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There is a method in writing where they sort of break the cliches by making creative choices in writing that would be diametrically opposite to conventional style. The new Vishnu Vishal film Aaryan, written and directed by Praveen K, has that approach in presenting its idea. The theme here is one more serial killer Story. But the interesting part is that the investigation is not to find the killer, but to find the victims. The risk with such enticing ideas is that you can do these unconventional takes only to an extent. After that, you will need to explain how all these were possible. When it comes to the third act that explains all the mystery, this atypical whodunit falters, and the emotional reasoning just falls flat.
A psychopath makes a public announcement that he is going to kill for the next five days, and the name of the victim will be announced an hour before killing them. Since the psychopath doesn’t exist, the police had no option but to wait for the announcement to understand any pattern. What we see here is the investigation done by DCP Nambi to solve this case and save the people on the list.
The idea is fascinating. Unlike other serial killer films, where the killer is revealed at the end, here we know who the killer is before we even get to know who the hero is. Praveen K wants to utilize the possibilities of thrills when the efforts of the police are focused on saving people from a pre-designed kill schedule. But from the moment Aaryan starts to give us logical reasons on how somebody pulled this off and why they did that, all this curiosity associated with the one-liner idea starts to fade. Selvaraghavan’s character is initially described as a failed writer. But when the Story does something logically difficult to digest, the script decides to assign that character some additional qualifications, such as an expert in hacking, forensic science, etc. The personal life track of the central character has no significance here, and still, it takes up a lot of space. At one point, they forcefully try to link it by making the hero say that this case has made him look at the mistakes in his broken relationship. And frankly, we as an audience won’t be able to empathize with him in those moments.
The writing is the fundamental problem of the movie. Aaryan gives you the impression that it is reinventing the genre. But what it ultimately does is just rearrange the familiar Story. Vishnu Vishal, trying to be a star, is also a burden to this film. After a very enticing 15-20 minutes featuring Selvaraghavan, when the movie cuts to the intro of Vishnu Vishal with him trashing random goons, the movie loses all the rhythm it gained from setting up the premise. Like I said, all the personal tracks of the hero are not necessary for the plot. There is one forcefully added harbor fight sequence. Praveen K decides to use another gang of goons to follow Nambi. I was hoping that track would come in handy at a later stage. But unfortunately, that buildup was only there for another lame fight. One of the biggest letdowns in terms of writing was the way it showed why these people were killed. The preachy reason would work for you if you are someone who felt emotional watching the Madharaasi scene, where Sivakarthikeyan fakes that phone call to show that he also has someone.
Vishnu Vishal, as the central character Nambi, has done a fairly okay job. It is not a highly demanding character with multiple shades of emotions, similar to his career best Ratsasan. The effort here is more physical, with a lot of running and jumping happening. Both female leads of the movie are ultimately inconsequential to the plot. Shraddha Srinath’s part at least feels like a character role that has some purpose. Maanasa Choudhary’s role and the whole track have no significance in the movie. Selvaraghavan, with his deadpan face and impressive voice modulation, was pretty effective as the main antagonist.
In many areas of Aaryan’s script, one can see the makers trying to recreate the feel of Ratsasan in certain moments. Aaryan doesn’t have the intricate nature of that film, and this is a script that becomes simpler and sillier as things become clear for us. Towards the end of the movie, it seems like even the makers are confused about whether to root for the villain or distance themselves from his philosophy. Aaryan is a thriller where they knew how to break the clutter, but forgot how to build something that felt fresher.
Review By: Digitpatrox