Asal Movie Review

After keeping us waited nearly for a year after his ‘Aegan’, Ajith Kumar had overwhelmed us with the stylish promos. As with accordance to his new credits of co-direction, screenplay and dialogues, the anticipations exceeded to greater levels. But, there’s nothing special you can get with ‘ASAL’ as the film turns to possess a same-old story of relationships and betrayal with few interesting moments in screenplay.

Set in the backdrops of France, Jeevanandham (Ajith Kumar), an aged entrepreneur in weapon dealing with defense groups of United States and other countries has three sons Sam (Sampath), Vicky (Ravi Krishna) and Shiva (Ajith Kumar). Sooner, it’s revealed that Shiva and Sam-Vicky are step brothers and the duo humiliates him very often.

Followed by the demise of their father, Vicky and Sam strike a deal with an illegal group that supplies weapons to terrorists. But things get worsened when their opponent (Kellie Dorjee) kidnaps Vicky to Mumbai. Now, Shiva turns to be the savior in rescuing Vicky from the baddies only to get shot by his step-brothers.

And its rise of the phoenix as Shiva is rescued by his father’s close friend (Prabhu) and his nephew Sulochana (Bhavana). Meanwhile, Vicky and Sam make Sarah (Sameera Reddy –a member of France embassy and close associate of Jeevanandham & family) believe that Shiva had a natural death and yet a death certificate has to be prepared.

Shiva is completely discombobulated with the gestures of his stepbrothers and embarks to unravel the hidden mysteries…

ASAL’ belongs to Ajith Kumar and it’s a sure fiesta for all his diehard fans.

Saran has blatantly focused much heroisms and portraying Ajith in stylish looks alike Billa and fails to keep the audiences engrossed throughout the show. The film has looses it momentum right in the first hour and has some exciting moments during next-to-last 10mins prior to interval. Next time, Ajith signs a film he has to turn his attention towards ‘romance’ quotients as well. Just imagine how romantic he was in ‘Kandukondain Kandukondain’ while his previous films have completely lacked such quotients.

Sameera Reddy could’ve got yet more challenging sequences as she possesses the tomboyish looks. Bhavana doesn’t get any footage apart from shaking legs with Ajith for couple of songs. Yughi Sethu delights with his hilarious tracks. Suresh looks stunning with his looks and could have avoided yelling at high tone. Sampath offers a spectacular show on emoting to situations while Prabhu has lacks substantiality in his delineation. Pradeep Rawat is a mere disappointment.

Bharadwaj’s musical score is a complete disappointment as both songs and background score doesn’t add to the technical enhancements. Cinematography requires special mention as the debutant Prashanth and he’s sure to gain more offers now. Art work by Prabhakar is a visual treat and costumes designed by Vivek Karunakaran and Nalini Sriram is decorous.

Although, the film has some happening stunt choreographer, Ajith seems to be quite uneasy performing them. Most of the stunt sequences are fast-motioned.

‘ASAL’ is a passable show that can be watched once. But our kind advice to Ajith Kumar is that he can choose some powerful scripts and challenging roles as he has the ability to carry them on his shoulders. But Saran has to get out his threadbare image of presenting his stories if he has to make it big in future.

What works: Ajith Kumar, cinematography, Art Direction, Kelly Dorjee.

What didn’t work: Screenplay, tedious story, Music, casting of certain actors and choreography…

Verdict: Watch it once….

Banner: Sivaji Productions

Production: Prabhu

Direction: Saran

Star-casts: Ajith Kumar, Sameera Reddy, Bhavana, Prabhu, Sampath, Kelly Dorjee, Rajeev Krishna, Yughi Sethu and others.

Music: Bharadwaj