Tag Archives: Vijay Sethupathi

Ka Pae Ranasingam

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P Virumaandi’s debut film is based on a real-life story about the difficulty in repatriating a deceased husband back to India. While the content is fascinating, unfortunately what should have been an emotional story centring around Aishwarya Rajesh’s character is instead hijacked by prolonged episodes of backstory and political messaging. As much as I love Vijay Sethupathi, this needed to be much less about his character and more about Ariyanachi as his wife, especially given Aishwarya’s fine performance throughout. 

The film opens with Ranasingam (Vijay Sethupathi) absent from his village as he is working for an oil company in Dubai. His wife Ariyanachi (Aishwarya Rajesh) is looking after the family in his absence and is shown to be the perfect daughter, bringing water to the home, looking after Ranasingam’s parents and sister, and supervising the building of their new house. However, at their daughter’s ear-piercing ceremony, a messenger arrives to tell the family that Ranasingam has died in Dubai during a protest. The family are devastated but unaware that this is only the beginning of their heartache as they try to bring his body back to India.

The film then goes into the first of many flashbacks to explain how Ariyanachi and Ranasingam met when he was dowsing for water on her father’s farm. Ariyanachi’s initial scepticism is gradually worm away by Ranasingam’s amazing ability to find water, and also by his dedication to social issues and equal rights for all. Throughout, despite his propensity for protest and disregard for the local police, Ranasingam, still shows respect for the law and a belief in the political system that at times seems oddly naïve given the obvious corruption at all levels. However, Vijay Sethupathi is on top form here and his portrayal is of an easy going and happy man who knows when to take a stand, but who at heart wants only the best for his family.

Having established the relationship and given some indication of why the authorities may be inclined to believe the protest allegation despite evidence to the contrary, Virumaandi should have left it there and concentrated on Ariyanachi’s struggles to bring her husband’s body home. Instead, the film keeps flashing back to instances in Ranasingam’s life which really don’t add much more to the story. Rather, they detract from the emotional build-up that Aishwarya achieves with each of her scenes and end up mostly just dragging the pace of the film back. Given that the film has a run time of just under 3 hours, there is a lot of unnecessary back story here that could easily have been cut without affecting either the tone of the film or the impact of the story at all.

Thankfully Aishwarya Rajesh is excellent and hits every emotional note just right. Her frustration at her inability to get any answers in palpable and infuses every frame. Although her grief is more restrained, it’s still a poignant backdrop to the second half of the film and Aishwarya gives Ariyanachi plenty of dignity along with amazing resilience and a determination that feels very real. Although it seems perhaps too obvious, the moment where Virumaandi contrasts the return of Sridevi’s body with the interminable red tape and delays that meet Ariyanachi’s every attempt to repatriate her husband’s body does make an impact, more so because he doesn’t dwell on the disparity but moves quickly on to the next problem.

Some parts of the story are overly dramatic which doesn’t seem necessary given that the underlying tale is poignant enough to not need any further embellishment. Many of the flashback scenes refer to farmers rights, but these work much better when shown as part of Ariyanachi’s life in the village. Similarly, the social issues tackled by the film are most effective when part of the story, such as when Ariyanachi struggles to prove that she is indeed married to Ranasingam since the couple have no legal documents to show that the marriage took place. These scenes are where the film really comes to life, and Aishwarya Rajesh ensures that every scene is realistic and completely believable.

Although there are issues with the film’s length and the incessant flashbacks, overall this is one that deserves to be seen. The emotional storyline is carried well by Aishwarya Rajesh and the support cast, while the social issues are clearly important to highlight in these days of increasingly politicised issues around water rights and the increasingly large international workforce. I wish there had been more of a focus on Ariyanachi’s story, but there is still a lot to enjoy in Ka Pae Ranasingam. Well worth watching for Aishwarya Rajesh, Vijay Sethupathi and an introduction to the issues surrounding the death of workers overseas. 3 ½ stars.

Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom

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After tracking down a subtitled copy of Balaji Tharaneetharan’s début film, it took a little while to get around to watching the film. The synopsis wasn’t terribly inspiring; ‘a young man experiences retrograde amnesia after a cricket incident two days before his wedding’ and so, despite the presence of Vijay Sethupathi, I didn’t put it straight to the top of the pile. But I really should have known better. While not quite as good as Balaji Tharaneetharan’s later film Seethakaathi, NKPK has plenty of quirky humour and the story is much better than the one-line summary suggests. It’s funny, well told and best of all, the film is actually based on a true story that actually happened to one of Balaji Tharaneetharan’s friends. In fact the real-life Prem is the film cinematographer C Prem Kumar, while Bagavathi Perumal plays his real-life role as Prem’s desperate friend.

The plotline of the story really is as simple as the synopsis suggests, and yet there is so much more happening as Prem’s friends hide his amnesia from his bride-to-be and her family. And yet, the funniest part of the film isn’t the absurd lengths his friends go to in ensuring that no-one knows Prem has lost his memory. Rather it’s the baffled expressions on Prem’s face as he struggles to understand what is going on, and his repeated dialogue of the last few moments he can remember before he hit his head that raise the biggest laughs. Medulla oblongata has never sounded so funny!

The film starts with Prem discussing his problems with his friends, Bugs (Bagavathi Perumal), Saras (Vigneshwaran Palanisamy) and Balaji (Rajkumar). It’s a couple of days before Prem’s wedding and he’s worried because his fiancée’s family don’t like the match, his bike’s been stolen and he’s having problems with his boss. To take his mind off his woes, the friends decide to go and play a game of cricket, which Bugs takes far too seriously, while everyone else struggle to even hit the ball. But then, when running back to take a catch, Prem falls and hits his head. He seems fine, but as the friends are heading back home, Saras realises that something might be wrong. Prem keeps repeating the same thing, over and over again, with exactly the same phrasing and timing. He can’t remember that his bike has been stolen, and worst of all, he has no idea who his fiancée Dhanalakshmi (Gayathrie) is.

Because it’s a love marriage and the parents don’t approve, Bugs, Saras and Balaji spend the next few days doing absolutely everything they can to make sure no-one finds out and stops the wedding. They take Prem to a doctor who tells them that Prem could regain his memory at any time, or could potentially never remember, which means that they are continually on tenderhooks, waiting for that moment when Prem finally regains his memory. But instead, he just keeps going back to the moment when he falls and hits his head.

The friends are absolutely sure that Prem will be devastated if the wedding doesn’t take place, which seems a strange motivation for the extremes they go to, which even includes Saras jeopardising his own potential romance. But at the very end, there are stills of the actual wedding that the story is based upon, and by that stage it really does all make sense.

Vijay Sethupathi is simply amazing here, and brilliantly shows his internal confusion as he tries to work out what is going on, before losing the struggle and going back to the moment when he fell. His facial expressions are perfect, and I don’t know how he managed to keep repeating the same dialogue over and over again without cracking up laughing. The moment when he sees his bride and thinks she looks dreadful in all her makeup is sad and funny all at the same time. The writing is so well done that it’s possible to really feel for Dhanalaksmi and understand her hurt at Prem’s reaction, while still finding Prem’s comments hilariously funny.

Gayathrie doesn’t have very much to do, except stand beside Prem during the wedding, but she is such a talented actress, that even with little dialogue she gets across Dhanalaksmi’s love for Prem and also her despair at his attitude on her wedding day. The friends all have their own personalities, but it’s Vigneshwaran Palanisamy as Sara who really stands out as being the driving force behind the various schemes to shield Prem.

This is simply inspired and a very funny story which has been put together very well. The entire film only covers three days, a cricket match and a wedding, but despite being a little slow to start, once Prem loses his memory, there is a lot to enjoy. There are so many jokes, both visual and in the dialogue, but through it all, it’s Vijay Sethupathi who really stands out as a terrific performer. There is some real tension because the outcome of the wedding, Prem’s future and even his relationship with his friends is always in doubt, right p to the end. This is just a fun film and I recommend it to anyone who needs something to make them smile. 4 stars.

Sangathamizhan

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Vijay Chandar’s latest film starts out as a spoof comedy, but ends up as a fairly run-of-the-mill mass entertainer by way of a tired romance and routine ‘villain versus the villagers’ plot. Vijay Sethupathi is always watchable, even in this clichéd action adventure, but the rest of the cast get short-changed by the screenplay, having little to do except either adore or loathe the lead character. There is plenty of action, comedy and even Vijay Sethupathi dancing, but by the end there really is little that makes Sangathamizhan stand out from the rather large pool of similar films.

