Aaryan movie review: Vishnu Vishal and Selvaraghavan star in a killer idea that falls apart unreasonably

Aaryan movie plot:

Narayanan (Selvaraghavan), with the pen name Azhagar, is a disgruntled writer whose bitterness towards society turns into angst. On live television, Azhagar hijacks the sets of Naina’s (Shraddha Srinath) talk show and spells out his intentions. His first victim is inside the show and before the deed is done, Azhagar tips off that four murders are to take place in subsequent days. The twist comes when he announces the first victim will be murdering the victims to follow. How will DCP Nambi (Vishnu Vishal) solve the case?

Aaryan movie review:

In the first 30 minutes or so, Aaryan sets up a solid premise, in what may be called the most ambitious part of the film. A man you would think is harmless, or even worse, not taken into account, is what Selvaraghavan’s Azhagar is designed to be. This characteristic gets a payoff at a later stage, probably the crux, if you will and decide to buy it. But that is where Aaryan does not manage to pull off a convincing arc line for a serial killer trope, even as it differently arranges the structure of a classic psychopath on a killing spree.

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Now that the who-is-the-killer question is out of the way, what makes the plot sustain for the next two odd hours is what makes or breaks Aaryan. Vishnu Vishal, who has reiterated several times that Aaryan is not Ratsasan, once again plays the khaki official, this time DSP Nambi. Aaryan, while not altogether having any shades of Ratsasan, is still a film that scratches the surface of a man with a psychotic bent of mind that comes with a troubled past. While Ratsasan had a fairly straightforward logic, the crux that forms Aarayan’s reasoning might not be convincing after all, and that becomes a glaring misfit.

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Even as Aaryan wants to steer clear of the cliches and tropes of the serial killer genre, the film still employs one in the form of women characters. Two of the main ones, Maanasa Choudhary who appear as Nambi’s separated wife - is simply used for montage songs even as her job is described to be that of a forensic expert (not at all a profession that warrants for a crime thriller story?), and that of Naina - a bold television presenter and journalist whose talk show becomes the crime spot earlier in the film. These roles get brutally undermined, further making Aaryan a movie that limits their presence to just showing dolls.

But back to the conflict, Aaryan aims to bring some freshness to the table. Its revelation of who the killer is beforehand, their tactics, and to an extent, the making too appears to be different from that of Ratsasan. Not to compare these two films, but Aaryan makes do with its one line for as long as it can, but that’s when the problems galore. The film does not result in a strong argument as to why these murders are taking place, sometimes even toppling the good intentions that life might give you. It makes you ponder on who gives the rights to exercise the goodness of one’s life, to fight for the same, and the integrity of the killer who takes upon himself to be free some good souls. Had Aaryan explored the psyche of this and adapted it into the serial killer template, the film would have earned some brownie points. However, with very little to bank on, Aaryan is a film that solely relies on its fresh narrative that it forgets to add reasoning and logic, resulting in meatless bones to chew. Much like its writer character, Azhagar, the film too lives in a disillusioned containment of things.

Aaryan movie verdict:

With some solid threads, Aaryan would have been a great case to explore the psyche of a serial killer whose reasonings are beyond logic and sometimes unacceptable by sanity. But instead, when it falls back to the regular serial killer film, Aaryan loses steam and further interest. After a promising start, the film fumbles along the way.