Varanam Aayiram.... to all the dads!

Movie: Varanam Aayiram

Cast: Surya, Sameera reddy, Divya Spandana, Simran.

Music: Harris Jayaraj

Director: Gautham Menon

Varanam Aayiram (meaning the strength of thousand elephants) is the most expected movie of the year. After the hot-combination of Surya and Gautham Menon in Kakha Kakha, the second movie of the duo is Varanam Aayiram which was released on Nov 14.

This movie is a tribute to Gautham’s father who passed away last year. The movie talks about the relationship that a father and a son shares. Typically it’s the relationship that Menon and his father shared, of course with a few cinematic elements added to it!

The story begins with Surya (as an army officer) while on a mission gets the news of the death of his father. He starts reminiscing about the days spent with father and the story cuts to a flash back.

Krishnan (Surya) is a government employee who is married to his college mate Malini (Simran). ‘Mundhinam’ is a beautiful penned song that shows the entire love story of theirs. It was love at first sight for him and the song which tells their love story can’t get any sweeter. The line where Simran says, “He just swept me off my feet” explains it all!

Moving on, Surya (played as his son) shares a unique kind of a relationship with his father. He looks upon his father more than his mother (as played by Simran). Theirs is more a friendship than a typical father-son relationship.

Surya goes to an Engineering college in Tiruchi, after his father borrows money to pay his capitation fees, but ends up watching movies than attending classes. While returning back after his final semester he meets Megna (Sameera Reddy) in the train. As expected, it was love at first sight for him! The emotions displayed by him when he sees her brings a smile to everyone who is watching the movie. The way he pats his chest and admires her secretly is most romantic scene in the whole movie!

He starts playing his guitar which is followed by the ‘Nenjukul Peidhidum Mamazhai’ song. His attempt to impress her goes in vain as she leaves to America for higher studies. After setting up his own company along with his friends he follows Sameera and finally wins her heart! (Wonder which father allows his son to go in search of a girl when there is no money around! This is too cinematic to believe. I suppose Gautham did a similar scene in his life too – refer Times article).

A major blast occurs where Sameera loses her life and Surya comes back to India. He meets his sister - Shriya’s friend and neighbour played by Divya who helps him overcome the sorrow. Surya’s unable to forget her gets into drugs and the scene where the withdrawal stage happens is tremendously done by the actor. He was so real and his acting was just brilliant. He comes out of it and at the advice of his father takes a break and goes to Kashmir!

The complete transformation happens when he gets engaged in finding a kidnapped kid and realizes his true self to become an army officer. The awaited six-pack scene comes and everyone goes ‘ahhh’ while watching him! He moves to Delhi and Divya follows him this time and love strikes again! Moving on, Krishnan is diagnosed with lung cancer. And well you can imagine the climax, which directs to the first scene of the movie.

The first half of the movie was great mixture of songs and scenes that moves at a faster pace while the second half was a drag! Certain scenes remained cinematic and so unrealistic while the romantic parts of the story are well crafted and the emotions are well displayed.

This is Gautham’s story through Surya! Surya is the main substance of the story and story revolves around him. He has done full justice to the movie and has shown great acting skills. His hard work is clearly visible and there needs no surprise if he wins a Filmfare award for best actor category this year! I can see a South Indian Aamir Khan shaping in him! The father, the teenage son, the college student and the army officer (where he sports a six pack) is differentiated so clearly. Well for the ladies, all the three heroines get an equal share and have done a great job!

The music score is just wonderful! All the songs are nice and the music itself becomes the USP of the movie. If he hadn’t dragged the movie and cut some unbelievable scenes, the movie will rated 5/5 by me! Well, for all the hard work done by Surya and Gautham I give them 3.5/5!!

Post Script: Watch the movie with no expectations and if your an ardent Surya fan, there is no doubt you will just LOVE watching this movie! And for me, I LOVED SURYA! :) He is a hot property for Tamil industry!