<i>Vaastavam</i> Review

Courtesy: Cinesouth
Monday, November 20, 2006
Padhmakumar has come up yet again with a hard-hitting, realistic film about the rampant corruption and power struggle in Kerala's capital, Thiruvananthapuram.

The protagonist is Balachandran Adiga (played by Prithviraj), around whom the entire story revolves. This is the story of how he learns to manipulate the system and conquer it to realize his ambitions.

Balachandran's father Raghavan Master was a wannabe politician who had lost all his wealth in his quest. Balan was stuck with the family responsibilities which included three unmarried sisters. He is deeply in love with Sumithra (played by Kavya Madhavan), a middle-class girl. Soon, he finds himself in a position to sacrifice his love for the sake of his family, when he marries his uncle's daughter Surabhi in return for some financial favors promised by her father.

He finds himself a job as a clerk in the State Secretariat. With that, his transformation begins. Senior Unnithan (played by Jagadi) becomes his mentor and starts to teach him the intricacies of power-play in the state capital. Balan surpasses his 'Guru'. He learns that principles like honesty only create hindrances in the path of progress. He also decides to use his friends and acquaintances to propel his growth. The list includes his mentor Unnithan and Vimala Thankachi (played by Sindhu Menon). In his quest, he makes very powerful enemies.

He becomes a powerful person in Kerala's political scenario. But his downfall in his personal life begins.

Sumithra gets married to someone else and gets out of his life. The offended Vimala swears revenge on his wife and him. When troubles begin to worsen, he realizes how much he had alienated his own people for his ambition. He starts to regret, but sensing that he was weakening; his enemies decide to settle scores with him.

Yet again, Prithviraj has come up with a performance that will be remembered for a long time. Padhmakumar has displayed an exceptional skill at portraying his characters. Babu Janaardhan's screenplay is just perfect. It beautifully sketches the rise of a very ordinary young man from nowhere to the pinnacle of political power.

The best thing about the characters is- they all have their negative traits too. The director had selected perfect actors for their roles. Prithviraj, Kavya Madhavan, Jagadhi Shreekumar and everybody else had lived their parts.

The director had come up with another brilliant movie with Prithviraj before, named Vargam, which was about a police officer who was more than willing to sacrifice his principles for a few more rupees. This one is yet another remarkable film from the director-actor combination.

Plus:
Excellent performances from Prithviraj, Kavya and Jagadi
Beautiful screenplay
Excellent cinematography by Manoj Pillai
Alex Paul's music sounds very soothing to the ears and works well with the story

Minus:
Nothing
The Ugly
Nothing at all

Direction : Padhmakumar
Cast : Prithviraj, Kavya madhavan, Samvritha Sunil, Sindhu Menon, Jagadhi and others

Gallery : Actors, Actresses, Movies.

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