"Airaa" Movie Review: Nayanthara Is The Only Reason To Watch This Half-Hearted Horror Flick

Airaa

Director: Sarjun KM
Cast: Nayanthara, Kalaiarasan, Leela and Yogi Babu
Rating: 2/5

Nayanthara is becoming the favourite choice of Tamil filmmakers when it comes to female-led horror movies. After Maya and Dora, Airaa is the third horror flick starring the actress as lead cast. This is also the very first time Nayanthara has played a double role in a movie, which is something to get excited about. Airaa is much more emotional compared to her previous horror projects, yet it still lacks logic and thrills to be considered as a good movie.

Yamuna (Nayanthara) is a journalist who has to answer meaningless and boring questions from her readers. Moreover, her parents want their daughter to marry a strange man though she is not ready for marriage. Later, Yamuna runs away and lives in her grandmother's house in Pollachi instead. She starts experiencing paranormal events in that palatial house. At first, she is not really scared and even starts uploading ghost videos to catch eyeball and makes money.

However, Yamuna soon realizes that this place is really haunted. She tries to find out the secrets behind its eerie events. There is another character called Amudhan (Kalaiarasan) and his scenes are parallel to Yamuna's. He is also trying to find the truth of his lover's death Bhavani (also played by Nayanthara). Eventually, Yamuna and Amudhan happen to meet each other. The moment their stories intersect, it becomes the crux of the movie.

Airaa is quite good with its emotional core. It is strong and even tugs at the heartstrings at some point. However, as a horror flick, Sarjun KM's movie cannot live up to the viewer's expectations at all. It does have several horror tricks but no one can really feel the intended impact. As Yamuna, Nayanthara has nothing to contribute to the plot. Besides, one might find it difficult to laugh when it comes to her meant-to-be-hilarious scenes.

However, Nayanthara's second character Bhavani is exactly the opposite of her performance as Yamuna. She is brilliant in emotional scenes, making a strong impact on the viewers. When you walk out of the movie theatre, you will still remember Nayanthara as Bhavani in Airaa's flashback scenes. Honestly, this is the only highlighted part of the whole movie.

Airaa should have been an emotional drama rather than a horror movie. You will find it tough to pay attention when the movie is coming to an end. In fact, Airaa's plot-twist is silly and its ending is meaningless. While watching this half-hearted horror flick, you cannot help but wish that more effort should be put into the plot writing.