VAAZHAI – MOVIE REVIEW

VAAZHAI is a children’s drama film written, co-produced and directed by Mari Selvaraj and produced by Disney+ Hotstar, Navvi Studios and Farmer’s Master Plan Production. It is the third collaboration of Mari Selvaraj and Theni Eswar after Karnan and Maamannan and, Nikhila Vimal’s first collaboration with Mari Selvaraj.It was shot extensively across Tamil Nadu including Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli.

The audience kind of know what to expect from a Mari Selvaraj or a Pa Ranjith film. There is no subtlety in their forced imposition of their personal travails and ideologies. They make no bones about it and they create possibilities in their writings to enforce their personal agenda. Vaazhai again is supposedly a personal tragedy that Mari Selvaraj experienced when he was a kid. This is revealed at the beginning of the credits and the audience is well aware how the climax would be. The film begins fine with rural settings and neat introduction of the characters. The audience immediately get connected to the characters as the screenplay gets witty with interesting conversations between the kids. The Rajini vs Kamal episode was very funny. But then Mari Selvaraj comes back every now and then to prompt us that this isn’t a fun film as he showcases gruesomeness and poverty. The Ambedkar touch, the communism angle is bare and dry as the one-sided argument keeps repeating every now and then. After a while the film gets static and hardly moves. The impending tragedy is what the audience is left to wait for and it is clear from a distance. The climax reveals the story behind the film. What is unfortunate is that Mari Selvaraj is a skilled film maker but then the art is lost in his pseudo idealism that he uses to try and connive the audience.

Fantastic performances capture the viewer’s interest in the film. Ponvel and Ragul deliver outstanding performances. Ponvel in particular is brilliant as he holds the film together with his effortless acting. Nikhila Vimal is smooth and good. Kalairasay and Dhivya Duraisamy are neat.

Cinematography by Easwar is wonderful. Musical score by Santosh Narayanan is a hit and miss. Suriya Pradhaman’s editing is good. Dialogues are fine and direction is neat.

VAAZHAI, where the art of fiction is better than the dart of reality !!

VAAZHAI – VAZHUKKAI !!

2.5/5

B.U. Shreesha