Aadai Review: A Daring Attempt Convincingly Presented

Aadai is one movie that raised controversies since its first look was revealed.

After the teaser came out, many started slamming the makers and Amala Paul for depicting nudity in the movie.

And at the last moment, the movie faced financial issues and its release was postponed a bit.

Aadai carries an “A” certificate which means you cannot take your kids to the movie.

But adults of all ages can (and should) watch the movie and the nudity itself isn’t something that one should fret about.

However there are a few adult jokes in the movie that don’t stand out like a sore thumb and make us react appropriately.

Aadai is about Kamini (a dedicated Amala Paul) who is an unapologetic girl with no limits.

She doesn’t want to be judged, doesn’t fit into the society’s rules of a typical woman, and wants to live her life to the fullest and have all fun.

She has a somewhat worried and orthodox mother who tries to be her fence.

Kamini works in a popular television channel and anchors a prank show named Thoppi. She smokes, drinks and hangs out with friends.

She likes to be challenged. She is quite bold too.

Now what if such a free spirited, bold and unapologetic woman is put in a vulnerable situation that jeopardizes her dignity?

Kamini and her colleagues gather to drink on a night in a building where the offices have been shifted off. And they end up drunk.

Kamini wakes up the next morning all alone, and completely nude.

How she escapes this situation with dignity forms the rest of the story.

Aadai is well written. The characters are given enough depth and there is clarity – we don’t have to make guesses anywhere.

Amala Paul’s dedication is a BIG plus to the movie. She has very spontaneously and very casually played the role of Kamini.

There are negative shades to the character and she emotes quite well.

In the scenes involving nude portrayal, she has given her fullest.

It takes guts for anyone to accept such a script and kudos to her for such a daring attempt.

Director (Meyatha Maan fame) Rathna Kumar deserves an applause for conceiving such a script.

More importantly he has not thought about commercially using the concept of nudity a bit and hats off to him for that!

The movie is quite clean and engaging.

Cinematographer Vijay is another plus and deserves a big applause. He has brought director’s thoughts exactly on screen.

The scenes involving nudity are clean and don’t ooze out any bit of commercial elements – the camera angles are placed so carefully and intelligently.

The background music and sound syncing elevate the emotions and thrill factors in the movie.

Aadai has some humour too, sprinkled generously. We also have references to various social and political issues that are trending now.

Even though the movie is a daring attempt and is well written, there are quite a few negatives.

First, it is the run time. The first half drags even after the characters have been introduced. In the second half too, some scenes like those involving the dogs could have been avoided or cut short.

Apart from Amala Paul, other characters get very little scope to perform.

The back story involving the main conflict of the movie is preachy. Even though the pace in the second half is good, towards the climax, we sense melodrama due to the preachy screenplay.

More importantly, once the movie gets preachy we are totally disconnected and it doesn’t sit well with the rest of the movie too.

There are also logic loopholes in the name of cinematic liberty, which we can somewhat overlook.

Overall, Aadai is a daring, bold and a novel attempt that should be appreciated. The work of the entire crew and dedication of Amala Paul need to be appreciated!

Even though the movie drags a bit, and is briefly preachy, Aadai has a nice message to take away.

For the most part, the movie is engaging and thrilling. You can definitely watch it in theatres this weekend!