For a movie buff like me, I have surprisingly seen very few movies this year so far. Perhaps its the lack of quality films, or perhaps just the lull before some good movies arrive (sorry, Harry Potter is beyond my interest). I’ve been catching some movies on DVD and PS3, but even them, I have been turning off dead bored after an hour. Yesterday I happened to see Vaaranam Aayiram (One thousand elephants), a tamil movie with english sub titles on youtube. I had happened to know that the movie was about influence of fathers on their sons and something like that; I have no idea why I happened to land on this movie yesterday, but I am absolutely glad I did. This has to be one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, though this movie released last year.
I have always been fascinated by portrayal of Father-Son relationships in movies; I often think this has been an under utilized theme in film genre, for whatever reasons unknown. Perhaps the scope of theatrics or melodrama get reduced I guess when you put two men together, and they don’t have a girl to go after; not to mention the age difference. There have been few movies however that have tackled the relationship very well, of which Mughal-E-Azam, Shakthi and Gardish come to my mind immediately. I can safely add Vaaranam Aayiram to that list now.
Making an semi auto-biographical movie is a daunting task; the director wants to put a slice of his life into the movie, at the same time try to make it larger than life and ends up taking cinematic liberties. Not to mention, most auto-biographical movies tend to be incredibly self indulgent, slow, and long. Hence, I don’t think such movies are everybody’s cup of tea either. Either you love such movies, or you end up hating them. VA is all of this, and I belong to the group that loved this movie, in spite of its flaws and some really far fetched scenarios.
However the movie works, because the characters make it work. I believe that unless the characters of a movie or a TV show draw you in their life, it rarely works. And especially for a subject of this type, it is paramount that the characters shine through the frame. Luckily, Surya who essays the role of the father and son does a brilliant job of it. He single handedly carries the entire long three introspective episodic drama. And when you get some beautiful cinematography (seriously, I live in bay area and SFO never looked this beautiful!), great music and some really stand out scenes, they only elevate the movie.
What I liked about the father-son relationship depicted in the movie was the subtlety. Neither characters overbear each other, and neither of them are totally aloof. As Surya recounts his life and his fathers influence in his life through his ups and downs, it comes across as genuine and heartfelt, without the melodrama. Few of the scenes about the relationship that were really standouts to me; when the father leaves his son at engineering college and tells him he is on his own and reminds him he’s an adult now to make his own decisions is brilliant; or when his father gets stern and locks his son up over drug abuse, and then later leaves him to find himself; or when he himself can’t handle it and breaks down when his son talks about losing his girlfriend on the phone; or the last time the father bids him goodbye before the son goes on a rescue mission; and many more, each of the scenes were particularly well done.
Its not to say that beyond the father-son relationship this movie had no charm; it did, and lots of it. Sameera Reddy looks like a million bucks and her storyline with Surya is fresh, even if its predictable. While their love story was young and vibrant, the track between Divya Spandana (Priya) and Surya at a later stage in life is understandably more mature and underplayed. Simran as Surya’s brings about a nice freshness to her role as well.
But this movie, clearly belongs all the way to Surya. First as the young father in 1970s, and then as the teenage kid, then as a college student who fails, the guy who’s madly in love, to the self destructive drug addict, to the man on a self discovery mission, to his eventual success as a Army Major, Surya carries each of the personalities rather brilliantly. It does wholesomely belong to him.
Were there any flaws? Plenty – for one, the movie is very long. And there is a whole lot of story that is told. So some scenes so seem unnecessary. The rescue mission in Delhi jars the narrative for a brief while as does the rescue mission at end. The meaning of the title is actually handled rather disappointingly in the end and could have been told nicer. VA is at its best when it never gets into action movie mode (though Delhi and Kashmir were beautifully shot!), but I guess the director had to take the liberty to keep all section of crowds happy! I was not bothered by these as the characters had drawn me in completely.
All in all, I absolutely enjoyed watching Vaaranam Aayiram; though this review is a little too late, I think I had to write it up. This is a moving film that deserves to be seen and appreciated. If not for anything else, the father-son portrayal makes the movie absolutely worth it!