Doing a remake involves lot of care and sensitivity. Its success lies in not reminding the audience of the original or draw comparison. 'Vaanam', inspired by Tollywood's 'Vedham', is on the dot, courtesy director Krish's narration and versatile performance of lead players, especially Silambarasan.
If Karthik of 'Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya' worked wonders thanks to Silambarasan's encore, his role as Cable Raja in 'Vaanam' goes a step further to portray his firm grip over the medium.
A combination of five stories meeting in the climax, 'Vaanam' is a novel attempt in Tamil cinema and Krish pulls it off well thanks to a beautifully conceived script and well-written characters. It is like reading a set of interesting short stories.
Let's check out what these five stories are: Cable Raja (Silambarasan) is a fun-loving middle class youth. As like anyoneelse, he aspires to make it big marrying a wealthy girl.
Comes to his help are his two friends (Santhanam and VTV Ganesh) to help him make some money and take his girlfriend Pooja (Jasmine) for a party in a star hotel.
Saroja (Anushka) does the world's oldest profession. She is in huge demand from rich people. A gold at heart, she cares for others too. Unable to put up with troubles in her profession, she decides to escape from the brothel racket. But fate intervenes and she falls into the hands of the local police and she is on the run.
Bharath (Bharath) wants to become a big rock star. When he misses the flight he plans to reach the place by road to perform a concert. But the travel brings in him a lot of change and his outlook towards life changes.
Then there is a story of Rahim (Prakash Raj) and wife Zara (Sonia Aggarwal), who are affected by communal clashes in Kovai. They lose their children and are in search of peace.
And there is a story about a poor weaver and his daughter-in-law (Saranya), who suffer at the hands of a money-lender. They come with a mission to Chennai to set their financial position right.
What happens when all these men and women meet at one point is a real twist. Krish deserves accolades for attaching human emotion and elements everywhere in all these stories.
Silambarasan easily steals the show. He is immaculate and impeccable. The actor's mastery in handling a complex role is well. He is complimented well by Ganesh and Santhanam thanks to their humouours one-liners.
Prakash Raj is as solid as rock. His subtle emotions are noteworthy. Anushka is impressive as a commercial sex worker. Bharath looks flashy and does his best as a rock star. He plays to his strength. Vega, Saranya and 'Kadhal' Dhandapani are also there.
Yuvan Shankar Raja's songs are good and the pick of the lot undoubtedly is Yevandi Unnai Peththan... which is already a chartbuster. He scores well in background score, while Anthoy's scissors does its best to ensure momentum. Thanks to Nirav Shan who has canned every story in different light tones.
All said, there are some minor hiccups especially in the pace and tempo in few stories. However 'Vaanam' is no mainstream masala movie. But an attempt worth to cherish.
