Evano Oruvan - Review

Evano oruvan – Namakkul oruvan. That is what the first scene, the first scene and the first scene depicts(It is shown thrice). He is someone who follows the monotonous life which has nothing other than alarm clock, potato curry, train journey, work at office and the return back home with a ‘another day over’ feeling.

Vasu(Madhavan) is a candid bank officer who is contented with the life that he has been blessed with. He has his own share of resentment on the reckless way the society has changed.His wife Vatsala (Sangeeta) henpecks him time and again as she is much more supple in attitude towards the society. Theirs is a family with two kids,the first son being a typical 5th class student and the daughter is about to start schooling. The incident in the school where the principal tries to lure the parents to get their daughter admitted with a donation seat is the turning point to this tale.

Vasu refuses to get his daughter admitted that way and he feels it is ridiculous on the part of a principal to behave the way she did! His wife , instead of standing by him, pricks him asking him to do as romans do in rome. That stresses him. He goes to the office the next day, he denies a loan offer for a big customer who is devoid of all necessary papers to pass the loan. But the manager convinces the customer and sanctions the loan which, according to vasu, is illegitimate.The stress stresses! His friend tries to calm him down taking him to have a cold drink. The situation gets cold when the storekeeper prices the cold drink at a rate more than the MRP!. The stressed stress stresses him further and he chooses a cricket bat for relieving his stress. He breaks the shop down and gets back his money.

Then, with a series of events, he becomes the eye catcher of the media and the police alike. Cricket bat upgrades to a hand knife which upgrades to a pistol and his degree of trying to reform the society makes him psychotic . Finally, a honest police officer who feels the society has made him go mad, shoots the protagonist down owing to pressure from the corrupt higher officials.

This might get you a déjà vu of Indian, Anniyan etc.. But what has been special about Evano oruvan is that it relates to a normal human being more than the above mentioned commercial biggies. The hero doesn t beat up tens of people at a time, does not blackmail politicians, does not play hide and seek with the police. All that he portrays is a helpless soul which cannot go with the crowd breaking its own principles and there lies the strength of Evano oruvan.

Madhavan has time and again proved that he is a versatile actor and performs remarkably in Evano oruvan.He has been impressive throughout and the scene where he vents out his feelings to the platform dweller, his monologue with god and his plea to the officer in the climax are scenes where he sparkles specially. Sangeetha suits a perfect wife who disagrees with her husband and does well. The children with limited scope hav fitted the bill. Seeman as the inspector is the narrator of the film’s theme and he makes us realize that a few Tamil words are nearing extinction when he uses them (Kaaval nilayam,maruthuvar etc..)



There are no songs in Evano oruvan which is a welcome relief .GV Prakash scores with subtle background score that suits the film s tempo and the title track is good. The cinematography gives the film the much needed dark look with most of the scenes shot during night.

With Evano oruvan, we have got a new find in Madhavan-the dialog writer. The dialogs in the family’s conversation makes us feel at home. The dialogues rendered by the old couple when Madhavan demands a doctor to do the needful pointing a pistol at him carry what the film likes to tell. Then, the narration by Seeman after Vasu’s death is full of reality.

Where Evano Oruvan fails to score is the link between the incidents(actions) and the reactions. It literally breaks Newton’s third law with surreal reactions by the police and media to realistic resents of Vasu over the society. Had the director Nishikanth linked them better, it would have been better. Maybe, the director’s remote alliance with tamilian culture would have made it difficult for him to do that.

Madhavan has backed this project by co producing it and I feel he is moving in the right path with zeal to give meaningful works and is showing a lot of promise to get eligible for contending to be the heir to king Kamal’s throne- if only he sustains in this industry of commercial potboilers!


My verdict : Reformer wannabe’s - Go for it!