Counting the number of references that are made in ‘Aaraattu’ to Mohanlal’s previous films can be an engaging activity to indulge in while sitting through the almost three hours of all-round star worship. For the script is replete with those, with a few landing well and a majority falling flat. In some sequences, like when Neyyatinkara Gopan (Mohanlal) visits an old ‘tharavadu’, the references come so thick and fast, that it is hard to keep up.
The worst of it comes in a scene involving Indrans, playing a paralysed man, with Gopan breaking into the song ‘Thamarappoovvil Vaazhum’ from ‘Chandralekha’, in a reference that spoils the memory of the original with its absurd attempt at comedy. Director B.Unnikrishnan is unapologetic in what he has set out to do, which is a good thing, for we do need commercial mass entertainers. Yet the same spirit does not translate into creating something that is original.
‘Aaraattu’ also chooses the easy route chosen by some recent superstar films in drawing on the star’s earlier films, and using their nostalgic value to satisfy the die-hard fans. Screenwriter Udaykrishna’s trick here is to portray some of these references to Lal’s films as spoofs, even while raining upon us cliche after cliche throughout the entire film. He wants to appear to be making fun of these superstar cliches, even while using the same things to further the unimaginative plot.
