Varsham

Having an imperfect central protagonist has this advantage of creating sequences relatable to the general audience and if the filmmaker tries to convey certain ideas through such characters, the chances of impact are high. Varsham from director Ranjith Sankar does that with the help of power packed performances.

Varsham shows us the most significant segment of a businessman’s life. Venu runs a private money-lending firm in the town and he is very much focused on the wellbeing and secure future of his family, especially his only son Anand. An unfortunate incident totally shatters Venu. His dreams, plans and many things changes drastically. The lack of hope gradually creates a new dimension to his life. How all these developments happen is what Varsham talking about.

The best thing about this Mammootty starrer is that it has the actor doing a role that challenges his caliber. Scenes, which could have easily become over dramatic with its emotions looked excellent as the megastar gave his acting brilliance to it.  By making Venu this self-oriented, possessive, envious normal man, Ranjith Sankar manages to achieve something beyond his usual style of social preaching.  A draw back I could feel in the movie was the lack of depth in the post heartbreak struggle. If the director were able to show us a Venu who recovered from something beyond the sentimental challenges using the lessons from the harshest incident in his life, the film would have made a great impact.

The direction was good from Ranjith Sankar. Adding more practicality in that first song would have made it more beautiful. The humor level has shown a good increase from Punyalan Agarbathis onwards and there are many humorous conversations in the first half of Varsham. In those middle segments Mr. Sankar was successful in bringing the best out of Mammootty. Cinematography showed quality except for that first song. Nice music and background score. Edits were smooth.

Mammootty was brilliant as Venu especially when the character breaks down. Asha Sarath found it difficult to stay intact with Mammootty but was good overall. Prajwal Prasad was okay as Anand. Mamta was nice in her doctor character. Memorable small roles for actors like Sunil Sukhada, Santhosh Keezhattoor, Sajitha Madathil, Sudheer Karamana, T G Ravi, Irshad, Sivaji Guruvayur, Vinod Kovoor and many more. I really liked the elder brother character played by Hareesh Peradi.

Overall Varsham is a performance driven emotional story that does not have any twist or turns. The characters and events have so much of life that it will give us that required positive feel. My rating is 3.5/5 for this playhouse production. Treat for the fans of the ACTOR, not the STAR.