…the biggest letdown is the characterless — literally and figuratively — script, which is not only bereft of any intelligence or imagination but also telegraphs and spells out in all-caps what little plot twists it has. The resultant soggy mess of a film is thus neither director’s nor star’s. Ranjith has, somehow, managed to deliver a Rajini movie with no ‘Rajini’ in it.

There have been pro-Maoist movies and anti-Maoist movies before this, and while Aalaap doesn’t come anywhere close to those efforts, the least it could have been is — and this is irrespective of what line it took — decently made.