Producer: R B Chowdary
Director: Major Ravi
Cast: Mohanlal, Jeeva, Biju Menon, Shammi Thilakan, Kochin Haneefa, Spadikam George, Reema Sen, Baby Sanusha
Music: Joshwa Sreedar

Real life and reel life are different. Putting one’s thoughts and experiences into reel is not easy and making it appealing to the viewers is even tougher. However, former army officer Major Ravi has accomplished this tough job through his directorial venture ‘Aran’. He has knitted realistic and artistic elements together with entertainment elements in this bilingual film, made in Malayalam as ‘Keerthi Chakra’.

The film is about terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. It also tells about the relationship shared by chief of a commando force and a soldier. The director has pumped in his real life experiences into the film. Mohanlal and Jeeva are in the lead roles.

Elite commando force headed by Major Mahadevan (Mohanlal) tries to keep normalcy in the terrorist ravaged valley. Mahadevan and his team are there to protect the people by giving all they can to prevent explosions, kidnap and other devastating works of the militants. Mahadevan has a trusted ally in Havildar Jayakumar (Jeeva), who woks for the pride of the commando force.

The commandos prevent the terrorists’ attack on the famous Hazrathbal Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir. In the event, Jayakumar saves Mahadevan but dies after killing the ultras.

Mohanlal’s performance in the film is splendid with apt body language and expressions. However, use of Rajeev’s voice in this Tamil version is a big let down. Jeeva is good as Havildar Jayakumar and Gopika has performed well as his wife. The other cast of the film Biju Menon, Lakshmi Gopalasamy, Ganja Karuppu and Haneefa has all done well. Joshua Sridhar's background music adds spice to the film and Thiru's cinematography is superb. The beautiful locales of Kashmir are a delight to watch.

On the whole, ‘Aran’ is a good entertainer. The director deserves a warm pat from the back for shooting the film in Kashmir, LoC and Afghanistan. Film buffs should not miss it.