Director: Pa Vijay
Cast: Pa Vijay, Bhagyaraj, SAC, Meghali, Vignesh
After Strawberry, once again lyricist turned actor –director Pa Vijay has come out with Aaruthra, which touches upon the child abuse theme and how the protagonist goes about avenging the death of his kid sister. One cannot but remind of Anniyan when he chooses to punish the detractors taking references from Hindu manuscripts. While in Anniyan, Garudapuranam was used as referral point to penalize the offenders; here the punishment is executed by being a devotee of Lord Shiva.
Shiva aka Shivamalai (Pa Vijay) works in his uncle’s (Gnanasambandham) antique shop in Chennai and his part time job includes going to schools and lectures about good and bad touch distributing pamphlets. Meanwhile, a series of murders take place in the city and it is executed in a brutal manner in locations, which symbolizes Pancha Bhootam (five elements of nature). Aavudaiyappan (Bhagyaraj) a private detective is summoned by police to find out a missing person case. His investigation finally leads to Shiva, when the latter was caught red-handed; he reveals the reasons behind his killing spree.
Cut to flashback, Shiva leads a happy life in Chidambaram with his family comprising of dad (SA Chandrashekar), mom (Meera Krishnan) and younger school going sister (Yuva). They belong to the family of sculptors and make idols of gods and goddesses. A betrayal by a friend (Vignesh) leads to the death of Yuva after she is brutally gang raped.
Pa. Vijay has to be appreciated for taking a topical subject but it is in the execution he errs. And when the film is about child abuse, why Bhagyaraj’s character has been sketched as a pervert and his wife (played by Sanjana Singh) and sis-in-law who helps him in his work made to sport skimpy clothes? And even the women cops are not spared from this sexist jokes. Motta Rajhendran is yet another irritating character and they occupy most part of the first half.
The flashback portion in the second half is neatly done. But again scenes portraying the child being abused are shown elaborately which is unwarranted and makes us squirm. Pa Vijay performs well in the flashback portions. SAC in a small role is adequate. Yuva is impressive. The narration is a bit confusing in the first half and there is lot of unanswered questions. Two of Vidyasagar’s songs Puli Onnu and Chellame are worth mentioning, but nothing to boast about rerecording.
