Airaa Movie Review

We are literally tired with the ‘Horror’ and ‘Supernatural Thrillers’, which are over-filling the theatres relentlessly. Amidst such crowded rushes, there were some expectations mounting up for Nayanthara starrer ‘Airaa’, directed by Sarjun . Thanks to the songs and visual promos that somehow managed to keep the expectations intact across the seasons. Filmmaker Sarjun has attempted a different story that banks itself on the concept of ‘The Butterfly Effect’. The director-writer tries to impose it in our minds indirectly through the introduction scene of Nayanthara, where we get to see it through the bus and several vehicles dashing up each other that finally end with Nayanthara (It’s her introduction too). Well, what’s the butterfly doing there is something out of our reach as the actual drama begins after Yamuna (Nayanthara) gets back from restaurant (Revealing more could be a spoiler).

When Yamuna elopes from her home and decides to stay with her grandma in her native place to escape the arranged marriage fixed by her parents, supernatural things start happening over the place.

The director keeps us juggled between two parallel tracks in the first half. After a certain extent, we lose our patience and it’s only 20 minutes after intermission, we are zeroed in partially for the mystery behind all such supernatural drama. There is nothing to blame upon the film’s theme and there are few scenes that are technically brilliant too. However, the overall narration looks slightly vague and the audiences from sub-urban zones might feel it to be directionless. The flashback scenes are nicely shot, though black and white is completely unwanted. Nevertheless, the way the director and writer try to justify the reason behind mysterious deaths of victims are not appealing. Nayanthara as Bhavani has done a remarkable job, especially in the emotional scenes with Kalaiarasan, she is extremely good, but the over-stretched screenplay goes in vain. The reason behind the film being a mediocre is that the reasons are not strong enough to support the characters. Except the role played by Kalaiarasan, other characters remain feeble.

Overall, Airaa lacks the elements that a supernatural thriller is supposed to have. Nothing to blame upon the actors for everyone have done justice to their roles. So happens to be the technical department. Despites these factors, the film remains too average for its stretched duration and not-so appealing moments, where we rarely experience Goosebumps.