BIG SCREEN
Movie: Vaagai Sooda Vaa
Cast: Vimal, Iniya, K. Bhagyaraj, Thambi Ramaiah, Ponvannan, Elango Kumaravel
Veluthambi (Vimal) comes to the village, Kandeduthaan Kadu, as a teacher just to gain an experience certificate that will make him eligible for a government job. The villagers, children included, are devoid of all education.
Illiteracy being their Achilles' heel, they are exploited by the employer and Veluthambi too finds it difficult to convince the children to come to school.
How both the problems are solved forms the main story that Sargunam, the director, actively gets into only in the later part of the second-half.
Strongly backed
So what constitutes the bigger part of the film is the mild comedy sprinkled throughout the film in a refined manner.
Commendable performances by the children and other characters, and well constructed songs by debutant music director Ghibran, add to the movie's strengths.
Being her first Tamil film as female lead, Iniya does a good job. Vimal's facial expressions and dialogue delivery remind us of his performances in his previous films. Though the song Aaana Aavanna song fits well into the storyline, the children's abrupt affinity towards education could have been evinced well.
In the end, the film is dedicated to the 21,50,00,000 child labourers in this world.
When our wallets have served to promote many commercial movies for the sake of our favourite heroes, without paying heed to quality and logic, why can't we spare some for a good film like “Vaagai Sooda Vaa”?
Bottomline : The critics' choice of rating the movie is limited to either “good” or “splendid”. And that speaks for itself.
A.B. KARL MARX SIDDHARTHAR, Anna University Alumni
