Aruvi (Tamil, 2017)

You just have to marvel at the guts and persistence of writer-director, Arun Prabhu in relentlessly striving to make a film on a taboo subject, with a team full of newcomers headlined by an unknown female lead. His success albeit within a commercial umbrella, will certainly inspire more such creators and more Production Houses to follow the way shown by S.R.Prabhu & Team.

Like how 2016 gave Tamizh cinema a marvelous Ritika Singh, 2017 has given us Aditi Balan who dazzles as the fiery Aruvi. The matter-of-factly tone of dialogue modulation with the right amount of earnestness and pain at the few opportunities given to her to go on a rant have been used by her expertly. With most of the first half, whizzing past without much dialogue from her, she conveys everything through her expressions and most importantly her eyes which is incredible for a debutant.

It is evident that there has been great amount of attention given to the casting. Right from the Father, Thirunavukkarasu ( who is outstanding) to the Politician Arulmani (who possesses an astounding range of emotions), the assistant director Peter (Pradeep Antony who brings so much honesty with minimal dialogues on screen) and of course the transgender Emily played by Anjali Varadhan who plays one the best heroine-friend characters we have seen in Tamizh cinema. Not to forget the set assistants who are marvelous with each having their own quirks (I have already ordered a Rollinnnng Sir t-shirt!).

After few minutes of interrogation in the interiors, the film embraces us with evocative visuals of the village where Aruvi was brought up. Shelley Calist the cinematographer, is at ease in both the vast expanses as well as the dingy police station or TV studio. The edit pattern the film follows is also unique and trusts the viewer to connect the dots by rushing up many sequences but later revealing them just for a second for the engaged viewer to feel part of revealing the plot. Kudos to the editor, Raymond Derrick Crasta for his brilliant effort.

In such a fresh team, there must have been pressure to go with an established Music Director. But hats off to Arun Prabhu for his conviction in Vedanth and Bindhumalini who have delivered an exceptional set of songs and a stirring soundtrack that makes us go Vapppaappaa long after the film ends!

One of the primary reasons for the film being able to sustain and engage in spite of being devoid of action for most of its run time, is that the dialogues are razor sharp and there is immense attention to detail given by Arun. Even in her rant that comes out of nowhere, Aruvi repeats herself a couple of times which is a good touch since normal people do tend to repeat themselves when they are not in control of themselves. Not to forget the ‘Paniyaaram Kezhavi’ sequence which is written and performed exceptionally well making it one of the finest ever scenes that Tamizh cinema as come up with.

Dialogues are very sharp. In her rant, Aruvi even repeats herself a couple of times which is a good touch since normal people do tend to repeat themselves when they are not in control of themselves. The Paniyaaram Kezhavi sequence is written and performed tremendously and is perhaps one of the finest ever scenes that Tamizh cinema as come up with.

[SPOILER] The sudden shift in tone and grammar when Aruvi goes on Tamizh cinema’s famous breathless rant mode (even though well written) seems very conveniently written to elicit claps from the audience and explain the director’s world view rather than that of the character, Aruvi. Similarly, the whole role-play sequence (although entertaining) is not organic and seems forced (like the Simran Kidnap sequence in Pithamagan) in order to lighten the audience up before an emotional manipulative climax.

While the film wants to project Aruvi as a liberated female, it also plays safe so as to reside within the commercial format of the innocent woman turning against society since she has been harmed physically and mentally.