Movies that are set in Madurai and revolve around rowdies usually have violence as their driving force. Aayiram Vilakku too has two rowdies but it tries to do something different as it pushes their enmity to the background and instead tells a story with sentiments and comedy as the primary emotions. But things go awry in the implementation as the sentiments are melodramatic and the comedy is unoriginal and ineffective.

Lingam(Satyaraj), a dreaded rowdy in Madurai, decides to lay low for a while to keep the cops at bay. A chance meeting with a friend makes him realize the emptiness of his own life and he begins to yearn for a son. That's when he runs into Gopal(Santhanoo), who works at a mill. Gopal mistakes Lingam to be a friend's relative and Lingam goes along with it so that Gopal isn't scared of him. The two bond well but Rathnam(Suman), another rowdy, is gunning for Lingam.

The relationship between Satyaraj and Santhanoo could have worked since they fill an important void in each other's life. For Satyaraj, Santhanoo is the son he never had while for Santhanoo, Satyaraj is a father figure. But the film abandons subtlety and overdoes things in portraying the relationship. As they feed each other, swab blood off each other's bodies after a fight or look at each other with teary eyes, their relationship feels like its on the brink of something decidedly un-platonic rather than a father-son relation. And since its defined by such minor, sentimental acts, the important place the relation occupies in their lives doesn't come across either.

Apart from the Satyaraj-Santhanoo relationship, the film does nothing original with any of its subplots. The biggest subplot - Santhanoo being mistaken for Satyaraj's henchman and he going along with it - feels like a copy of what Asin did in Ghajini without, obviously, the cuteness. So the contrivances that also existed in Ghajini are very glaring here. Santhanoo's romance kicks off with him reading Sana's diary and then behaving in ways he knows she would like, an MO which has been seen before. And characters like Suman and Sana's uncle's son are stock characters who don't do anything new.

Aayiram Vilakku is the kind of film where most scenes are staged just as a lead-in to other scenes without consideration to whether they fit in smoothly. This is clearly early in the proceedings when Satyaraj meets 'Thalaivaasal' Vijay and his son just so he can begin to yearn for a son of his own. So the policeman's first proclamation immediately tells us how the film will end and there are absolutely no surprises when the end comes. The only noticeable aspect is that even the end to the track where Santhanoo is mistaken for Satyaraj's goon resembles the way the love track ended in Ghajini though it lacks the emotional impact.

Satyaraj has played the don enough times to be convincing and he is able to switch between the fearless and emotional sides of his character easily. Santhanoo tries hard but is unable to bring anything special to the table as he reminds us of other actors with his mannerisms and dialog delivery in many scenes. Sana Khan barely makes an impression since several other relationships take precedence over the romance while Suman rants and raves without actually doing anything worthwhile for most of the movie.