The distinction between a commercial and non-commercial film often seems false. After all, every film looks to make money. Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran (VVV) is certainly one of the most ‘commercial’ film to release in recent times. It has all the necessary elements – flashy posters, colourful clothes (so colourful, you wish you had brought sunglasses into the movie hall), dance songs, bar songs, the holy trinity of comedy (Soori, Robo Shankar, Rajendran), and most important of all, a complete lack of logic. The film’s crew, in all their promotional videos and interviews, have been unabashed about the fact that the film is there to make the audience laugh. It certainly does that.
*****
VVV revolves around Murugan, a tailor who serves as a close aide to an MLA, ‘Jacket’ Janakiramam, a former tailor. There’s also Murugan’s best friend Chakkarai (Soori), who ‘accidentally’ marries Pushpa, a woman who has history with every man Chakkarai later encounters. He is subsequently just known as ‘Pushpa Purushan’ throughout the film. Nikki Galrani plays a ‘Nermaiyana Police adhigari’, walking around in clothes a little too fashionable clothes for a town that small. No complaints though. The film self-admittedly isn’t bothered with logic. When Robo Shankar has an accident, their lives are thrown into chaos. The story picks up from there.
There are so many comedians in the film that everything else feels like an interruption. VVV loses steam only when the leading duo (in name, at least) of Vishnu Vishal and Nikki Galrani enter the frame. Whenever the film turns to their scene, there’s an abrupt shift. It’s as if they have nothing to offer except fashionable (read: out of place) costumes and loud dance numbers.
*****
Recommended
Robo Shankar, with his antics as a child trapped in an adult’s body, is the show stealer. A 15-minute scene where he continually repeats a story is easily one of the best written comic scenes we’ve seen in recent times. The audience is left in splits. In another scene, he runs behind a cotton candy seller, but accidentally gathers a following when people think he’s leading a protest.
The comedy is so well-written that audiences are left chuckling long after the end credits. But, that’s also the problem with the film. The story around these excellent scenes is so weak in contrast, that it’s hard to remember what is happening by the end of the film. Logic may be out of the window, but surely, story shouldn’t meet the same fate?
*****
VVV may have been Vishnu Vishal’s chance to shine as a ‘commercial’ hero, but as he himself admits, comedy is the real hero of the film. And it’s the comedians who deserve the title ‘Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran’.
*****
The Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.