With credits mentioning ‘Inspired by The Pursuit of Happyness’, filmmaker Thamira’s Aan Dhevathai openly admits how the next 145-minute family drama would be like. But, the Tamil aspects it deals with, when compared to the Will Smith-starrer, is a little extensive and native, flavoured with Samuthirakani’s preaching sessions.
When a husband and wife part after difference in opinion, they are both put into troubles and come to the point of realisation for ‘co-existence’ in a family. The movie, line-for-line, is all about going back to the roots, leaving the globalised lifestyle where credit cards and materialism decide the fate and routine while actuality of life, ‘love’, gets lost.
There is a line where Elango (Samuthirakani) asks his wife Jessie (Ramya Pandian), ‘Naama vaazhrathukaaga vela paakuroma, illa vela paakurathukaaga vaazhroma?’.
It is actually shot at the audience of which at least a major section would be subjected to revisit the kind of life they lead. However, Aan Dhevathai also discusses the same with metaphors that strengthen the words of Elango. When the entire population of a gated community runs in a hurry when the day starts, Elango walks leisurely in the opposite direction looking at them in surprise.
The movie also tries to establish gender equality, though it is named ‘Aan Dhevathai‘. When Elango decides to quit his job and run the family, while Jessie becomes the breadwinner, it becomes the sarcastic talk of the apartment complex and other entities of society. But, Elango defends them all casually, asking his children to be proud of him, as he tags himself ‘house-husband’.
As one expects, the entire run-time of this preachy flick would be melodrama, with Samuthirakani debriefing every module of a materialistic routine. For an attempt like Aan Dhevathai, the dialogue delivery could have been lighter, making every expression of the plot interesting through its narration. Since it has gone vice-versa, the movie becomes a mix of events that are realistic for a few minutes and subsequently melodramatic.
Also, the scenes where Jessie compromises herself for the sake of an on-site trip could have been more detailed as it seems to be a character assassination. Thamira, nevertheless, saves the day as he finally makes her mentally strong when her time comes.
Compared to the film that inspired Aan Dhevathai, there is a lot of histrionic sequences in this Tamil version. Still, on and off, there are parts in this one where justifications are made aptly where anyone who watches it would at least accept, if not effect a change. And, this part, this little part of Aan Dhevathai, is ‘Pursuit of Happyness’.