After his very successful Varalaru, Ajith returns with a pretty ordinary Alwar. Sella's directorial debut lacks originality and is a hotch potch of celebrated scripts of the past.

The story tells of godman Siva (Ajith), who's suffering from a murderous streak. Working in the mortuary of the Government hospital in Chennai, he dresses up like Rama or Krishna when he commits the murders, thus flummoxing everyone right from the police to the goons. Siva kills the criminals and helps the needy, while also keeping away from the gorgeous, clingy Priya (Asin). Priya is the granddaughter of Chachu (Manorama), the owner of the lodge Siva stays in, and she constantly tries to attract Siva's attention towards her. She fails to do so until the last twenty minutes, when she finally forces him ts narrate his past.

She along with the audience comes to know what made him committ the murders. He was Alwar, the priest of a temple, and everything in his life was just right -- a loving mother, an affectionate sister and a contented life -- until one day everything was devastated by a greedy industrialist cum trustee (Lal) of the temple and his aides.

Ajith is convincing as the angry young man, while the young, happy, pious Brahmin priest Ajith fails miserably. Asin, who plays quite a shallow and insignificant role, puts up a decent show. Manorama and Vivek's humour is dull and too little to salvage the movie. Lal playing the main villain, has a very small role in terms of time but he meets what the role demands.

Unwanted special effects throughout the movie are a strain, especially in the action sequences. Poor screenplay coupled with Srikant Deva's music only adds to the stress.The only one who stands to lose in this debacle seems to be Sella, who needs all the help he can get in the critical stage of his career.

Rediff Rating: