The 50th film of Mollywood star Tovino Thomas, Ajayante Randam Moshanam (ARM) has been hitting theaters with high expectations. Jithin Laal’s historical action-adventure movie explores the grasping of a family across generations and its dark legacy. Tovino’s role of playing three different characters had already been grabbing the attention with its Malayalam release with a Telugu dubbed version. Here’s a closer look at the film, from the plot to its execution.
The story of Ajay (Tovino Thomas), an electrician from Chiyothikavu, Kerala, whose love relationship with Laxmi (Krithi Shetty) gets thwarted because of the dismally stained family history, is the story of ARM. Tovino plays Maniyan, Ajay’s grandfather who at one point stole a sacred Sreeboodhi Lamp from the local temple, for which there has been a stain on Ajay’s life. Sudhev (Harish Uttaman) a cunning local blackmails Ajay into searching for hidden treasures, and off on one dangerous, and at some times very unusual, mission to reveal secrets about his family, whether Sudhev is doing this with ulterior motives, and the sacred lamp. Will Ajay be successful and can he clear his family’s name?
Performance
Maniyan is played out as a sly thief by Triple Roles, played by Tovino Thomas, to which he brings a lot of versatility, keeping it on point. His portrayal of Ajay is both action and emotional depth. Though in a small role as Maniyan’s wife, Surabhi Laxmi makes an indelible impression. Support comes from Basil Joseph and Rohini Molleti as well, with Joseph’s lighter side bringing a side of humor. The supporting cast takes the story in fine and fitting measure lines.
Direction and Screenplay
Jithin Laal certainly captures the historical and adventurous sides, but not amazingly enough, the rest feels just short of writing depth in its execution. The story is very promising but, once introduced, it becomes too predictable and never becomes complex enough to hold an audience’s attention. While the screenplay could have done with more work, there were several occasions where it failed to bring in a touch of suspense, especially on why Maniyan was so obsessed with Sreeboodhi Lamp. The story arc is strengthened with scenes that have very little to the big picture.
Music
The music of Dhibu Ninan Thomas is perfectly in sync with the film’s historical and adventuring mood and touches up a few crucial points. The scenes receive the support of the action and suspense without overwhelming them. The music is effective though, and it doesn’t really make an impression, but it doesn’t have a memorable theme to help elevate some of the scenes.
Theme
Redemption, family legacy, and the search for justice are explored by ARM. The film is about the generations of actions that still impact lives in the present in attempting to redeem the family name from past injustices, the film discusses how Ajay tries to do that. The greed and the betrayal are the central themes that Maniyan follows for the Sreeboodhi Lamp and Sudhev in the pursuit of her and they bring out the impact of ambition on a personal relationship.
Conclusion
Tovino Thomas proves his versatility in three roles and ARM is a decent action-adventure experience from ARM. The problems with the predictability of the plot and the underlying screenplay keep the film from affecting changes. It’s not a bad film, but there are glaring flaws in the script, as well as the movie could suffer from the fact that you just aren’t that stupefied by the situation. ARM is a modest addition to Tovino Thomas’s filmography available on iBomma, one that’s good for genre fans but unlikely to stick in the memory.
