'Aayirathil Oruvan' is an old fashioned story of poetic justice, but with a heart of emotions very much in the right place.
The movie coming up from the veteran Sibi Malayil, once again proves the importance of a quality thread to weave a movie of relevance. It is not at all surprising that the movie's screenplay by T. A Razaaq was adjudged the best by the state government years ago.
The age old story of a brother bearing all the brunt in his way off to pay back his debts that he had made for his family looks customary at times but escapes the regular cacophony of over melodrama and grows in us as it progresses.
The movie has Kalabhavan Mani as a Aravindan, a ration shop dealer who is finding it hard to marry of his younger sister.
And in order to find ways for dowry for his sister, his himself get married and arranges to exchange his dowry amount for his sister. But all plans goes awry and he himself gets enmeshed in debts in no time. Aravindan is now forced to take money from a local financier, who is ready to go to any extent to get back his defaults. What follows is the dilemma of the hapless man to somehow avoid the trap of the ruthless money lender who is following him relentlessly.
The story offers little freshness, but it is the realistic dialogues and performances that hold the viewer. Kalabhavan Mani is lean and looks better in the role, though he tries a little harder with his emotional dialogues. Sujitha is a perfect cast as the wife to Aravindan, but also has a spoilt scene when Aravindan returns from his hide away.
KPAC Lalitha as Aravindan's mother makes a cakewalk through a role that she had done many times before. Thilakan, Sudheesh and Oduvil also have some notable roles in the movie.
`Aayirathil Oruvan' has interesting visual support by cinematographer Venugopalan. The songs by Mohan Sithaara are very average. But Sibi Malayil has taken deft steps to avoid unnecessary background scores in much of the scenes.
Though a bit late for the current takers the movie has a realistic narrative style from a gifted filmmaker. This endeavor may make you remember films like `T P Balagopalan M.A' to `Sanmanassulavarkku Samadhaanam', but the attempt cannot be written away as such without listing it as one among the year's well made movies. Have a watch with your family, if you can spare a not much important two and half hours.
