Back in 2004 when Ayitha Ezhuthu was first released, it was widely panned by critics and didn't do well at the box office. Why? It's simple: The film was much ahead of its time that the audience didn't understand this brilliant story line and the metaphors it carried throughout the film.
Ayitha Ezhuthu is a political drama directed by the genius Mani Ratnam who had previously directed movies such as Kannaththil Muttamital, Thalapathy, Bombay, Alaipayuthey, Iruvar and Dil Se. If you're asking me, I'd say Ayitha Ezhuthu is the greatest movie of all time in Kollywood's history and here's why:
The film carries metaphors that are used as color symbols for the three lead characters; Inba, Michael and Arjun. The writer chose the color RED for Inba which symbolizes fire and stands for anger, power and love. Michael is given GREEN which symbolizes soil/ground/earth and stands for growth and energy, while the Arjun is given the color BLUE which symbolizes water and stands for his chilled personality. The clues for their colors are their clothes and their homes (the walls). If you've noticed in every frame Inba wears red, Michael wears green and Arjun wears blue (in Arjun's case he wears blue for the most part).
If you haven't noticed there's also another hidden fact in the story. Remember the prison scene where Michael and the other students are locked up in one cell? Do you remember what Michael wrote on the cell-walls with that chalk? It was the Grand Unified Theory (GUT). This theory is also used as a metaphor for the film. The theory is based one three gauge interactions; strong force, weak force and electromagnetic force, which all helped to create earth. The strong force is Inba because of his anger and his lust for power and position. The weak force is Arjun because he always choose to avoid problems (for example when he admits Michael at the hospital he is told to give a complaint, but doesn't want to because he fears that his passport might be taken in). The electromagnetic force is Michael because of his mannerism, bravery and his guts over fear. As you all know by now, Ayitha Ezhuthu is an experimental film based on the Grand Unified Theory.
The film features an ensemble cast that includes Suriya Sivakumar, Madhavan Ranganathan, Siddharth Suryanarayanan, Meera Jasmine, Trisha Krishnan, Esha Deol in the lead roles, while Bharathiraja, Sriman, Janagaraj, Praveen, Krishna, Suchithra Karthik Kumar and Kamala Krishnaswamy in other pivotal roles. All the actors have played their characters well. For your information; The character Michael Vasanth (played by Suriya Sivakumar) is actually inspired by a research student named George Reddy who was known for his controversial involvement in youth politics. He was later murdered on April 14th, 1972 (aged 25) at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India (you can google him).
The cinematography and editing which were handled by Ravi K. Chandran and A. Sreekar Prasad deserve to be praised for the phenomenal job they have done. At last but not least, I have to talk about the Academy Award winner A.R. Rahman for the soundtrack and the mind-blowing score. All the songs in the soundtrack were amazing, especially the song ''Jana Gana Mana'' which is my all-time favorite song by Rahman. The BGM in the title card, the String Solo and the bit song titled ''En Jeevane'' are admirable and scores everyone should remember. Finally I have to give a BIG-TIME applause to the late Sujatha for the amazing on-point dialogues (especially in Inba and Michael's first meeting, the flirting scenes with Arjun and Meera, played by Siddharth and Trisha Krishnan, and the conversations between Michael and Minister Selvanayagam, played by Suriya Sivakumar and Bharathiraja).
For those of you who were disappointed with the movie when you were watching it for the first time back in 2004, give it another try now. I bet you'll change your mind and see the clear picture!
