In an early scene in Ayalaan, from director R Ravikumar, the hero Tamizh (Sivakarthikeyan) saves a baby elephant that has fallen into a pit – but not before delivering a small lecture about how we have made the lives of elephants difficult by usurping their land and installing electric fences and so on. A little later, an impressively CG-ed alien lands on earth and reads up about humans – but also about the waste we leave behind, like polythene bags that take centuries to degrade. In a recent interview with Galatta Plus, the director spoke thoughtfully and eloquently about what he called the “Tamizh genre”. He was right. Despite the sci-fi premise, Ayalaan is Agmark Tamil cinema. It has mini-lectures. It has mini-messages, like how we are so glued to our phones that we would not notice an alien even if it landed in our midst. It has an eco-warrior hero against a corporate villain. You could say the alien is almost an afterthought.
In Indru Netru Naalai, Ravikumar’s first feature, the sci-fi premise revolved around a time machine, which is a very unique and specific device. Going back and forth in time is something that gives your plot a flavour that nothing else can give. But an alien that gives the hero its powers is a bit… redundant. Our heroes are already superhuman when they take on corporate villains. Why do they need extra-terrestrial help? The screenplay does not really chart brand-new territory. It has two sequences of kids that have to be rescued from fire. The villain even decides to change what he does, which leads a baffled character to exclaim: “What the hell - now we are making weapons?” Exactly! The one true bit of inspired sci-fi writing involves a little girl with cancer. I wish she had been fleshed out better instead of just being brought in when needed, but the idea is solid!
Ayalaan takes a long time to take off, and that’s a sin for a plot so generic. And once the alien lands, there are comedy routines like having Yogi Babu coming out of a bath and dropping his towel in front of the creature. Rakul Preet Singh contributes absolutely nothing as a random lady who teaches science. But the film is a harmless watch, mainly due to its leading man. Sivakarthikeyan in comic mode is always a pleasure. (I liked Prince. Deal with it!) Some of the one-liners given to Yogi Babu and Karunakaran are quite funny. And when an early scene involves a locust burping after its swarm has ravaged a field of sunflowers, you know who the target audience is. The kids in my theatre were giggling. Mission accomplished, I guess! The kid inside me, though, wanted to run home and watch E.T. for the 769th time.