Among the various Indian cop films that I had watched, the ones that had really impressed me were "Kaakha Kaakha" & "Vettayadu Vilayadu" both of which were directed by Gautham Menon. So when he had announced his latest venture & that too with the charismatic "Thala" Ajith in the lead; the expectations had sky rocketed. Well it's kinda hard to always live upto expectations but the initial signs has been more than promising with some captivating promos & posters. Hmm, seems like he has hit the bull's eye or has he???

Satyadev (Ajith) is an upright tough cop who had gone through a lot in his life & though his losses made him question his choices, there was no denying that it strengthened his resolve to bring the outlaws to justice. It all began with the death of his father by a gangster, who meant the world to him. Though he sought to seek revenge, he decided to do so by being part of the law. His latest mission involved protecting Thenmozhi (Anushka Shetty), a co-passenger he had met on a flight. As Satyadev tries to crack the case, it becomes evident that it was linked to his past as well. So who were they & what were they after???

It's been quite some time since Gautham Menon had a serious hit & so it was imperative that "Yennai Arindhaal" bring his hey days back. There is no doubt that the film is engaging as it takes a look into the life of the protagonist right from his formative years as opposed to just an episode from his life. However, there are unmistakable resemblances with his other cops movies with regard to his love life, the significance of his father & how that portion eventually pans out. So in effect, it gives you a sense of dejavu & makes you impatiently move around in your seat. But inspite of that we still feel entertained & the whole credit for that goes to "Thala" & the antagonist essayed by Arun Vijay. As for other technical aspects, Harris Jayaraj doesn't quite rediscover his form with an average sound track though the BGM was damn good. The stunt choreography was well executed while Dan Macarthur has done a fine job with the visuals; however, Antony ought to have done a better job with his editing as it lags at many sequences.

The presence of "Thala" has taken the film to a whole new level, coz if it wasn't for him, Gautham would have really struggled at the box office. Ajith was brilliant in the all the different avatars that he appears be it the lover, father, cop or gangster & he seemed at ease projecting the emotions, keeping the star in him at check. Standing upto a charismatic star like Ajith is no mean task, but Arun Vijay has done a wonderful job & leaves a lasting impression. Even though Trisha had a limited screen space lasting maybe 10 mins or so, she really made it count with an impressive performance while Anushka Shetty's role didnt quite have the depth for her to shine. As for the rest, all of them have done an apt job.

Verdict: "Thala" is known to be the king of initials & the story will be the same here as well as the box-office bells are bound to ring like crazy for some time. The performances has been brilliant from both Ajith & Arun, however the script doesnt quite provide the twists that we were accustomed to in Gautham's other flicks. In short, it's definitely entertaining but as the title says "If you know Gautham"...you know what's going to happen!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben

Firstly, i would appreciate Arun vijay for his acting skills and he has done a very good job. GVM copied the characters of jyotika from kakka kakka and Vettaiyadu vellayadu and gave it to Trish and Anushka. then some mashup of both cop movies. why is he so obsessed with married woman and that too with a kid where a only TN cop falls in love. Watch this only for Ajith and Arun vijay. BGM and songs are hopeless. Action is ok. Overall a DVDRIP watch.

thala did awesome acting as a cop,especially with gowtham superb acting and then trisha wow lookingl ike a chilled honey dew..dilaogues body languvage,everything perfect.finally without any excpatation yennai arinthal is good movie. if we go with excpatations will get little disapointed.so mr.gowtham plz do some more work plz plz....

It's a mash-up of all GVM previous movies! But Ajith added a new flavour to that! A classy commercial entertainer! Watch if u like GVM movies!