Ayogya Review

'Ayogya' - A strong blow below the belt to rapists

'Ayogya' is the Tamil remake of Junior NTR's blockbuster hit 'Temper' which has the dependable Vishal in a negative character for the first time in his career.  Will this masala coated demand for swift justice against rapists appeal to all sections of the audiences remains to be seen.

Kaalirajan (Parthiban) is a gangster who has the ECR area in Chennai under his control and when an honest cop arrests and jails his four brothers he uses political influence to get a corrupt cop in the station to aide his criminal activities.  In comes Karnan (Vishal) a money hungry cop who not only illegally releases Kaalirajan's brothers but also helps them in all their dirty work.  The honest constable Kader (K.S. Ravikumar) tries to be the voice of consciousness to Karnan but his advice not only falls on deaf ears but he is also insulted and ridiculed.  Karnan falls in love with a pet lover Sindhu (Raashi Khanna) and when she reciprocates her first demand is to save Sandhiya (Pooja Devariya) from Kaalirajan and his brothers who are out to kill her.  Why the gangsters are after Sandhiya and will the corrupt Karnan save her or be loyal to his paymasters is answered in a riveting climax.

Vishal does not get any help from the writing and throughout the first half is made to mouth contrived punch dialogues at the top of his voice.  It is In the second half when the emotional scenes arrive that gives him a chance to perform and he grabs it with both hands.  Vishal excels in the scenes when he interacts as a new man with KSR, M.S. Bhaskar and Pooja Devariya. Action is Vishal's forte and he does not disappoint one bit in the pyrotechnics department making the villains fly all over the place. The audience root for Vishal's Karnan when makes the ultimate sacrifice in the climax.  Raashi Khanna goes through the motions of the mandatory love interest being let down by the writing.  K.S. Ravikumar is in fine form as the voice of conscience in front of the hero.  Parthiban does get a few trademark punchlines but on the whole there is only confusion whether he is a dreaded criminal or a joker.  M.S.Bhaskar and Pooja Devariya have done full justice to two pivotal characters that bring about a change in the hero.

What works best in 'Ayogya's is the emotional sequences in the second half and touching the burning issue of gangrape and murder that relates to the audience.  The climax twist though implausible is very effective how Vishal's character gets capital punishment for the rapists without any evidence.  How the hero becomes responsible and part of a horrible crime too is one of the highpoints of the story.

On the downside, the entire first half tries hard to show Vishal as a bad guy when it is already clear when he is shown as a boy and the repetitiveness makes it highly tiresome.  The hero says he changed because of the heroine but except for a song and a couple of scenes, there is no evidence that they care so much for each other to bring about such a character arc.  Dialogues are good at a few places but are silly in many with the best example being the comparison of wifi with the hero's ego.  

The songs by Sam CS are so so and are placed in the most inappropriate places in the screenplay and but for a piece of peppy theme music, his stamp is missing here.  VI Karthick's cinematography and Ruben's editing are major pillars for 'Ayogya' while fight choreographers Raam Laxman have repeated the same moves in all the fights.  The story and the core theme of Ayogya are solid and writer-director Venkat Mohan could have made it more compelling by toning down the Telugu masala style.  But by sticking to it he has only half impressed.

Verdict: Go for this action-packed film that carries a strong message by getting behind women against the horror of rape.