Vaanam – Movie Review

Silambarasan shocked the Tamil film industry after he rejected KV Anand's offer to act in Ko. By then, the actor was perplexed over picking up the right project, as he wanted to give a better film than his blockbuster movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. After going through several scripts, Telugu movie Vedam grabbed his attention and expressed his desire to act in its Tamil version with director Krish. The filmmaker granted his wish and roped in Anushka Shetty, Bharath, Prakash Raj, Sonia Agarwal, Saranya for the key roles in the film. Read on for Vaanam review.

Story:
The story of Vaanam revolves around five individuals, who belong to different professions, lifestyle etc. Simbu plays the role named Cable Raja, who tries to marry a rich girl, Pooja (Jasmine) by pretending that he is also a wealthy man. But the trouble comes in the form of money, as she tells him to get two tickets for a New Year bash at a star hotel. Bharath is an upcoming rockstar, who is all set to perform his first concert. But he misses the flight and sets off to Chennai via Bangalore in a vehicle along with his troupe.

Rahim (Prakash Raj) and wife Zara (Sonia Aggarwal) are a Muslim couple, who lost their twins in a communal riot. They decide to go to Chennai in search of Rahim's brother. But, a police officer
suspects them as terrorists. Lakshmi , a poor woman (Saranya) has to repay the money to bring back her son from a ruthless moneylender, who took her son for labour works. She wants to give her son good education and decides to sell her kidney in Chennai.

Saroja (Anushka) is a prostitute, who stays in Rani Amma's brothel. In order to get away from there and launch her own business, she reaches Chennai and is caught by the police. Now, all the running characters land in the capital city. How the five parallel stories connect each other form the interesting part of the story.

Performance:
All the characters in Vaanam have equal importance. Though Bharath has a less footage when compared with Allu Arjun, his role would make an impact on the minds of the audience. Simbu has given a matured performance and the director has etched the character with different shades. He impresses the audience in every frame. Anushka has given a sizzling performance. Prakash Raj and Sonia are excellent, Santhanam and VTV Ganesh entertain the audience with one-liners, and Saranya is good.

Krish is the real hero of the film for writing a ripping story, excellent screenplay and brilliant direction. He simultaneously runs the five different stories by balancing each and every character and culminating all into one in the climax. Kannan and Giri's dialogues are good. Cinematography by Nirav Shah is wonderful, Yuvan Shankar Raja's music and background score are praiseworthy.

Verdict:
The first half of Vaanam is entertaining and the second half makes the audience to sit on the edge of their seats. However, the common and mass audiences could not understand the story because of its clumsy nature.