S oolam is a highly stylised and sophisticated film. The ‘power of silence'is an apt tagline because Siva (Ajith) hardly speaks a word in the second half of the film. He simply wears smart suits that cover his already short neck, smokes a cigar, sports a sassy hair style and fancy glares; you can hardly see his face. There is hardly any place for romance here despite the presence of two women, as the focus is entirely on the three brothers, partly on the father and the villain (Kelly Dorjee).
The movie opens with Rajashekar (Senior Ajith) being shown as an arms dealer, a righteous one who uses his profession of selling arms only for defence purposes. There is a group that wants it for destructive reasons. Torn between these ideologies is this man Rajashekar, who wants his three sons to live together. The first two brothers who are born to one woman scorn the third, who hwoever isn't averse to giving away to them the property bequeathed to him by the father. But before all this drama begins Shetty, a baddie (Kelly Dorjee), kidnaps one of the two siblings and voices his demands.
When things go out of bounds, the humiliated Siva (Ajith Jr) returns to rescue his brothers from Shetty, but he is bumped off as the brothers' purpose is served. Months later, the presumably dead brother returns to settle scores but with a heavy heart.
Ajith is forever wearing a deadpan expression. There isn't even a hint of emotion from him but the two women Sara (Samira) and Subha (Bhavana) keep on trying to impress him.
The last scene of the film is numbing when Ajith chooses Bhavana with whom he's never exchanged a word over Sameera who worked with him for over 10 years. A pleasant surprise to see Suresh return as a character actor; he uses a smattering of French like pourquoi , depechez vous , oui and keeps repeating that he is a French policeman so many times only to look shady.
There is no tangible dramatic element to hold on to after Kelly Dorjee is removed from the scene, eliminating the siblings becomes just another formality. The writing becomes an egregious point post interval.
If you want Ajith fans to remember this film there has to be at least one aspect that blows you away and thankfully there are two here; one is the O Dushyanta number and finally some remarkable camera work.
