Vaathi…Coming..

 

With relative references from the famous ‘Vaathi..Coming..’ song from ‘Master’ movie and Hindi movie ‘Super 30’, ‘Vaathi’ is an ode to that one single teacher, who pushes the boundaries, fights against the corrupt education machinery and does wonders for the students of a small village.

Pros

·         Dhanush is a powerhouse of acting, as he seamlessly conveys multiple emotions through his eyes and plays the part of ‘Balamurugan’, the teacher, perfectly.

·         Samyukta Menon, conveys all the emotions precisely and certainly up for a long road ahead in Tamil movies.

·         The music by ‘G V Prakash’ is quite a show stealer, with Shweta Menon’s ‘Vaa Vaathi’ quite a pleasing chartbuster. The BGM in a couple of scenes definitely elevates the movie.

Cons

·         Director ‘Venky Atluri’ from Tollywood has set up the story as a bilingual and except Dhanush, Samudrakanni and Kun Karunas, the other characters feel more from a Telugu movie than a Tamil one. This robs the core intensity of this story.

·         The story, screenplay as the execution requires that one extra push to have conveyed quite a strong social message for this movie quite effectively. Logical reasoning of school teachers only teaching 12^th grade feels quite empty.

·         Samuthirakani as the protagonist does a decent job but could have been a little more menacing. The perceived cat and mouse game just does not seem to hold on.

 

Climax revisited – Spoilers Ahead!!

Sometimes a very strong climax can salvage a movie. In this case, as the story ends, I feel a few modifications would have been good to not end the story on a whimper.

As the three kids learn about the teacher Balamurugan (Vaathi), it would have been picked up by the press and created quite a stir. As the 30 village students (who have had successful careers) search for their master, it could have been shown that the Teacher was quietly prepping up another 30 odd poor students in Ooty to become the next topper. Dhanush could then been shown then to address the large coaching center than the village students had set up with Samuthirakani sitting in the front seat, apparently accepting Dhanush’s persistence and a rousing reception for the all-enduring teacher.

 

Sometimes you feel how much impact a movie would have had, had it just taken the next few hard steps. ‘Vaathi’ falls into that category which feels it is nearly there, but not enough. If you are ready to glance through the relative logical shortcomings and have a Sunday afternoon to pace through, this movie is a good clean family entertainer. Do let me know in your thoughts on this movie.