A national award winning actor, a director who has assisted many noteworthy directors in epic movies, a heroine who is the daughter of the best actor Tamil cinema has ever seen and a massive hit song – when a movie with this kind of combo releases, one will at least expect a decent storyline but all that one gets after watching 3 (the title which no one has been able to decipher the meaning of) is three hours of crap.
There are many similarities between 3 and Dhanush’s previous film *Mayakkam Enna*. Both have a romantic first half and a psychotic second half. The only difference is that Mayakkam Enna made the audience think “Why did the film end?” and not “When will the film end?”. Aishwarya Dhanush has tried to introduce a new form of mental illness and its effect though a 3-hour film. If that was the ‘message’ that she wanted to convey, she could have at least given some hint to the audience during the first half. If all she wanted to show is the amount of love between Ram and Jananee, all the bipolar disorder crap in the second half could have been avoided. Mixing both has made the movie yet another effort by a debut director that fails to leave an impression.
Dhanush, being a national award winner, steals the show again. Though the movie is a let down, his performance stands out. With the kind of talent that Dhanush brings to the table, one can only wish he tries to choose better scripts. Shruthi Hassan hovers between extraordinary performances and sub-par ones. One scene, she reminds us of her father in her acting, and in another one, all you get is a poker face. But she’s definitely delivered better than she did in her debut film. Prabhu, Bhanupriya and Dhanush’s friend Sundar Ramu have given their best which but it doesn’t make a difference. One of the very few advantages of the film is Sivakarthikeyan. Though he appears only in very few scenes, he doesn’t fail to grab attention.
The first half which portrays the romance between Ram and Jananee from their school days is more watchable than the latter half. But is it any different from the old romantic clichés? The answer is no. But it still gets the applause that every other romantic film gets. Dhanush and Shruthi Hassan should be appreciated for their efforts to look like school kids in which they have succeeded (the make-up artist should also be appreciated for the same). The second half shows the cause of Dhanush’s death, which might have been an unanticipated one if the first half had some indication about it, but just goes without any awe. *spoiler* During the end of the film, when Dhanush tries to cut himself, the audience is tempted to say “Better kill yourself soon or else we will come and kill you” spoiler*
Aishwarya Dhanush’s desperate effort to make the film look more realistic has only made the film more artificial. Repeated dialogues such as “Don’t say cinema dialogues”, “Is this cinema to become wealthy in one song”, “This is not a cinema fight” etc., just make the movie more annoying than it is intended to be. Senthil, Ram’s friend, is a perfect example of “a friend in need is a friend indeed” but at least he could have been decent enough to not to stay during intimate times between the husband and wife.
In the technical side of the film, nothing shines. There are no master-pieces in the film but there are no goof ups either. Debutant Anirudh Ravichandran, who is already on cloud nine for his “Why this kolaveri?” and other splendid compositions, shines in the BGM part too. After the viral hit that “Why this kolaveri?” has become, the expectations for the music video will obviously be high but it becomes yet-another-love-failure-song. Some songs were not in sync with the film, while others were not even worth a place in the movie. The visuals just do injustice to the music.
After all the hype and hoopla, the end product, as in many over-hyped movies, fails to impress a majority of the audience. In a film with big names like this one, the director should have concentrated more on the script and screenplay to provide a top notch result. Even though her first attempt has failed, let’s hope Aishwarya Dhanush provides a worthy film next time and wish Dhanush chooses better scripts henceforth.
3 – Not worth the hype. Not worth a movie at all.
[rating:4.5]
