The basic idea of every Aadu movie is a handful of foolish people running after something that is said to be highly valuable. Midhun Manuel Thomas has said this in interviews, and we have seen that in both the films that were released. The fun factor of these movies is not really in the way the story progresses, as it focuses more on the counter dialogue situation humor to make the audience laugh out loud. The FDFS version of the first Aadu movie, which only a minority, including myself, has seen, didn’t work mostly because they had pushed the slapstick humor a bit too much. The fact that the first part of this movie got a lot of acceptance when they released the trimmed version on DVD actually gives you an idea of how humor works only if the dosage is optimum. If you overdo it, it will crumble. Aadu 2 had a much crisper narrative, with the story having controlled chaos. When it comes to Aadu 3, there are multiple things that are in favor of the movie. The audience is already familiar with the characters, the makers know how not to overdo the humor, and this time they are trying a bit of fantasy. Midhun Manuel Thomas offers ample witty dialogues that will make you forgive and forget the slightly exhausting length of this fantasy.
So this time, as you all may know from the promo materials of the movie, we are seeing different timelines in which different versions of Shaji Pappan and the gang existed. In one version set in 1790 AD, Pappan was a king named Padmanabhan. Something that belonged to Padmanabhan’s palace had a very high value. What we see here is the hunt for that object in both timelines.
Even though it is mounted as some sort of time travel fantasy, if you look at it carefully, Midhun Manuel Thomas is actually using the scope of a spoof in this movie. Like how he revealed in the interviews, in all timelines, this set of characters is doing the same kind of foolishness. So the concept of a period film that focuses on being an action comedy makes the movie pretty unique. Much like the first two films in the franchise, after establishing a MacGuffin, Midhun Manuel Thomas is trying to build scenes that are more focused on humor. If you look at how the movie is going to Tamil Nadu in the beginning, with that whole Captain Cleetus story, that whole track is not necessary for the movie. However, the kind of humor that comes from the stupidity shown by these characters won’t make us question the relevance of such a subplot. There are a lot of such subplots in the movie that aren’t integral, but the dialogue humor in them that basically roasts Pappan makes us laugh out loud. Somewhere towards the end of the first half, you will kind of feel them pushing it a little too much with silly jokes, as we almost end up waiting for the interval point to happen.
This is part 1 of the two-part conclusion to the Aadu franchise. And the duration of this first part is almost 167 minutes. And if you look at the concept this time and the way this first part ends, it is almost like an ideal interval point for a movie that deals with timelines. The first part is in a way two versions of the same Aadu story, but set in two timelines. The real conflict of the story only happens at the end, and we are shown a version of Shaji Pappan that gives us an idea about what might happen in the second part. Like I said in the beginning, the fact that these characters and some of their iconic lines have become a part of pop culture through memes and stickers is helping the film enormously. That even gives Midhun Manuel Thomas a scope to include the same dialogues in the old timeline in a different context. Since the scale has changed significantly, we can see a certain level of upgrade in the visual language of the movie, especially in the flashback portions. The iconic character intro themes by Shaan Rahman, along with the lyrics of Manu Manjith, still have that energy in them.
After a substantial gap from movies, Jayasurya makes a comeback in the most likable form as Shaji Pappan. He presented the foolishness of the characters in both timelines with significant differences while maintaining the same DNA. The next important character in the movie is Captain Cleetus, played by Dharmajan. The signature Cleetus humor is helping the movie in several areas in creating laughter. Saiju Kurup as Arakkal Abu has been given a great introduction, considering Abu’s fan following. In terms of screentime, the past version of Abu had more space, and Saiju Kurup handled it neatly. Vinayakan is introduced to us as Azam Khan from the past. But in this first part, the focus is more on Dude, and the style of swagger-driven humor, unique to Vinayakan, was there in the performance. Midhun Manuel Thomas has mentioned in interviews that he has tried to give more space to the underused character of Saathan Xavier. Even though the footage has increased considerably, the impact was pretty much equal to the old films. Vijay Babu as Sarbath Shameer was fun to watch. Indrans gets to play 3 versions of his character and was pretty effective in all forms. Alleya Bourne seems to be cast because of her acrobatic skills, as expressions weren’t really her strong suit. Most of the actors in the franchise, like Sudhi Koppa, Bijukkuttan, Hari Krishnan, Bhagath Manuel, etc., are reprising their roles in this movie.
The culture shock Shaji Pappan and Dude and their respective past versions will have in the second part of Aadu 3 seems like an idea that would give Midhun Manuel Thomas a lot of humorous ideas that can even go beyond the typical Aadu humor. With consistent dialogue-humor and a less-explored comical treatment of the period story, Aadu 3 manages to become an enjoyable, fun film with forgivable flaws and something that teases you with the possibility of an interesting finale to the franchise.
