Remember the Sibi Malayil movie Ishtam that dealt with the romance of the elderly people? Watching the first movie of Anoop Sathyan, Varane Avashyamund is like watching an adaptation of Ishtam. With a muddled first half and a “message-oriented” second half dipped in humor, I would say Varane Avashyamundu is a passable comedy that doesn’t have much to make us remember or talk about it once we finish watching it.
The story is set in Chennai and Neena is a single mother and Nikhitha aka Nikki is her daughter. Neena teaches French in an institute and she is also a dancer. Nikhita is now actually looking for a partner through matrimonial portals. To the life of these two women came a man named Unnikrishnan who is a retired major from the Indian Army. Unnikrishnan was single and had anger management issues. The romantic equation that got developed between Unnikrishnan and Neena becomes an issue in the life of the three and how they eventually tackle this acceptance issue is the soul of Varane Avashyamund.
The content of the movie Varane Avashyamundu is extremely slim. Anoop Sathyan is pretty much following the pattern his father has been following in the past decade or so. When I told someone that it felt like a rebranded Sathyan Anthikkadu movie, the immediate response was that “So, it’s good right?” and I couldn’t confidently say no to that reply. Anoop Sathyan has made a film that is in a way an engaging comedy. But the issue is that the writing has no interest in being slightly more nuanced. There are moments in the movie for which I did laugh and what makes this movie passable is those witty moments and maybe the reduction in the drama quotient. Anoop is not trying to establish a strong bond between the characters and because of that we are not really overwhelmed when there is that fixing of issues happening on screen. The humorous way of presenting the insecurities of a man who doesn’t know how to open up is the interesting part of this movie.
Suresh Gopi as Major Unnikrishnan deserves to be applauded for taking up this interesting role. Unnikrishnan is a likable character who is struggling to express his feelings. He understood the comical nature of the character and did it with ease. In terms of the scope to perform, I would say I was a bit disappointed by the character offered to Shobana as it never really tested her acting skills and relied more on how beautiful she is. The dialogue delivery of Kalyani Priyadarshan was terrible in the recent Tamil movie Hero (I don’t know whether that was dubbed). Just like how Urvashi’s character says in the movie, the smile of Kalyani is really cute and the decision to make singer Anne Amie dub for her was a really good one. The usually annoying Johny Antony was actually a big relief in this movie, especially in that first half where the story was really struggling to move on. KPAC Lalitha, Urvashi, Dulquer Salmaan and Sarvajit are the other names in the star cast.
There is a small sequence in the movie featuring Urvashi and Kalyani Priyadarshan and (Mild Spoiler Alert!) Urvashi’s character tells Nikki that she doesn’t want Nikki to come into her son’s life because she now knows what kind of a person her son really is. More than Major’s climax speech to travel back to the roots, this moment sort of stayed with me. I would like Anoop Sathyan to create more such moments in his movies in a more organic way rather than following the preachy template. Varane Avashyamund never really felt like a movie with a strong conflict. And there seems to be a slight confusion on how to treat the movie. Sometimes the reactions are on the funny side and at times it becomes overly sentimental. The visuals are okay with mostly flat lighting that sort of represents the lighter mood of the movie.
As I said, Varane Avashyamund is a watchable movie because of the light-hearted nature of the story and also because of watching Suresh Gopi in a funny and likable avatar. In terms of making there are several flaws, especially in the writing part. But the intent and the humor sort of cover-up those flaws and make it eligible for that onetime watch tag.
In terms of making there are several flaws, especially in the writing part. But the intent and the humor sort of cover-up those flaws and make it eligible for that onetime watch tag.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
