ARASATCHI (.5/5)
	: Arjun& Lara Dutta
	Music: Harris Jeyaraj
	Direction: Maharajan
Remark: May not come to power

After many years and many hurdles, this film made its way to the theatres. Various reasons were cited such as call sheet problems of the innumerous characters in the film, (including that of heroine Lara Dutta), ego clash between hero and the director, distributors vary of buying the film and finally advocates going to the court to get the film stayed (the story is about a advocate killer). This is a certified Arjun action film but will the audience be able to handle all this excess Masala. An honest retired judge is murdered on a moving train. The accused persons escape from punishment due to the clever arguments of their advocates. The hero is the sole surviving member of the judge's family. You can now predict the rest of the story. Arjun starts killing corrupt lawyers one after the other and instills fear in them. The problems and how he overcomes them form the rest of the story. Arjun works as a 5 star hotel's manager and Lara Dutta is the hotel owner's daughter. Lara Dutta sings a couple of duets with the hero and then disappears. The director's previous film AANJANEYA (with Ajith in the lead) bombed at the box office. This time, a bold story with good screenplay has helped the director with the pace. The director has to be appreciated for some scenes- the way the hero kills the lawyers by chanting 'bad man, bad man' and the scene in which he gives an anonymous call to the American Embassy claming that there is a bomb in the building and kills the lawyer who was inside the Embassy (In his first film VALLARASU, the director has used a lot such strategies). Certain scenes make mockery of the audience, including killing a lawyer with a cricket ball. There are several twists in the movie. The hero's sister whom he presumes dead surfaces as the wife of one of the advocates on the death list (Raghuvaran). Arjun has done a neat job. Lara Dutta- better luck next time! The whole film is dominated by villains!!! Anandraj, Devan, Saranraj, Manivannan, Ponambalam, Rajan P Dev, …the list is long. But in spite of the crowd, it is Raghuvaran who steals the show. Karan and Nasser make an impact though they appear in just one scene. P Vasu has got his timing right- he shouts when he has to and keeps quiet when he has to and adds strength to his role as Saravana Perumal. After a long time Mansoor Ali Khan is in a likeable role as a good cop. The theatre enjoys his scenes. Compared to him, Vivek's comedy falls flat! Harris Jayaraj has done a fine job with '20 vayadhu' and 'Moghalai Moghalai'. Cinematographer Saravanan has done a fabulous job with the car chases and song sequences. The most important feature of the film is the way Arjun hunts the advocates down and kills them. Instead of making it interesting, the director has made it so bland. One cannot prevent a comparison with Gentleman and Indian and that makes this movie below average. 'Arasatchi'- very difficult to come to power.

- Gokul Santhanam & Prem Anand S