the dialogue was natural with smooth timings. His action scenes with Antony Varghese and with Arjun Ashokan at the ending were nice. Lukman Avaran, Vineeth Viswam, Sudhi Koppa shred a great screen space with Arjun Ashokan as his friends and everyone did justice to their respective supporting roles also marked their best on actions and delivering the dialogues. Jaffer Idukki and Bitto Davis play a significant role throughout the film and both of them did their best as the committee members, their few situational humor worked out. No words to say Nadakkal Unnikrishnan(Elephant) as Neysseri Parthan was magnificent, this elephant plays a very crucial important role in the film and the makers had done their best to bring out some moments with this elephant, at the climax scene this elephant is creating some cheerful moments which was thrilling.
· MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE:
Justin Varghese had worked to compose the music and background. Justin was the one who made the song and had tuned the background score. The film consisted of two songs with spectacular background scores. The two songs were “Olluleru” and “Dannana” and both were amazing. The song “Olluleru” is a remix of a traditional Kerala folk song and it was energetic to hear. It’s on my favorite list and I love to hear it again and again. The power and its tunes with its mix were great to hear in the theatre and through the speakers. The beats for it is something which gives an extra energy and festival vibe, great remix. The second song “Dannana” was helping to create a proper introduction for the film, showing the happenings of various characters and the track was set to show the non-linear format. One of the major plus factors of this film is its background score, the entire background score was on another winning level. The film was demanding many types of background scores and Justin Varghese was giving the right appropriate tunes to set the scenes. So when it comes to important scenes the background score was successfully helping to make more impact and thrill. Though the background scores one can surely feel the intensity of crucial scenes, the powerful tunes predominantly stood higher to give more effect and detailing. The background score at the action sequences was terrific, the viewers will get extra addicted to the action scenes because of the flawless background score. Also like I said the background score creates the mood of tension, curiosity, and thrill so the movie was having the perfect background tunes.
· TECHNICAL ASPECTS:
Ajagajantharam is a work of technical brilliance, the cinematography, editing, artwork, costumes, lighting, etc everything looked perfect without any drawbacks, proper teamwork was magnificently seen. The cinematography is by Jinto George, his masterly cinematic work is another winning highlight of Ajagajantharam. I think it’s his first film and what he had done is an extraordinary work, his frames and visuals were strongly telling the story. His whole work was shifting the film into various moods, the visuals were influencing for eyes and it was like a real visual treat. The techniques he used in his cinematography is spectacular, the various kinds of shots were surprising and the sudden camera movements will catch the eye and the incredible lighting procedures he carried will show some wonders for the viewers. The main story is happening in the night so as a movie shot at night the visuals the cinematographer brought for the film is magical. The 4K projections were giving more depth so the night shots felt more real, the visuals were corresponding to relate the story and definitely one can surely get an influenced feel by the frames and visuals. As a movie set in a rural village the beauty and natural greenery were also captured to fit the premise. Among the various shots, I am happy to see the stunning wide-angle shots, many fights and action was taken in wide-angle frames and it was beautiful. The silhouette shots were wonderful, I loved its composition and the way we can see it on the screen is gorgeous. Another interesting thing in the cinematography is the best closeup shots, the way it showed the emotions of the main character was superb. The emotions of anger which we can see in the face of the central character showed their nicest acting skills, not just the anger, the various other emotions like struggles, desperateness, and the eagerness to survive were caught authentically to capture some of the best acting skills of the actors. The overhead shots and slow-motion shots by the cinematographer deserves special mention. Without any doubt, I will say that the cinematography by Jinto George for Ajagajantharam is one of the best works of this year, really impressive. The editing by Shameer Muhammed was outstanding, the cuts and transitions he made for this film are errorless. The color gradings were good and it was according to the different types of scenes so the visuals which we can see on the screen will give a more attractive feel, doesn’t matter what type of scene the color grading had matched accurately to give a more vibrant feel. None of the scenes hasn’t given any sort of mismatches, the cuts were in the right place. The artwork needs to be specially mentioned because the manner and mood of a temple festival were arranged beautifully like real. The various set looked promising and all the things which we can see in a festival were brought correctly, an artificial feel was never felt. The stunts and actions were exciting and whoever choreographed it had made a striking job especially the action at the climax.
· CONCLUSION:
So overall to conclude Ajagajantharam had given me a mixed kind of cinematic experience, I loved the making but the predictable storyline and mediocre screenplay haven’t given me enough thrilling moments, a punch to create some exciting moments was missing. For the youth audience, the movie will be surely enjoyable but for the family, I don’t think it will be a perfect choice because of the loud premise. Therefore to conclude I will recommend Ajagajantharam for a one-time watch still go for it with fewer expectations, this was not the expected result from the director Tinu Pappachan, slightly disappointed.
· VERDICT: Average, good for a one-time watch.
· RATING: 2.5/5
