Just how do you describe the journey of life and learning of one man, in an immensely fascinating and intuitive manner? You do it the way Gautham Menon has done it - by drawing in all your senses and emotions on a canvas of poignancy that is called Vaaranam Aayiram.
Surya (Junior Surya), the son of Krishnan is an emotionally bonded guy with his parents and his sister. He grows up seeing his parent’s immense love towards each other and the passion towards him and his sister. The different phases of life, are well depicted in this film as the child, teenage life, adulthood in a man’s world are well illustrated. Surya is closely attached to his father and Simran who plays the character of mother to him inspires him for being strongly will powered and also to be emotionally weak sometimes.
It is has been sometime since we had a movie that touched the heart. Vaaranam Aayiram is that movie. It touches you deep inside and brings forth several emotions at once. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you angry. It makes you sympathetic. Every incident you see in the film will remind you of an aspect of your own life. That's how real this Gautham Menon film is. And Suriya's performance is one of his best till date. Adding charm to the film are Sameera Reddy and Divya Spandana. But Simran takes the cake from both these actresses with her sincere and real performance.
Story
The movie opens with an older version of Surya, suffering from throat cancer, succumbing to his disease. With the bare minimum background score and subdued acting, the scene helps to mound the expectations for a few minutes. The news then is conveyed to the son, played by Surya again, who is on a defense operation somewhere in Kashmir. The rest of the movie is the son’s reminiscences of his father – the son’s role overriding the father’s in the process, however.
The first half of the movie drifts away with nothing significant in the offing. In less than half-hour, it breaks into two songs. Surya (dad/son) falls in love twice and loses the love of his life. The second half, however, spruces up with the kidnap episode and the journalist rescue operation. Vaaranam Aayiram is an out and out Surya show. When the man disrobes his tee to flaunt his rippling muscles acquired after hard slog, the ladies scream their lungs out. His subtle expressions after losing out his dad to cancer score as good as his screams and emotional turbulence after losing his girl. Surya Senior’s makeup screams for attention, though.
Simran comes a close second with her puffed eyes and refined articulation of emotions announcing that she is ageing gracefully. Sameera has a constant grin, which is adorable. But all she could come up with after seeing her stalker at her doorsteps in the US is a surprised expression after getting a scoop of her favorite ice cream unexpectedly. Surya – Sameera’s first meet in the train is well conceived and executed. Divya, however, is in her quietest form oozing loads of sophisticated attitude.
There are touching and heart-warming moments in the movie; however, they are few and far between. Like the scene in which the cancer patient dad expresses his helplessness in telling stories to his grandson since his vocal chords no longer support him and Simran’s emotional silent outburst when she is being told that her husband is about to start his final procession to the burial ground.
Harris’ music complements Thamarai’s lyrics with almost all songs, albeit termed as interruptions, hummable. And as Sudha Raghunathan breaks into the Anal Mele song in her unconventionally mellifluous voice, the movie’s sluggish pace is curtailed. Adiye Kolluthe, partly rendered by Shruti Hassan, seems to mark the beginning of Tamil punk-rock.
The three hour long movie advocates non-smoking heavily and hits the smokers hard with the harsh reality of its consequences – cancer, for instance.
To conclude its a must watch movie to every Son and Dad...
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