Aandavan Malayalam Movie
Andavan is as formulaic an action flick as has ever graced the silver screen. It's in reality a series of pointless fights, murders, verbal aggression and plenty of bloodshed frantically on the hunt for an interesting storyline.
Andavan (Kalabhavan Mani), the demigod of a slum by day, turns a burglar by night. He certainly isn't your petty thief roaming around the dark streets; rather he's hell bent on making mincemeat of moneybag Panicker's (Jagathy Sreekumar) life and repeatedly robs him, much to the local cops' disgrace. Sub Inspector Sreerekha (Sindhu Menon), determined to nail Andavan down, gets caught in a tussle between the two, before eventually falling head over heels in love with the disarming thug.
So there is another slum, and another slum-saver. Yet another biggie baddie, and yet another suave lady cop destined to lock-and-lose-horns with the savior. There is the ganja dealer, and the dejected hooker. The street kids are right there, and so are the depressed drunkards. Every possible chestnut is right there in place, and Rajesh Jayaraman's chronicle of a revenge sadly refuses to look beyond the obvious.
It's noteworthy that in films like Andavan, when the focus shifts a bit too much towards the superman, the woman invariably gets crushed beneath the machismo. This is a film that suffers from a testosterone overflow and it never stops till it has got its point across straight. So you have an alarmingly disproportionate henchman 'proving the facts' to the lady police officer and a superior male officer stating in plain terms as to where women need to 'draw the line'. Well, I guess it simply suffices to say that it looks and sounds pretty gross.
After the promising Swarnam, Mani abruptly shifts into the reverse gear with Andavan. He is back in the Ben Johnson, the Ravanan or the Rakshakan league-of-rogue-men and puts up an electrifying act, though for the umpteenth time. Sindhu Menon looks all set to take up the long abandoned Vani Vishwanath throne, and throws in an effortless performance that's quite, err… arresting. I need to specifically mention that marvelous actress Seema G Nair, who is a true revelation in a couple of otherwise odd scenes.
Despite having languished in the cans for about a couple of years, Andavan doesn't have an aged feel to it. There aren't any jitters or awkward jerks. Vipin Das does no wonders with his camera though; it's all quite plain and downright basic. The action sequences are quite crisp and keep an otherwise limping film pushing along. There is the mandatory Mani song of course that's quite customary, and that whizzed past my head in a blur.
Suffice it to say that Andavan should have been doused long before it reached its finish. It's an unsurprising and quite predictable piece of film making that tries to glorify one-man vigilant justice and miserably fails.
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