Aravind 2 Review

Did you wonder how characters in mortal danger exercise exceptional presence of mind while watching a thriller any time in the past?  You will understand how much of a haranguing experience watching a crime thriller movie with dumbass characters can be if you watch Aravind-2.

Here is a film where almost every character being hunted behaves as though he has ridiculously low levels of IQ while the villain is shown, defying logic, to be all-powerful and ubiquitous.

Shekar Suri has admittedly been inspired by an international movie.  Surely, at least a single hundred times better story written by an aspiring writer must be lying unattended in the office of every other serious producer or cerebral director or hero worth his name in Film Nagar.  A film full of loose ends and a grossly poor plot, Aravind-2 may be watched with ears half closed, and, as more and more murders continue take place, perhaps the eyes too.  Because one bothers the least to even watch who is being killed, let alone wait in vain to see the psychopath's face.

Why will anyone find a film interesting if the villain's motives are revealed within 10 minutes of second half?  To add to the woes brought on by a wafer-thin plot, even the villain's character is so woefully written.

A film unit turns in at Dandeli forest in Karnataka.  Like every forest, as a character says, there is an unknown side to it.  It is a fully-covered (we see only his eyes) psychopathic killer who leaves no clues of his murders.  Two months ago Aravind (Sree) and his five friends were to the area to celebrate the New Year's Eve, and the five were killed by him without a trace.  Aravind, who is a dunce like the rest of the bunch (more on it later), starts looking out for them thinking that they are missing.  He happens to be with the film unit because its director (Avasarala Srinivas) inadvertently bumped into him and found his second hero for his platonic love story.

Things start turning bloody when two of the unit members are killed before the very eyes of Aravind.  Kamal Kamaraju, Adonica, Srinivas and Sree must now run for their lives, as the ruthless killer is now behind them.

They behave as though they have no mind.  They have legs though, to keep running and running, even as cinematographer Rajendra Babu (the only good worker) captures their running and the forest to satisfaction.  While running, the actors forget to act. Sree of Ee Rojullo fame even looks assured that he will not be killed since he is playing a title role even in the most frightening circumstances.

Here is an exhaustive list of unanswered questions:  After two of his colleagues are brutally murdered, why does Aravind go to the old lady who had told him "They will all be killed" instead of directly going to the villa and alerting the alive companions?  The old lady's character itself stands out like a sore thumb.  Why does she support the psychopath?

When Kamal is told that a beastly killer is behind them, why does he not remember that he has a gun stuffed in the luggage?

Will any thinking adult (and there are four unthinking adults) want to leave the villa in the thick of the night and risk falling prey to the killer on the run?

How does the cop, as also the killer, enter the first floor of the villa when all the doors (two of the doors were belatedly shut down by the idiots) are closed?  No answer.

When the foursome know well that the killer can attack them from any side, why do all of them look at only one side and not each side one each?

When Kamal knows that he has only limited bullets, why does he or any other character not have the sense to pick the dead cop's gun?

How does the killer, who has neither a vehicle nor supernatural powers, overtake a speeding truck within seconds?  No answer.

Why does the killer not kill Priya?

How can a person in charge of the forest's "safest place" be foolish enough to go out searching for the cause of an eerie sound without a weapon in his hand?

Investigations have been on to find out the cause of the many murders.  The forest has even got a fully fenced office.  Yet the killer's adda has not been found by the cops.  Of course, Aravind finds it quite easily when he has to meet Priya.

A professional henchman of the Mayor is so stupid to seek Aravind so cautiously as if it was the President's oath-taking ceremony and not a film's shoot.

Not many may find the bloody beast's ruthless killings or the BG score fear-inducing even if they have not watched a single horror film or an RGV adventure.  There is no peep into the killer's psychology and the dialogue writer does a funny job - "Choodu.. nuvvu kopam lo mrugam la pravarthistunnav", one character says to the killer.  Does this not sound childish?

There was no justification to have a back story for Aravind when his character doesn't have any more role to play in the story by virtue of his stint in the forest earlier.  It only goes to show how the director tried to create a false curiosity in the audience.

Verdict:  You can't watch Aravind-2 without assuming the role of a critic.  If you want to be an audience, you would better suspend your thinking.

Released on: 29th March, 2013