The opening scene of the film typifies much of the first half. It’s a jumble of mass action and hero-centric plot with a mixed bag of comedy that generally works better than the dramatic dialogue. As aspiring actor Murugan, Vijay Sethupathi has a classic hero entrance before single-handedly reducing a gang of villains to groaning bodies on the floor, while his friend Soori (Soori) cracks a few jokes and performs the usual slapstick side-kick role. It works to some extent as neither Vijay nor Soori seem to be taking any of the dialogue seriously and there are a lot of sideways glances and self-referential jokes in the opening sequences. But the inclusion of a college girl who needs to be rescued from rape, some tasteless jokes about a group of prostitutes and rather humdrum action make this rather more cringeworthy than it needed to be, particularly for the start of the film.

The first half also includes a woeful romance with a truly terrible introduction scene for Kamalini (Raashi Khanna). Murugan crashes Kamalini’s birthday party and then proceeds to scold her for being so generous as to provide him with a free drink at the bar. Somehow this is supposed to make her intrigued by Murugan rather than acting as most women would in this situation and just calling for the bouncer to kick him out of the nightclub. At no point does the love affair between the rich industrialist’s daughter and out-of-work actor seem plausible despite the clichéd and formulaic development of the relationship. The only good thing about their romance is the inclusion of the upbeat and jaunty Kamala (which features men in colourful tutus as backing dancers), even though it doesn’t fit into the narrative at all. In fact, generally the music from Viviek-Mervin is excellent throughout, while the lyrics are beautifully translated by rekhs, who doesn’t just translate the words but makes the lyrics rhyme and scan perfectly. Why doesn’t everyone do this instead of providing literal translations that make absolutely no sense at all?

The plot begins with a courtroom scene where a group of villagers are trying to prevent a copper processing plant from opening in their area. The land appears to have been acquired illegally and for a change the judge seems to be on the villagers’ side, giving the developer just a few weeks to come up with evidence to prove that the factory won’t be a health risk to the villagers. This all becomes much clearer in the second half, which moves into flashback mode to explain the fight between the owner of the copper factory, Kamalini’s father (Ravi Kishan) and the village headman Devarajan (Nassar). Also drawn into the fight is the local politician (Ashutosh Rana) and the rest of Devraj’s family, including his son Sangathamizhan (Vijay Sethupathi).

The tone of the second half is much darker than the first, and from a frivolous romance comedy, it changes into a more dramatic action film. This disconnect between the two halves of the film is jarring as the shift happens suddenly (there is no interval given in Australia) and the mood change is relatively extreme.  Despite this, the second half is actually significantly better since it also includes Nivetha Pethuraj as Thenmozhi, Thamizhan’s romantic interest. Thenmozhi is a better realised character than Kamalini, despite her short time on-screen, with sharper dialogues and actions that actually make sense. Nivetha also has a good on-screen chemistry with Vijay in the romantic scenes between the two characters, which is a significant improvement on the lacklustre interactions he has with Raashi Khanna in the first half. The love story here is also more plausible, making me wonder why so much time was wasted earlier in the film, when the second half has a more convincing story, sharper action and generally improved performances from the entire cast. The main downside is Ravi Kishan’s rather anaemic villain who just doesn’t seem evil or ruthless enough, and Kamalini’s rather bizarre justification for accepting her father’s final fate.

The glue that manages to hold the entire film together (just) is Vijay Sethupathi and his frequent knowing nods to the camera seem to signify that he finds the entire story just as ridiculous as the audience. At times the film dips closely towards satire and throughout the first half I kept thinking that Vijay Chandar was trying to poke fun at the mass genre. But then the second half moves quickly towards more serious topics and the jokes dry up, along with Soori’s virtual disappearance from the screen as the film moves into more straight-up action territory. It doesn’t quite gel there either however as there is too much baggage hanging around from the first half that acts as a distraction. The two characters, Murugan and Thamizhan are also very similar which further undermines the dramatic ‘reveal’ of the finale. The positives are the music, Vijay Sethupathi and rekhs excellent subtitles, but otherwise this is a rather pedestrian and predictable outing that is really one only for fans.