Fomantic Rantasy.

In recent Tamil cinema, very few directors have established themselves as experimental creators foraying beyond an usual formula. Selvaraghavan, one of this rare breed, has carved a niche for himself with his dark, intense style of film-making. While his previous outing Mayakkam Enna received lukewarm success, the failure of his bombast experiment on historical fantasy Aayirathil Oruvan remains fresh in audiences' mind.

Irandaam Ulagam, is a story where two worlds - Earth, and a distant Tamil-speaking human-populated alien planet are connected by an individual - Madhu Balakrishnan, in search of his love. His journey - him falling in love, and its loss that takes him to the Second World and how he affects that planet forms the rest of the story.

While it is a story that would look great on paper, IU ends up as a complete drag, unable to convey its probable depth and intensity to audiences. While the first few minutes start with great promise, the film spirals down a path of slow death with post-interval feeling almost like ultramotion, and the screenplay makes one wonder whether it was the same man who made the stellar Pudhupettai. While comparison of our native cinema's CG to films like Avatar, to which global audience have been exposed is a bit unfair, the quality of the work done, though commendable is not entirely appealing.

While the lead cast and their support have performed to the mark, the use of foreign artistes to speak Tamil combined with their pitiful lip sync suddenly makes you feel like you're watching one of those English-to-Tamil dubs on TV. While the album is forgettable, Anirudh Ravichander's background score is impressive.

Irandaam Ulagam is indeed a daring experiment, and while director Selvaraghavan's attempt is commendable, the film ends up being disappointing. Only for fanboys - be it the director, Arya or Anushka.

Aditya Baskaran