I agree with your take Vara. Honestly, I felt the same as well. But when looking from Gautham Tinnanuri's standpoint, all of Arjun's highly emotional moments are drowned out. Think, Arjun turning away from his son when he is in tears and the train masking his jubilation when he gets selected. I'd guess the finale is low of melodrama to keep up the consistency in writing but with that being said, I'd have liked a more emotional ending too.
Please don't let the overanalyses and needlessly complicated words fool you - the homo-sapiens writing these reviews are people too. We whistle when Super Star Rajni's name comes up on the silver screen, we begrudgingly laugh at poorly constructed toilet humour, and we want our favourite actors and directors to make good movies. And we have seen many an actor who captured our imagination fade into oblivion as time has gone by.
As much as it hurts us to say it, the very personable Natural Star was headed that last way too. Middle Class Abbayi? Nenu Local? Really? Were we about to....