Varanam Aayiram

Varanam Aayiram is Gautam Menon’s tribute to his hero. This is his Autograph albeit for a niche audience. Little details in the movie are so personal, like the father Surya calling his son Kiddo, or referring to himself as Dadda or just Simran and Krishna (the father) lying down next to Surya and holding him down. Its something we see everyday around us but so rarely on screen. However, I did get an overdose of the word Daddy by the end of the movie.

Even when people thought Gautam Menon’s track in Minnale was sappy, I found it very cute. So, needless to say, the romantic track between both Krishna and Malini (Simran) and Surya and Meghna (Sameera Reddy) had me going awww. Krishna says ‘Hi, I’m Krishna…’ in that ‘Mundhinam Parthene’ just the way I had imagined it in my head. When Surya fishes out his guitar and starts playing ‘en iniya pon nilave’ it reminded me of Madhavan going down on one knee and singing Happy Birthday in Minnale. Simran looks very cute in both her retro look and her Mummy attire. Super comeback Simran. Meghna doesn’t have too much do other than looking pretty which she does flawlessly. She looks much taller than Surya but they look amazing togther. Priya (Divya Spandana) has a small but very effective role to play. She effortlessly slips into the role and looks her part.

Surya looks gorgeous as both the father and son. He looks hot even in the disheveled junkie look. Like Priya says in the movie, he looks like a million bucks all through. The amount of effort that has gone into both his looks and acting is commendable. He’s re-emerged as the best guy to bet on when it comes to living a part. When he started dancing in Adiye Kolludhey and Anjala, it was hard to believe that its the same guy stood around looking pretty in ‘Aval varuvala.’ When he was showing off his oh-so-hot body, I was drooling all over. Actually the IMA look also worked for me, especially the one shot when he’s out with Priya wearing a formal blue shirt. Sigh!

Thamarai’s lyrics were definitely a highlight as was Rathnavelu’s cinematography. There was also a lot of attention on the props and the sets according to the time period. I was personally thrilled to see to quite a few scenes shot at the Anna Nagar tower. The scenes of his school days and the brawl was shot in a street behind the tower park. Cheap thrills.

The movie worked for me, overall. But there were parts that seemed to be thrown in. Like the whole Delhi kidnapping thing which didn’t work at all. Before you could make sense of the whole new element in the movie, its over and gone. The dialogs were very Gautamish. But at times, I felt there was more English than necessary in the dialogs. Like at places, Deepa Venkat’s dubbing for Simran in English felt a li’l off. It didn’t flow. I actually didn’t mind the length of the movie cos other than the Delhi bit, which was very over the top and unbelievable, everything else fit. Even the constant voice-over when Surya’s on his own without his Dad tries to piece together Krishna’s role in his life was not so bad.

On the whole, I came out of the movie hall feeling good. Waking up at 8 on a Sunday morning wasn’t a waste afterall.

Rating: 4/5