| Director:
Seeman |
 |
|
Cast: Madhavan, Bhavana,Gayatri, Marudhu, Muthusami, Mallika
Sukumaran, krishnamurthy |
 'Vazhthugal'
begins promisingly enough, the earlier scenes focusing on the
responsibilty of children towards their aging parents, and the
trauma the latter undergo when they are discarded by their
progenies. But as the narration proceeds, the script loses it's
focus, the director unable to maintain the same pace, feel and
interest.
The opening scenes of Kathiravan's apprehension, that marriage
may prove a block to his fulfilling his duties towards his
parents, are well brought out. Kathir's best friend caught in a
mental torment between his responsibility towards his aging
parents and a demanding wife, had packed off his parents to an
old age home. And Kathir didn't want this scenario repeated in
his life. But a chance viewing of an interview of Kayalvizhi on
a TV channel, her noble thoughts, simplicity and her expressing
her happiness at being part of a joint family, kindles in Kathir
the thought that she would make an ideal bride for him. Kathir
makes a trip to Coimbatore and devises a plan to worm his way
into her household and her heart. It's from here that the script
diverges, and it becomes more about love marriage versus
arranged marriage, with Kayal's grandpa a staunch opponent of
love marriages.
Some of the scenes here are far
fetched, like the way Kathir maneuvers his way into Kayal's
mansion. Again, the 'joint family' has about a dozen characters,
some of the actors being fresh faces. The lack of co-ordination
in their performance, and there being no depth in the episodes,
Kayal's 'joint family' seems more like a group of unrelated,
assorted characters brought under one roof!
 There
are a couple of fights thrust in, as if the director suddenly
became conscious of the lack of 'heroism' in his hero. The
characters and the episodes turn cliched and stereotyped here.
And in this scenario, if Madhavan seems disinterested and
lackluster, and Bhavana despite her chirpiness fails to connect
to the audience, it's not surprising.
One can appreciate the
director's love of the language, in the way he has named his
characters, and in his determination not to include non-tamil
words in his dialogues (with a couple of exceptions). But it
becomes a bit too verbal at times. 'Vazhthugal' may be a well
intentioned film. But it fails to entertain or touch a chord.
Malini Mannath
|
