Vaaranam Aaayiram - a comment

(Edit 1 appended)
Q. Why would Gautam Menon want us to spend money to read his diary?
A. Ask him.

Q. What will be the image of REC(NIT) Trichy hereafter?
A. I just don't hope future students aren't disappointed (a) Sameera Reddy isn't studying in their college.

Henceforth for movies, since reviews are not what I write, comments they shall be called. Quirky observations from the movie also included below.

Varanam Aayiram, like 99.9% of all good Tamil films, became tiring: the first half was amazing, the second half leaves what would have been a sweet experience with a bitter aftertaste.

---Movie plot discussed below---

The film is a flashback of a guy who is 'reborn' after a devastating end to a beloved relationship, devoting much of it to solemn feelings toward his father and his lover(s)/wife/self.

The beginning of the film is kind of predictable: a (old) man meets one of the two certain things one can expect (the other being taxes)(e.g. from quick memory: Subramaniapuram, Hey Ram, Thavamay Thavamirundhu). One interesting thing: Actress Ramya/Divya and Surya's son are supposed to be in the house with her father-Surya, but when he is in his deathbed they are nowhere to be seen - well, to keep the plot intact you can't reveal whom Surya is married to... Also, the father Surya's face has make up, but they missed the arms.

Please, Simran being passed as a 70's style ribbon wearing college girl was so laughable. The woman is clearly ready to be someone's mom but if she is made too young.... the makeup department has extra work to be done.

The art director has made a lot of efforts to depict an era gone by - but it's pretty easy to notice the fresh paint on most buildings. Remember the obviously-new-coat-of-paint red bus in the first song. N, whom I was watching the movie with, said it reminded him of a dog van (naay vandi). In Yethi Yethi, Surya and some of the dancers wear shoes of the same design.

The father Surya(Krishnan) keeps changing his getup; moustache, clean shave, hair. I felt that he was depicted to be slightly darker than his son.

And then we come to my best moments of the film: a beautiful girl from REC Trichy(now of course NIT)? *cough cough*

I was enjoying the moment telling N, R and S that in all my four years I hadn't seen anyone as beautiful(maybe except one), along with the fact that she said she was not in a relationship with someone else: she would have been like a single rose in a wide field right below a beehive: So such a girl... comes only in movies.

All the while I am thinking about the 'glamour quotient' of guys like myself from NIT... Our first mention was in Ullam Ketkume, wherein Pooja says something like "Guys come from even REC for that cultural fest." At the same time, I was also thinking about Inspector Raghavan - what would he be thinking? Oh well what do I care now. He better not be telling his class this(Sameera Reddy) was a bad precedent set by a student. Ha.

Here things get murky for the first time - after Sameera (Meghna) goes to the US (for the '2 year study' called MS - tell me about it) Surya moves at breakneck speed, going places, TVS, looking at plans at a cycle stand in TI rather than at a planner's desk, building a house, planning other's houses, singing songs..

Meghna and Surya are supposed to be in a train, which arrives in Egmore when there is a lot of daylight. Since most of the trains arrive early in the morning(or they could have boarded a pretty late train), N had a solution: the train was delayed.

The voices for Sameera Reddy and Esha Deol in Ayutha Ezhuthu seem to be the same one - although the latter is supposed to have done her own dubbing, so maybe it's just that the two voices sound similar.

And then I hope no student(or visitor) is as BRAVE enough to step up to the Visa Officer's window and say 'Hi I am in love and want to visit my lover so please give me a visa'. This, I felt, was the only misstep Gautham made in his depiction of the US - the remaining scenes about the US were dignified, reasonable and justified.

Although an MS student staying at a sorority(Wikipedia says Sigma Phi is a fraternity, even then, boys in a sorority in the film... I don't know) might be a long shot, the student notice board, the staying together, the backgrounds in the songs, locales were extremely well done. The timing of the unfortunate death did catch me by surprise. I too felt like shedding a tear.... Sameera Reddy has been dealt with in a befitting manner. I believe this section of film will be the new Ghajini - comparable to the feel-good section from that film.

I don't know where to start for the second half. So Surya meets this Shankar Menon who places a fatherly presence consoling Surya. Good. Then Surya goes through a tough phase.... I personally feel that inspite of the warning at the beginning of the film, such ghastly depictions of helplessness is not constructive, it in a way sets a precedent as to what a person should do, if a relationship breaks down. This is the second of the murky scenes.

The fatherly 'guidance' brings Surya back from oblivion. What happens next.. makes the muddy water even muddier. He goes to Kashmir, becoming a new human being, reads the front page of an Urdu newspaper regarding a kidnapped child in Delhi and goes about rescuing the small kid.

