Aadhaar review: An earnest effort at showcasing the injustices suffered by the less privileged

Thulasi (Riythvika), wife of Pacha Muthu (Karunas) — a construction worker — gives birth in a hospital. Shortly after, Thulasi and her attendee, Saroja (Ineya), disappear from the hospital.

Saroja’s body is found outside the hospital. Pacha Muthu complains to the police and the story advances through the course of the police inquiry.

Director Ramnath Palanikumar has presented the plot without exaggeration: How the common man’s search for justice oscillates between money and power.

Like Visaranai, Writer, Jai Bhim and Jana Gana Mana — which dealt with injustices suffered by the less privileged — Aadhaar also presents an unsparing assessment of the system and underlines that, sometimes, even those inside the system are helpless.

Aadhaar once again focuses a discussion long overdue in this country. The director deserves appreciation for telling the story without compromising, and, at the same time, keeping it tight like a thriller.

The film has quite an impressive script. There are flaws, but negligible. The multi-shaded characters and relationships between the characters give the movie its depth.

For example, Yusuf (Arun Pandian) is shown helping an ex-police officer who was in his position earlier. The ensemble cast and various plots blend and hold your interest. We stay engrossed in the drama, thanks to the non-linear narrative.

The director’s compelling effort is superbly aided by Mahesh Muthuswamy’s cinematography, Srikanth Deva’s unobtrusive background music and R Ramar’s editing.

An overdose of melodrama and a song could have been avoided easily. Aadhaar has all the potential to be another Visaranai.

Roles of a lifetime

A talented cast drives the film, sharing almost equal amounts of screen time. But the folks who stood out and had my full attention each time were Kalakeya Prabhakar as an inspector of police and Karunas as Pacha Muthu. They played the roles of a lifetime.

Karunas shines in the scenes where he gets stuck in the police station with his child in his arms, and when he conveys his helplessness on being threatened by the authorities.

Even though Ineya doesn’t get much screen space, her presence can be felt throughout. She gets to do another short and good character in Tamil cinema.

Arun Pandian does justice to the role of Yusuf, an old policeman with a sad gait and slow speech. He was very effective.

Trigger is another movie released on the same day that has Arun Pandian in a character with the same body language, but for another reason.

#AadhaarTamilMovie – Must watch crime story with an impactful message! #AadhaarSuperHit @TSaseekumar @vennilacreatio @ramnathpalani @SakthiFilmFctry@karunaasethu @Riythvika @IamIneya @iarunpandianc @sakthivelan_b @meumariyaz @ActorDileepan pic.twitter.com/uBlu2SM5yC

— Sakthi Film Factory (@SakthiFilmFctry) September 25, 2022

The scene that stands out

Back to Aadhaar, there is one hard-hitting moment outside the court involving Arun Pandian, Prabhakar and Karunas: Prabhakar watches Arun Pandian shed a tear while helplessly looking at Karunas walking away. The background music at the moment elevates the scene. This one scene demands standing applause for the director and Arun Pandian.

In the end, we see Pacha Muthu searching for his wife. That hits hard, and reminded me of the climax in Blessy’s Kazhcha. You can’t help but want to talk about the film after it ends, and that is probably the best compliment that Ramnath Palanikumar would want to receive.

Overall, Aadhaar is not only well-intentioned, it is a gripping thriller as well.