Ajagajantharam HD Released

 

The good news about Ajagajantharam is that there are no women characters. So there doesn’t arise the issue of critiquing them in what is basically a testosterone-fuelled stunt fest. Now, action movies aren’t a bad thing. Films, such as Mad Max: Fury Road or some Bond films among many others, which pump up the adrenaline, are considered cult classics, because there is a gripping story and characters we love and love to hate.

In Ajagajantharam, Antony Varghese plays a troublemaking mahout, Lali, who apart from anger management issues, doesn’t understand boundaries, whether it is at a wedding celebration with a good friend and his bride or at a temple festival. He even uses his elephant to attack those fighting him at the festival. He meets his match at said festival in a young man, played by Arjun Ashokan, who when he isn’t feeling hot-headed, is stirred on by his gang of friends. So, the first part of the film is taken up by each one’s separate fights - the kind where tables are turned over and the shamiana comes down - and the second part is filled with ‘let’s finish him off’-style mega, massy stunts when these two rivals are pitted against each other.

The technical aspects are excellent; Jinto George’s camera work and Shammer Muhammed’s editing complement each other perfectly, and together with Justin Varghese’s music suits the tempo of the movie and definitely gives it oomph. The humour with the drama troupe and the village VIP, played by Sabumon, are good diversions, albeit a bit been there-seen that.

We can view the film, written by Kichu Tellus and Vineeth Vishwam, as a mirror to what happens at temple festivals - or even picture it as a political rally or society itself - with young men unleashing tragic violence on each other. We see enough reports of these. The problem with Ajagajantharam is that the action is purely for the sake of action, and the lead characters are quite despicable. There is an attempt to glorify this as ‘fire in young men’s viens’ and Lali, having won the fight, rides off like a bit of a hero, and basically, there is hardly the slightest sliver of a story holding together the fight sequences. The young actors, Antony and Arjun, are okay; the side actors seem to add more fun to the proceedings.

Director Tinu Pappachan worked as assistant director on Jallikattu and Angamaly Diaries, and he goes with that style of filmmaking; screaming dialogue delivery and focus on artsy settings and a subversive ethos. If you want to spend 121 minutes seeing men use their energy for bad, it’s your call.