I really don't understand why the film had to take such a twist. This is where Gautam really lost the audience. What is this part of the film conveying to us? Why would this Shankar Menon allow Surya to stay in his house? Maybe it is just that Surya feeling the feel of Shankar and wants to do something.

How he gets to Prithviraj is a decent portrayal; Prithviraj guessing(I predicted he would) that the guy sleeping on a porch is a suspicious stranger was a good storyline. But why didn't Surya take the van when he snatched the kid for the first time? Maybe the keys weren't there(he didn't check). I must say Prithviraj has made a strong case for a comeback to mainstream cinema.

The reunion scene where Surya explains to the policeman that one of their men is a traitor was thankfully cut short, lest we listen to his frantic explanation of a situation we were anyway tired of.

Surya's joining the Army is a high point in the movie; the director is showing that everyone has potential and can realise it, no matter what; it is a good ad for the Army as well. His training in Dehradun interspersed with actual combat in the seas and jungles left me questioning if he was in active duty while in training, but it is later revealed that he is an officer in the IMA itself. Those abs and that body - N was mentioning that Actor Surya's legs aren't shown - maybe hiding something out of proportion from the muscle up above.

Ramya/Divya is a let down from Sameera Reddy, good nonetheless. In one scene she says she's waited 6 years, that becomes 5 years, and this officer succumbs to a young woman before marriage. Wrong impression, if you ask me. An officer should be a respected officer. But if Ramya really waited 5/6 years for Surya, wow, she is so patient. I doubt if an officer's spouse would be allowed a tour of training facilities.

The final scene with both father and son was poignant: the father seemed to know his time was up and wanted to say goodbye to his only son..... for the last time.

Are officers informed of personal tragedies while on missions? I wish not. Jammu seemed to be pretty flat terrain while flying over. The director himself makes a special appearance as the liaison guiding the Special Forces. R couldn't stop laughing at all the Diwali fireworks going on during the rescue. I guess some good advise from the Army helped the rescue be as realistic, sans the weapons.

Then the tribute to his father drags on and on and on... and the audience finally gave way, chatting away, not paying attention to the closing moments of the film.

Gautham Menon has tried to show that a supportive father has been key to his son's success, and that one should always follow their heart wherever, be it love or war. I personally disagree here, because the same rule cannot be applied to love and drugs. You go after a love all the way to the US, but shouldn't do drugs. Well, as it turned out, both are equally dangerous.

I am willing to bet that had the director cut out the kidnapping of the child, and simply said that Surya was joining the Army after the Kashmir trip and shortening Surya's drug ordeals, it would have been better from a broader perspective.(Edit 1 at bottom)

The posters and stills for the movie have been misleading: Sameera Reddy is only there for half the movie.

A memorable performance by Sameera Reddy; Surya is trying a lot of things, should get high marks for effort; Simran should play only a mother and not a college girl, it's a request, because otherwise it will be so out of place; Gautham Menon needs more ideas.

Striking carryovers from his prior films(Kakkha Kakkha, Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu):
a) Kill the heroine
b) Kidnap someone
c) Rescue that someone
d) Exemplify the men and women who sacrifice themselves for our security
e) Have awkward romantic dialogues between hero and heroine.

The songs, absolutely judged, are trademark Harris Jayaraj melodius and singalongs. However, listening to his collection will reveal that this is also a near recycle of old tunes. I can sure hear his other songs when I listen to these songs. On this note, the bg music for a couple of scenes were really bad - e.g. the kid-kidnap scene where he tells the kid to stay in a room. But what prompted that publicly-announce split between him and Gautham? Anyway, maybe Gautham will work with ARR and produce bigger hits.

The visualisation for all the songs have been excellent. The choice of clothes, as noted by R, the themes and sets are wonderful. I like Anul Melae especially.

My friends N and R observed rightly, as mentioned by Pavi in her review that a lot of English dialogues have been used and it might be just an A centre movie.

All in all, a movie Gautham Menon wanted to make about himself and as a dedication to his father, a chance Surya did not want to miss, which brought out a lot in him, being a school boy, collegian, father, lover, army officer, drug addict(psycho?), self talented musician(on the guitar he was only so-so. I could have done a better job given my super advanced playing level).

Finally, maybe the director tried a little bit too hard and had to include a fight scene somehow. Even though the father Surya is clearly a centerpiece, his role wasn't as effective. Or maybe, just maybe, Gautham Menon shows all his love and affection and emotions through every inch of reel of this movie: he loves his father that much.

Will I watch it again? Yes, skipping some sections
Worth watching on the big screen? Oh yes
Should you watch it? Hmmm yes.

Edit 1: Looks like my prediction came true: Gautham has trimmed 15 min off, including the kidnapping of the kid. I swear I didn't read it before writing this post!