Aarya Surya (2013)

"One of the industry’s long standing names, Ramanarayanan, returns as a director for his 126th film Arya Surya. After turning into a successful producer of late, Ramanarayanan decides to write, direct and produce this latest venture of his. The film stars ‘Powerstar’ Srinivasan, Vijaya T. Rajender, Vishnu Priyan, Natchathra, Gangai Amaren, Kovai Sarala, ‘Vennira Aadai’ Moorthy and Nalini among others. Known for his success ratio with minimum guarantee films Ramanarayanan applies his experience by making this film a full length comedy. The story revolves around two youngsters who aspire to make it big in the Tamil film industry. While Aryananda (Powerstar) wants to become an actor, Suryananda (Vishnu Priyan) wishes to become a lyricist. But they are rarely shown as making any real effort to succeed in the film industry and instead we have more and more characters, including a couple of young women who become the love interests. The film's male leads remind us from time to time that we are seeing a movie called 'Arya Surya' as they keep calling each others' names quite often. You can’t help it if you get the feeling of seeing a television serial, as the film’s production values are such. The tacky VFX shots of a big snake are a Ramanarayanan trademark. With the humour being contrived and silly most of the times, not to mention the untimely interruptions the several songs create, the film viewing experience turns out to be a real test of patience. The camera work by R.Selvaraj is very basic and doesn’t add anything special to this low-budgeted movie. Srikanth Deva’s music is on expected grounds - vigorous, to say the least and a few of his ‘gaana’ songs are catchy. As far as performances go, it's Powerstar doing his usual routine. While it was enjoyable in Kannu Laddu Thinna Aasaiyaa, that isn’t the case here as the actor’s range seems to be pretty limited. There is one song where Powerstar sings that the likes of Superstar, Ultimate Star, Supreme Star and even Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan will feel the heat thanks to his presence in cinema! The other veterans such as Gangai Amaran, Kovai Sarala, Moorthy and Nalini do their part in this comedy drama, where just a few sequences have something to savor. Even such sequences have already been seen in movies prior to this, and the originality quotient takes a quick turn towards the South. With comedy being the flavour of the season, Arya Surya could have made the cut if the director had made the happenings on screen more interesting and relatable to the current trend. Alas, this is just another release to make up the numbers this year."