[Drugmachine]

ENTERTAINMENT: Of heroines and horror


ARUNDATHI (Tamil)
Directed by Kodi Ramakrishna
Starring Anushka, Sonu Sood,Sayaji Shinde, Deepak, Manorama

I WOULDN’T be surprised if you’ve never heard of this movie.

A Telugu film dubbed into Tamil after doing well at the box-office, it opened two months ago in Andhra Pradesh, India.

This 13-crore rupee (RM9 million) movie is expected to be record-breaking for Telugu movies. The Tamil version is also expected to fare well.

The film took 2½ years to complete because of the heavy reliance on computerised visual effects.
Movies in Telugu, Kannadam or Hindi are only dubbed into Tamil if they have well-known actors or actresses or boast hit songs by someone such as A.R. Rahman.

However, Arundathi bucks this trend as the lead actress Anushka (she did only one movie in Tamil with Madhavan in Rendu years ago) and actor (Deepak) are unknowns.

The only familiar faces to Tamil movie-goers are comedienne-turned-character actress Manorama and Sayaji Shinde (who came into prominence as a famous poet in Bharathi).

Arundathi is a woman-centric movie and thus the perfect vehicle for Anushka to become well-known to Tamil audiences (acting alongside young superstar Vijay in the upcoming Vettaikaaran is also a boon to her).

Anushka plays double roles in Arundathi. The story revolves around reincarnation, magicians and revenge.

Veteran director Kodi Ramakrishna, known for his movies about the wrath of goddesses such as Amman, uses plenty of special effects, a solid background score and deft editing to spin an entertaining story.

He wastes no time in drawing the viewer into his story.

A village has a sinister-looking abandoned palace. When Arundathi (Anushka) arrives at the village to get married, she is immediately drawn to the palace by evil forces. That’s when the family seeks the aid of a healer (Shaji Shinde) to exorcise her.

Arundathi is pursued by a powerful and evil Agora sanyasi priest (Sonu Sood), who is seeking vengeance.

Pulsating music as well as the songs help move the story forward briskly.

Anushka is pretty and dresses in figure-revealing clothes. The roles played by Sonu and Sayaji are also memorable.

The movie will remind you of Hollywood productions where evil has the upper hand but is defeated by good in the end.

The special effects are top-notch, with some Hollywood studios already approaching Indian visual effects companies for collaborations.

A must-see movie for women, depicting as it does their heroism. Fans of horror and the supernatural will also like it.



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