Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam

My review: Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam

"Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam" (VVS) is one of those movies which you would neither like it nor hate it. It is like a train journey where there is spurts of action now that wakes you from a deep slumber in between a prolonged lull. By the end of the journey you get on with your life without reminiscing anything about it. That is the exact feeling that you get after watching this movie. 

Written and directed by Ponram with dialogues by Rajesh.M, VVS is way too long for the starters. Movie could have been better off if it was shorter by  at least half an hour. Hence you kind of get restless in the second half because nothing much happens as far as the story is concerned. Scenes get redundant, repetitive and dialogues get monotonous after a point. There is a sense of detachment that engulfs you as the movie proceeds.

Not that everything is bleak, there are points during which certain sequences kindle your interest or a dialogue or two that makes you laugh. But these points are too few and far in between the larger lull that you experience. Rajesh's dialogues does provide few enjoyable one-liners and intelligent use of words to elicit laughter but on the whole it is not as funny as his previous movies. May be he needs people like Shanthanam to make his writing click with the audience. But Soori is not far behind, he does manage to create some impact but needs a lot of hard-work on his part to break the monotony in which he seems to have stuck-up with.

The romantic sequences offer some solace mainly due to the crackling chemistry between the lead pair Shivakarthikeyan and Sri Divya who look fresh onscreen. The whole track between the two is differently conceived with Sri Divya being used by Shivakarthikeyan to deliver his love-letter for Divya's teacher, Bindhu Madhavi. The interactions between the two starts off casually and in a lighter vein which is maintained throughout even in the supposed to be serious sequences which is refreshing refraining off all the melodrama.

Shivakarthikeyan is getting typecast like Dhanush was once playing the same wastrel kind of role in every other movie of his. Here too he is an annoyingly good-for-nothing guy who whiles away his time chasing girls and trying to solve petty issues in the village. There is nothing to nitpick with his performance but it would be better if he tries exploring different kind of roles with different backdrops. Sri Divya is yet another refreshing newcomer who has a very pleasant and homely looks. She does her expressions so effortlessly and her emotive skills are well rounded for a newcomer. May be the void left by Anjali can be filled by her.

The role of Sivanandi shouldn't have been much of a challenge to a veteran like Sathyaraj. It is a banal role that has an interesting twist in the end much of which is not that unguessable. Soori does a better job than in the recent "Desingu Raja" but still he also can try out varieties instead of trying to get inspiration from Vadivelu most of the time.

In Iman's music "Oodha color ribbon", "Paarkathey paarkathey" and "Yennada yennada" are goo numbers though this time he misses out on a magical number which finds it place in each of his recent albums. One wonders why should all movies these days have a misogynistic love-failure number. "Why this kolaveri di" has resulted in slew of these mindless numbers that only irritates more than anything else.

Balasubramaniem has captured the rustic landscapes of the south Tamil Nadu villages adeptly with his camera.

On the whole, "Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam" just about manages to scarp its way towards to find a place in between mediocrity and being just about average.

Bottomline:  Strictly routine, nothing special.

2.5/5