Aadhi Malayalam Movie Review

Right from day one when this project by Jeethu Joseph was announced, we were witnessing hype so intense and expectations that we normally see for a superstar film. Even with an uninspiring trailer, there was no mood for the hype to settle down. As we all know, Pranav Mohanlal is launched in tinsel town as a hero through this Jeethu Joseph directed movie titled Aadhi.

When I said the trailer wasn't that promising, I also had in my memory about the not so exciting trailer of Drishyam. But you all know what happened once the film was released. "Visuals can be deceiving", that's what the tagline of Drisyam said and the film completely justified that tagline. So I was in no mood to give up on my expectations of Aadhi going by the trailers.

Now the next two questions I would expect are pretty straightforward ones. How's the movie and how's the performance of Pranav! It is as simple as that. I know just like me, you all are also keen and excited to know the outcome of the film and also how Pranav has acted. As far as Pranav is concerned, it is a decent enough start and about the film it is a fairly engaging and watchable film that creates a thrilling mood sans any suspense or major twists.

Aaditya who is fondly called as Aadhi is chasing and aspiring a dream of becoming a music director. His parents have given him two years time to pursue his wish though his father regularly pressurize him to take up an office going job. He travels to Bangalore and this journey becomes a life changing one for the youngster.

Jeethu Joseph has given a treatment whereby the film takes a slow buildup initially and once everything is clear, he gives a thriller makeover to the narrative. The entire second half is highly engaging and keeps one on his toes for the major part. Not to forget we have an exciting climax that finish of things in a fine manner.

Its the making and parkour fights that stand out. Story as such is nothing fresh and basically is a cat and mouse game between the protagonist and antagonist. But in-between this cat and mouse race, Jeethu Joseph could manage to infuse high dose of energy and thrill into the proceedings. On the flip side, you can say where the story is heading upto. Yes, we can predict many things in the process but as I said the mood right from the second half backed by good action and parkour fights along with an exhilarating background score puts Aadhi in a safe zone. Also at certain places, we do feel a little lag and some melodrama too.

As an actor, Pranav doesn't have many challenging scenes to enact. There is scope for improvement but whatever he was given was performed with a simple touch. For a debutant, this is more than enough and we can see his flexibility when it came to the fights and chases. It is very well evident that he has gone rigorous training to master the art of parkour.

Siddhique and Lena as parents of Aadhi put up a decent show. On the supporting cast, Sharafudeen, Meghanadhan, Anusree and Aditi Ravi were notable. Siju Wilson is donning a different role this time and was convincing enough. Sijoy Varghese was okay while Jagapathy Babu as the antagonist hasn't done anything exceptional but it was fair enough to get the pass mark.

Cameraman Satheesh Kurup has made sure his frames capture the film in the most appropriate way. What a thrilling film demanded from the background music was provided by Anil Johnson. Songs were okay. Editing was quite sharp. Combining the parkour techniques like jumping, climbing, running, rolling etc was perfectly synchronized with the action sequences. Full marks to the team who are behind this work.

Aadhi is not backed by a fresh plot but the making and treatment makes it an engaging and exciting film right from the start till the end. A fairly decent enough start as an actor and probably in a good film, thats what the youngster and everyone associated with him wanted to. Thats what Pranav has achieved here. Jeethu Joseph has managed to pull off a winner this time after few failures. This should be more sweet for him considering the fact that the pre-release hype was too high and he was able to withstand the pressure and come out of it with success.

Rating - 3.5 / 5