Aramm Review: Tamil cinema’s best this year!

Aramm Review: Tamil cinema’s best this year!

Nayanthara is unarguably a superstar among the female actors. Her latest outing Aramm directed by debutant filmmaker Gopi Nainar was released this Friday. The promos and teasers looked very promising and the movie had a positive pre-release buzz. Let’s see how the movie has eventually turned out to be.

Aramm is a gripping social drama centered around a rescue operation headed by the district collector. The story is set in Kattur, a sea side backward village in Tamil Nadu. The residents there are suffering from acute shortage of potable water and have to travel kilometers to collect water for drinking purpose. One fine day an unfortunate incident occurs forcing the villagers to knock the doors of the concerned authorities. From there the movie shifts gear to a thriller mode as we bite nails to see if the rescue operation succeeds or not.

Director Gopi Nainar has written a thoroughly absorbing screenplay. He has taken sweet time to present before us the hardships of the villagers. The movie discusses several relevant topics right from water scarcity, the need for conserving our environment, the government’s negligence towards the financially backward section, the harsh reality of social injustices, exploitative politics and throws light on how a corrupt system functions.

In between the rescue operations we are shown a television show where a debate is going on about how we are spending hundreds of crores on satellites and not even a few thousands to save a four-year-old’s life. There are several such scenes in the film where Gopi Nainar throws his wrath at the system. His dialogues are hard-hitting and have a strong political flavour.

Reportedly, the collector’s role in the movie was not gender specific. When several leading actors refused to be part of this film, Nayanthara took it up and full marks to her for that. An actress who is considered as a glamour icon in the industry appears in just two sets of costumes and that itself shows how brave a call she has taken. As Madhivadhani, an upright collector, Nayanthara commands respect and her screen presence in certain cinematic scenes is top-notch.

The supporting actors Ramachandran Durairaj, Sunu Lakshmi and the Kakka Muttai boys have played their roles wonderfully well. Their earnest performance has brought life to the family’s helplessness and their grief mosits the viewers’ eyes.

Technically Aramm is brilliant as Om Prakash’s frames captures the proceedings in all its reality. The crowd shots, underground sequences and the aerial shots to film the large scale rescue mission have all come out excellently. Ghibran’s music is another standout element in Aramm. His background score makes the scenes work more effectively. Peter Hein has done a remarkable job in choreographing the rescue operations. The right combination of some tight editing, realistic frames and Ghibran’s splendid score turn these sequences into an edge of the seat watch.

In a nutshell, Aramm is a movie that you just cannot miss. It is sure to leave a lump in your throat.