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topic of love has been captured, dissected
and beaten to death in Tamil Cinema. We
have seen varied types of love –
love without hassles, love where parents
play spoilsport, triangular love , inter
caste/ inter religion love, forced love,
love for reforming a person, Age disparity
love, relationship disparity (Aboorva
Raagangal) love, love among persons of
different nationalities and what not.
Even movies that deal with another theme
would more often than not have a love
story as part of the script. So, when
I heard the story of “Vinnaithaandi
Varuvaayaa” and saw the trailer,
I got the feeling that this story has
been told so many times – the case
of a Hindu guy and a Christian girl facing
opposition from parents for their marriage
has been in existence for many decades.
In fact, I have not seen much of the Hindu
girl and Christian guy combination. Having
admired the earlier works of Gautham Vasudev
Menon, I was more intent in seeing how
the talented director executes the trite
script. The presentation of the movie
has to be different and spot on in order
to leave an impact. And yes, “Impactful”
is the word which captures in essence
my feelings on watching the movie. VTV
is not a special movie – it does
not have a different theme, any mind blowing
special effects nor any star cast whom
audience would throng to watch nor even
very special scenes. It is a simple movie
which has been presented very well and
has stuck religiously to what it has tried
to attempt.
The man who thoroughly deserves the first
honors is none other than Gautham Menon.
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presentation is indeed fresh. Executing a very familiar
story and having a screenplay where the lead characters
(Silambarasan and Trisha) appear in almost all the
reels but still making it an interesting watch is
indeed remarkable. There is no scope for characters
that do not fit with the storyline. Even the other
characters (for instance the parents of the hero and
heroine) appear in only very limited frames. Such
care has been taken by the director to ensure that
the essence of the movie is not diluted.
By this time, most readers would be conversant with
the Gautham Menon style of film making – a simple
story with powerful characterization and dialogues
(Who can forget the characters Anbu Chelvan, Raghavan,
Maya, Aradhana, Suriya). VTV continues the trend and
here the characterization of Karthik and Jessy is
indeed the highlight of the film.
Jessy – the wanting to be modern girl
coming from a conservative family, shown as realistic
and practical, tempted to deviate from her thoughts
on personal life, breaking her conservative barrier
when it matters, experiencing severe tribulations
in mind due to her constrained family environment,
stuck in a predicament, taking impulsive decisions
and regretting them later on and living the life she
opted for rather than the life she desired –
Have we not seen many Jessy’s in real world?
Karthik – Another beautiful characterization,
the young brash guy who wants to do something different,
not afraid to speak his mind whenever it matters,
one who takes many impulsive decisions without much
thought on the outcome, the desperate lover not wanting
to lose his first love, stuck in a quandrum between
professional and personal life, aiming desperately
to restore the love after he has lost it, taking it
all in his stride and achieving success in life –
Again, we might have seen many real world examples.
Ganesh – A friend who is many years older, even
a generation older, but he is there to assist Karthik
when it matters.
The best part of the movie is that Gautham has not
created characters who are imaginary and far from
the real world. All these characters have their flaws
and even they recognize them. The director reveals
the age of the lead pair to also let us know that
at their age, all the decisions they take might not
be mature and logical.
Seeing the variety of themes that Gautham is pulling
off with finesse, one cannot wonder the thought if
he could be the next Mani Ratnam. He is developing
a niche audience segment and is also ensuring box
office success of all his films. That is an unbelievable
attribute to have.
The other brilliant aspect of the movie is the climax.
This guy has real brains! When I heard from news snippets
about the movie having two different climax sequences
, I could not understand the need. But seeing the
movie, you are left admiring his shrewdness. Gautham
knows the pulse of the audience and has acted on it
by having a tragic ending for the Tamil version and
a happy ending for the Telugu version. Besides that,
he provided the audience a glimpse of both the endings
in both the versions. Thoughtful indeed!
We all know how Gautham has this uncanny knack of
presenting the songs aesthetically. The songs in VTV
are an absolute treat to watch on the screen though
there might be one song too many towards the end.
Kudos to the Oscar winner Rahman. BGM is good but
not the best we have seen from Rahman.
Coming to the performances, Trisha as Jessy is the
soul of the movie. Seeing this performance, we are
left wondering where this talented actress was hiding
all these years. She steals the show with her subtle
changes in emotion (I liked the scene where she tries
to keep a serene face but still finds it tough to
conceal the little smile on her face). Trisha has
indeed been made more gorgeous by Nalini Sriram’s
costumes. The saree has indeed been a neglected attire
especially while depicting present day characters.
Here, Trisha is seen sporting it most times (How many
Polaris female associates wear saree on a daily basis
is another thought better left aside for now, same
goes with BSc Maths students being sharper or more
interested than engineers in Maths).
Silambarasan has got a very meaty role that gives
him immense scope to perform. He has done his best
but somehow on occasions, we could not help wondering
why he isn’t expressing varied emotions. His
voice modulation is definitely an area that he could
improve significantly as currently it looks stern
all the time. His performance in the climax scenes
is very good. This could be a significant career milestone
for him.
The chemistry between the lead pair is indeed good
and the daring romantic scenes have been shot with
the minimum fuzz. They seem so realistic sans any
vulgarity.
VTV has its own share of flaws. The pace of the movie
might not please audience who love a racy screenplay.
The stereotypic brother (tough to believe him behaving
like a thug in a highly literate family), the typical
fight at an isolated place, Silambarasan managing
to meet Trisha whenever he desires despite everyone
in close proximity, Trisha’s reasoning with
her father not given any space at all in the movie
are some of the dampeners. Trisha’s father showing
the marriage album to Silambarasan’s sister
gives away the ending. This dialogue could have been
avoided. But, I should admit that we forget this dialogue
after some time. Same goes with Trisha’s dialogue
to Silambarasan that this might be their last time
together.
On analyzing all these aspects, it can be safely concluded
that Gautham Menon has again done Tamil cinema proud
and raised the yardstick for future romantic movies.
Thanks,
Karthik
karthik.cit@gmail.com
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