Radha and Chelladurai are close friends and are a virtually invincible duo that lives carefree, roaming around their village and settling differences with others the rough way. Things take a bad turn when Chelladurai’s romance with Vandhana reaches the ears of her brother. Heated confrontations result in the unexpected death of Vandhana’s brother. The repercussions of the incident are felt by Radha and Chelladurai and the fate suffered by their friendship and their lives, forms the rest of the story.
Language:
Tamil
Running Time:
156 min
Rating:
U/A
Release date:
21 November 2014
Directed by:
Jai Krishna
Produced by:
Nemichand Jhabak
V Hitesh Jhabak
Written by:
Jai Krishna
Starring:
Krishna Kulasekaran
Sunainaa Harish Yella
Vijay Sethupathi
Anjali Rao
Bose Venkat
Madhu Sudhan Rao
Music by:
S Thaman
Shot by:
Bala Bharani
Editing by:
Suresh Urs
Distributed by:
Nemichand Jabak Productions

What’s Hot

  • Vijay Sethupathi nails another performance to establish himself as a level headed actor amongst the upcoming crop. If we saw glimpses of his mass appeal in ‘Jigarthanda’, the character of “Radha” reveals his potential to execute such roles with aplomb. His rural attire and complimenting body language make his character more special.
  • Dialogues penned in the rare Kanyakumari dialect infuse a lot of nativity to the story which is set in the southernmost regions of the Indian penisula. The dialect is also well spoken by most of the characters on the screen which is commendable.
  • The casting team have made clever choices by casting actors based out of Kerala in the crucial supporting roles which is justified by the fact that locale of the story is on the borders of Kerala and the influence of Malayalam on the people of these regions is irrefutable.
  • The visuals in the duet song of the first half and the pathos number in the second have flashes of brilliance in terms of uniquely lit frames and scenic locations which are greatly enhanced by stunning collection of saris worn by Sunaina. Add to that some nice shots capturing the action sequences and we have a visually encouraging experience for most parts of the movie.

What’s Not

  • The editing by Suresh Urs defies all possible explanations at few places. The most visible one being the poor placement of the introduction of Vijay Sethupathi’s love interest sandwiched between a small fight between Kreshna and Sunaina and the duet song situation which is created by the way the fight ends. The fight scenes in the night for the climax are not edited out properly leaving the shooting lights unbelievably visible in many frames.
  • Despite featuring only limited songs, the sound track from Thaman has not much of a vibe to justify its usage. The lack of creativity impacts his background score as well which sounds like it is made for a psycho movie than to suit a village based revenge suspense drama.
  • The movie shows a lot of potential to be something different mid-way through the first half, but it ends up in nowhere at the beginning of the second half due to the dearth of an engaging screenplay. The movie peters out into the run-of-the-mill revenge saga, failing to show any signs of intelligence.
  • Sunaina and Kreshna are the perfect pair in putting out similarly disappointing performances which are unilateral and distressing. They look placid in love, betrayal and loss – making them not such a great pair to watch on screen!

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Though the intent is just not there from the creative department to differ from the usual, it never ceases from disappointing the audience with its placidity. Barring few moments of brilliance from Vijay Sethupathi and the refreshingly native setup in Kanyakumari, this one is sure to take revenge on your senses! – staying true to its title “Vanmham”, the intent for revenge!