While the term old wine in a new bottle has been applied to many films that present a familiar story with some new gimmicks, Aarumugam is a film to which the phrase applies perfectly. Director Suresh Krissna, after the disastrous Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram, tries to pass off his own Annamalai with a new name and cast. But with a hero who doesn't possess the stature to carry off the age-old story and a plot that pads the simplistic story with a lot more silly additions, Aarumugam is a colossal failure.

Aarumugam(Bharath), alongwith his father and his sister, sells idlis by the side of the road. Karthik(Aditya), his best friend, is a rich guy whose sister Malini(Ramya Krishnan) frowns upon his close friendship with Aarumugam. So when Karthik returns after his studies and immediately renews his friendship with Aarumugam, she attempts to get them separated. Things come to a head when Aditya wants Sonia to be his wife instead of the girl Malini picked and she sees Aarumugam's hand behind this. So she plans to use Aarumugam's lover ...'s(Priyamani) dad as a pawn in her next scheme.

While directors usually like their films to be unique, Suresh Krissna seems to have taken special efforts to ensure that people are reminded of Annamalai when seeing Aarumugam. So we have similar characters like the hero, his sister and his rich friend involved in the same storyline of a friendship being destroyed and the hero going from rags to riches take revenge. Worse, the director recreates identical events, sets up similar situations and even picturizes them in the exact same fashion. All the key sequences - the friend feeling insulted at a party, destroying something dear to the hero, the hero swearing revenge - are present here and some scenes like the hero walking past a row of chairs at a meeting are even shot the same way. So comparisons to Annamalai are inevitable and with Bharath trying to fill Rajni's shoes, its no surprise that Aarumugam comes off looking real bad.

Directors usually take on remakes because they have something new to add to the story or they want to retell the story but update it in a way that makes it more appealing for today's generation. Suresh apparently wants to do neither and so he simply regurgitates the story from one of his biggest hits and hope that it works the second time around too. It doesn't. If anything, Aarumugam feels even more dated than Annamalai. Neither Aditya's friendship with Bharath nor Ramya Krishnan's dislike of it is given a strong foundation and Ramya's plans are silly and idiotic, especially considering that she runs several big companies.

The clash between Bharath and Ramya Krishnan has no fire or energy. Bharath becoming a successful hotelier within a few years - and a single song - can atleast be accepted since it is the same area he was in. But it is totally unbelievable when he starts up multiple businesses(like bottled water or leather products) just because Ramya Krishnan owns a comparable business, and then destroys her company through a single deal. And since these sequences weren't in Annamalai, Suresh Krissna simply turns to other sources(like the Hindi film Trishul, for the sequence on the tenders for the staff living quarters at a hospital), further illustrating the complete lack of originality in the film.

Bharath fits the role initially, being friends with Aditya and running his store. But he out of his depths as the storyline progresses. He is unable to stand up to Ramya Krishnan in a believable fashion and he is completely convincing as a businessman on a mission. Ramya Krishnan is in full Neelambari mode and has no problems playing the rich, haughty woman. As for Priyamani, its pretty sad seeing the kind of role that National Award winners have to take on. She has absolutely no part to play in the proceedings, with even the romance being predetermined and the main storyline focusing on Bharath and Ramya Krishnan. Saranya Mohan is back to playing sister roles while Ilavarasu is solid as always.