"Aadhi" Movie Review

“Aadhi”, Pranav Mohanlal’s debut movie as an adult, is tailor made to showcase his skills in parkour, music, and of course, acting.  And while the movie is far from perfect, director Jeethu Joseph delivers a fun ride that pretty much achieves everything it sets out to do.

The plot is fairly simple – Aadhithya Mohan (or Aadhi, as he is affectionately called) is an aspiring music director who is unable to catch a break. While performing in a club in Bengaluru, he is involved in the accidental death of a wealthy banker’s son. Now Aadhi is being hunted around Bengaluru for something he hasn’t done, and he must try to survive and prove his innocence. The screenplay and direction do a good job in not complicating the storyline, and there are ample scenes to showcase Pranav’s acting skills as well as his action abilities.

The direction by Jeethu Joseph is good, but not without flaws. He is able to bring out the best in the young actor, and does a good job in highlighting his skills. The chase scenes in particular, where Aadhi must use his parkour skills to elude capture, are choreographed and shot very well – special mention to the stunt coordinators who have done an amazing job (the end credits montage showing the behind-the-scenes moments are reminiscent of Jackie Chan movies, and shows the dedication of both the actor and the crew). The support cast is also pretty good, with the ever-reliable Siddique being the highlight for me as Aadhi’s loving father.

On the negatives, the film could have done with some tighter editing – not every single decision needs to be explained, and making the film crisper would have definitely added some more tension. Tension building, apart from the chase sequences, is something that is lacking here in general – even scenes where ideally the audience should be at the edge of their seats end up lacking. Even in the camerawork and direction, there are too many close ups to showcase his acting chops and similarities between Pranav and his superstar father which aren’t really necessary, and even make some of the scenes seem shoddy in its execution. The background music could have been better too. The deliberate praise of certain movie songs and actors seem too much on the nose and stick out like sore thumbs.

The star of the movie is, needless to say, Pranav Mohanlal. The young actor has a good screen presence, and though he may seem raw in certain scenes, the potential cannot be denied. He makes full use of what is given to him, and it’s clear that he is confident and capable. Would definitely be interested to see what his future holds – I’m sure that if he makes intelligent choices, he is surely someone to watch.

All things considered, the movie is definitely enjoyable. There is enough to keep the audience engaged and entertained, and at the end of the day, the team has successfully made a good movie which is a good launch vehicle for its young lead. Worth a watch!