Aghathiyaa

A movie set turns scary house turns haunted palace is the one-liner of Aghathiyaa, a film which brims with special effects and animations at almost every frame you pause. Filled with almost all the hues and shades of colours, and graphics, Aghathiyaa is a film that specifically changes tastes depending on what age group you fall under. If you have a child-like curiosity to get carried away with visual spectacles and colours keep coming, Aghathiyaa is a treat that way. But if you have consumed enough by worldly knowledge and look out for some logic and screenplay that offers more than just beautiful frames, then Aghathiyaa can be a shallow story of English medicine versus Siddha medicine.

The film also struggles with making its central characters anything more than one-dimensional caricatures. Take, for instance, a scene where the antagonist, Edwin Duplex (Edward Sonnenblick), deliberately shoots at a massive elephant, fully aware that it will retaliate. When the inevitable happens, and the enraged elephant charges at him, Siddharthan (Arjun) swoops in like a knight in shining armour to save Edwin from the mess he willingly created. But it doesn’t stop there—Edwin then goes on to praise Siddharthan for rescuing him from a crisis that was entirely his own doing. The film bends over backwards to hammer home the idea that Siddharthan is the epitome of goodness while Edwin is pure evil, leaving no room for nuance or complexity.

However, these shortcomings do not make the film a tiring watch. Though predictable towards the end, the story throws in occasional twists to keep the audience engaged and holds on to the withering attention. And the big VFX fight at the end will certainly leave one impressed. And yet an afterthought will linger on: such a lost opportunity!