A mass masala entertainer with a complete Mohanlal show—these are thekinds of movies that once defined blockbuster hits in the Malayalam filmindustry. With the advent of OTT and a bucket load of innovative “New Gen”films, the landscape of the industry has changed a lot. However, after a longtiring day, we all crave some mindless mass dialogues and unrealistic actionsequences and stories. While we used to resort to Mohanlal movies from theearly 2000s and 90s for this treat, the veteran actor has now given us a newaddition to the list with Aaraattu.

Directed by B. Unnikrishnan, who is working with Mohanlal for thefifth time with Aaraattu, the 168-minute movie is written by Udaykrishna, knownfor his work in Pulimurugan and Madhura Raja. Mohanlal leads the movie withShraddha Srinath, Ramachandra Raju, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan, and HareeshKanaran in pivotal supporting roles. Rahul Raja, known for his score and songsin Marakkar and The Priest, has scored the music and songs of the movie, whileShameer Muhammad from Ajagajanthram edited the film. With such cast and crew’spresence, Aaraattu is certainly a treat for the masala movie lovers.

Aaraattu is set in a Palakkad village, where people are renowned fortheir self-sufficiency via the numerous farming practices. With the new centralgovernment mandate of turning any empty, unused plot to be turned into farmingland, the villagers, along with Revenue Divisional Officer, SethulakshmiKaimal, beseech the wealthiest man in the village (played by Vijayaraghavan) togive his 18-acre land to the government. To avoid losing the plot,Vijayaraghavan’s character decides to sell his property to Neyyattinkara Gopan.What happens after Gopan arrives in the village with his own agenda forms thecrux of the movie.

Aaraattu is a quote, end quote Mohanlal movie. Throughout its runtime,the actor gets the most screen time and dialogues, while others serve thepurpose of keeping the story moving forward. From mass lines to unrealisticfight scenes, the movie is peppered with elements that will have a masala movielover invested in the movie. Perhaps, the cherry on top for a Mohanlal fan isthe numerous references to previous works of the actor: The first half of themovie is rife with such throwbacks.

Mohanlal puts forth a convincing performance of an over-the-top andhighly dramatic Ganabhushanam Neyyattinkara Gopan. His delivery of the massdialogues in the film, of which there are plenty, is an absolute treat to thefans. When coupled with the stylishly choreographed fights and the actor’snatural charm, certain sequences will have you chuckling or even whistling. Thesupporting cast does their job satisfactorily even if their scope ofperformance is low in a movie like Aaraattu.

In the Aarattu universe, you will find that everything revolves aroundGopan, aka Mohanlal, and there’s nothing he cannot do. However, there’s only somuch one actor and character’s charm can do. The moment the movie tries tosteer towards logic and the much-predictable backstory in the second half, itfalls flat—there are plot holes and distorted character intentions.

Aaraattu is a one-man show, with Mohanlal taking over every inch ofthe screenplay. It has over-the-top and massy dialogues and sequences andunbelievable fight sequences. The supposed twists don’t really work because an avid movie watcher can see it coming from the get-go and the ones that do don’t have much impact because it is too late to add any depth to the movie.

Undoubtedly, this is a comeback of the old-schoolaction hero Mohanlal that we know from movies like Pulimurugan. Thus, it is anenjoyable watch for some mindless masala experience without logic. However, aneutral movie watcher, someone who hasn’t watched many Mohanlal movies or isn’ta Mohanlal fan, would find the movie underwhelming.