Aalan Movie Review

Debutant director Siva R’s Aalan is a story that takes us through the life of an aspiring writer, who faces several tough situations and sorrow in his life, but stills pulls on due to the power of writing and his love for it.

Siva’s story starts off in Varanasi, and the film moves ahead swiftly in the first half as it brings in an interesting angle involving a German lady. The film then tries to surprise us using a very done-to-death angle, and from there on, it moves largely into the protagonist’s journey and how he is able to redeem himself.

The storyline of Aalan is definitely laudable, and there are many good intentions shown by the director to tell a tale that tugs our heart strings. However, the film does not completely stick to the good intentions, and has a laidback narrative in the second half which does not aid it right, and makes it look thin.

Vetri has delivered a decent performance while being aware of his limitations, and there are also a couple of other good knots in the cast such as Karunakaran and Anu Sithara. The film has good cinematography Vindhan Stalin who has captured the Varanasi locations well, with Manoj Krishna’s music being another highlight. The track sung by Shankar Mahadevan in particular, is excellent.

On the whole, Aalan is a middling story of a man with a penchant for writing, although the film could have done with some better writing.

Verdict: A middling film that is led up by its laudable core.