Jeethu Joseph. The name is synonymous with thriller movies. Be it Drishyam or Memories or even his first film, Detective, all were highly appreciated. But it was a dissapointment when it came to the 2016 film, Oozham.
Now he has come with a new film Aadhi. Expectations were many for this film. Firstly, it is directed by Jeethu joseph. Second, It is the debut of Pranav Mohanlal. Third, the stunts (more on that later).
Now, the plot: Adhithya Mohan, an aspiring musician, who dreams it of making it big, gets a chance to do a show in Bangalore. An incident there makes him to run for his life.
The first half of Aadhi goes off in a slow mode setting up the story. The notable sequence is the action in the market place and the stunts performed (Parkour) is very impressive. But it's the second half that has it's share of thrills which leads to the climax with an unpredictable twist. The songs were good even though the two songs in the second half could have been avoided. The pick of the songs are 'Mizhiyoram(Unplugged Version)' and 'Gypsy woman.'
Jeethu Joseph is an expert when he handles thrillers. This can be seen in the second half of the film. Editing (Ayoob Khan) was done neatly but could have trimmed some portions in first half. Cinematography (Satheesh Kurup) was good. Stunts, as I said before, was awesome. Have'nt seen any actor doing Parkour in any Malayalam film and Pranav needs to be applauded for performing the stunts himself.
Now to the performances. Pranav Mohanlal as Aadhi is natural. He is outstanding while doing the action as well as in emotional scenes. Sharafudeen was good. Anusree too did a good job. Sideeq has a nice role. Lena was average. Siju Wilson in a negative role did well. Jagapathi Babu's role could have been better thought of. Mohanlal in a cameo was good.
All in all, Aadhi can be watched for it's leading man and for the stunts. You will be entertained.
My rating - 3.5/5
Review of Aadhi
