Film: 'Aambala'
Cast: Vishal, Hansika, Vaibhav Reddy, Santhanam, Prabhu, Sathish, Ramya Krishnan, Madhuurima, Maadhavi Latha, Kiran Rathod, Aishwarya, Sriman, Pradeep Rawat, Manobala, Tulasi
Director: Sundar C
Rating: 2.5
Bangalore: 'Aambala' is irreverent from the word go. The film would have fallen flat on its nose if not for Santhanam and some dash of comedy by by Sathish. In fact, Santhanam has a better entry scene than the star of the film, Vishal. Even in the second half, he steals the show with his wisecracks.
The story of 'Aambala' is a mix of family dramas and action comedies we've seen numerous times. Prabhu wants to set his three sons up with his sisters' daughters. When Vishal and his brothers, Sathish and Vaibhav Reddy, come to know about their aunts' disgust for their father, the brothers neatly achieve what they set out to do, of course, not without blowing up a few cars and kicking men in the air and whatnot. Sigh.
It's really heartbreaking to watch Kiran Rathod play a mother now, simply because she's saucier than her on-screen niece Hansika. But there's one common thing that puts them together in one bracket - they fail to bring out any emotion. Ah, why don't we see Ramya Krishnan more often? She does her job perfectly. The fate of 'Aambala' is such that a talented actress springs up post interval whereas Hansika, somehow, gets by with empty smiles from the beginning.
Vishal is at his masala best in 'Aambala'. Hiphop Tamizha's music is fine, though the lyrics are nowhere understandable at during the first listen; it is boring to listen to the same kind of song every 25 minutes, anyway. The boastful BGM however, if you are sleeping in the movie hall, will wake you up.
Poonam Bajwa's item number quickly takes us back to Prachi Desai's 'Awari' from half a year old Hindi film 'Ek Villain'. If Prachi Desai slowly pulled us into her song, Poonam Bajwa, in less than a second, pulls us into 'Madras to Madurai'.
Santhanam reassures us in the last twenty minutes or so that the film won't die down; but we were aware that our interest had minimised. Second half disappoints to the point of no return. And a simple moment where Vaibhav's face is flushed with pleasure when his cousin, whom he wants to marry, sleeps next to him thinking it's her mom is funnier than expected.
Well, Sundar C, the director shines in moments like these. Yet the film turns out to be, at the end, a reckless stitching up of humorous GIFs. This is because the film has no scope for entertaining the audience anew.
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