ARANMANAI 3 (2021)

Critic No. 245

Director: Sundar C

Written by: Sundar C, Venkat Raghavan, Badri

Produced by: Avni Cinemax, Benzz Media

Casts: Sundar C, Raashi Khanna, Andrea Jeremiah, Arya, Vivek, Yogi Babu. Manobala, Sakshi Agarwal, Sampath Raj, Amit Bharghav, Myna Nandhini, Nalini

Music: Sathya C

Language: Tamil

Genre: Comedy, Horror

SYNOPSIS: 

The ghost of a wronged mother (Andrea) who tries to take revenge on her husband, Zamindar Rajasekhar (Sampath) and his daughter (Raashi Khanna) is stopped by Ravi (Sundar C) who tries to solve the mystery that lies in the past of Zamindar. 

REVIEW:

By now, the audience should have known that they should not expect any kind of logic in the Aranmanai series. The first one was loud and illogical but had a strong comedy and had a basic but clean story. The second was a carbon copy of the first with a much diluted comedy but was made with a strong technical back up and performances. However, the third deteriorates more and gives us a half baked film that doesn’t succeed as a horror nor a comedy. 

This time the plot involves Eswari (Andrea Jeremiah), who has been wronged by Zamindar Rajashekar (Sampath), and returns with a vengeance as a ghost to take revenge on him and his daughter Jyothi (Raashi Khanna). Even as the zamindar's son-in-law (Sundar C) tries to find out the reasons behind the ghost targeting his family, it possesses Saravanan (Arya), Jyothi vs love interest, who has come to the palace on the pretext of repair work. Though the story sounds decent in this summary, the execution is nothing but a mess!

There is also a sub-plot of Saravanan and Jyothi’s love story which is nothing but a space to please the audience with a love song. Saravanan is an electrician and Jyothi’s childhood friend. Apart from these details, we know nothing else about him. Arya, in that sense, plays just a cameo in the film who even gets ‘objectified’ as the muscle man with a character describing his physique. In addition to objectifying women in every of his films, Sundar C checks off another box by objectifying men in this film too. He comes in for songs and then during the climax showdown where the ghosts possess him. Why? We don’t know. Maybe even Sundar C doesn’t!

After all these detours, the film finally starts telling the ghost’s flashback in the second half. But that is not new either: a rich cruel zamindar murdering his wife and her newborn. The wife and newborn daughter become spirits to murder, spook, and play the fool with comedy sidekicks. I disengaged with the ghosts’ emotions during the flashback itself as all the characters started to play their roles in a weirdly staged exaggerated manner. Sampath should really stop playing the loud caricaturistic villain all the time. 

On the brighter side, Sundar C has focused more on setting the jump scares with some visually interesting set pieces layered with heart pumping sound design. Yes, they work but the mood fizzles out quickly when we are snapped back to the ‘story’ which doesn’t allow us to even take it seriously for a minute. There is a scene where Raashi Khanna is scared by Andrea’s spirit in a racing set piece. In the next shot, we are shown that she goes back to the same room to sleep peacefully as the comedy tracks kick in with Arya. This is just one example of the many ricules of the film.  Sathya C’s rousing song, ‘Theeyaga’ featuring veteran singers Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan, comes in just before the climax to bring up our spirits that were dampened by the lifeless story. Probably the best sequence for me in the overall film.

There are so many characters in the palace and none of their characters stick except Yogi Babu and Vivek. Not because they are given well written characters but because they are the only ones who seemed to have done their job well with an earnest performance. Legendary late actor Vivek’s presence will definitely give you a bittersweet feeling whenever he appears on screen. The comedy tracks of the film doesn't work or gel with the film as it did with the previous 2 installments which also seriously contributes to the low engagement level of the film.

In a time where filmmakers are pushing to break genre conventions and experiment with different storytelling, Sundar C who was once a ‘king comedy director’ should reinvent himself and bounce back with a film that doesn’t take the audience for granted and respect their trust they have on him till today, even after his series of recent backfires. 

VERDICT:

With no strong purpose or conviction, ‘Aranamanai 3’ is a loud mess that sets out to undervalue the senses of the audiences with its dated story and flat writing.

CELLULOID METER- 2/5: