Varane Avashyamund

Varane Avashyamund comes packed with all the elements required for the quintessential feel-good flick. With no pathbreaking storyline and twists to boast of, what keeps Varane Avashyamund an engrossing 140-minute watch are the performances from the ensemble, often rising above the commonplace nature of the script. Don't get me wrong - Anoop Sathyan's writing does offer some great situational laughs (at times, the way his father's films did) but it unabashedly rides on the effervescence of the performers.

Kudos to DQ for picking a less prominent role in the script, not taking valuable screen-time away from the folks who deserve it - I'm referring to the nostalgic pairing of Suresh Gopi (who plays Major Unnikrishnan) and Shobana (who plays Neena). They both play their age, one a retired army veteran and the other a divorced French tutor, residing in a rather-upscale apartment complex in Chennai. When I mention Chennai, I like how Anoop sets up the city as a character of its own. Everyone who has visited or lived in Chennai at some point in their lives (or still do) will strike a chord with it.

Nikitha (Kalyani Priyadarshan), as opposed to most urban women in their mid-20s, is keen on finding her matrimonial match the conventionally arranged way. While this happens on one side, her rather-romantic mother finds love the way love is usually found - spontaneous, unexpected, and a classic case of 'opposites attract'. The slice-of-life feels are amped up by the presence of next-door neighbor Bibeesh (a.k.a Fraud - DQ), Major Unnikrishnan's counselor Dr. Bose (Johnny Antony), Dr. Sherly (Urvashi) - the mother of one of Nikitha's prospective grooms, and many other familiar characters.

Kalyani Priyadarshan makes a relatively okay acting debut - the smile is very cute, but the emoting needs to improve (well, it's just her first film!). The seniors especially put up a good show, often giving their new-gen counterparts a run for their money. Suresh Gopi is great fun to watch in his restrained (but rarely explosive) avatar while Shobana retains her on-screen grace. Urvashi too is a wonderful addition to the cast and her scenes with Kalyani are heartwarming.

The referencing of dialogues from the cult classics of Malayalam cinema (including the famous "Gange!") needed more bite. Plus, the lack of a substantial plot really starts to eat into the screenplay, more so in the second half. The liveliness of the cast really helps keep things watchable throughout. Varane Avishyamund carries the vibe of an upgraded Sathyan Anthikkad flick - family over everything, of course!

An engaging, feel-good , Family Entertainer that stands out because of the flawless acting of the entire cast despite cliche plot

Nothing new in terms of story telling, nor the songs were pleasing and the movie on the whole was pretty boring.

First off, kudos to the Malayalam superstars. Dulquer Salmaan (for backing this) and Director Anoop Sathyan for being the master craftsman.

Secondly, how does Kerala's cinema manage to impress us all with simplistic stories and presentation? Especially when they are filmed in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Tamil films these days (outside of Shankar and Gautham Menon) often show us a grungy feel, often depressing. The presentation shown here makes Chennai look like a million bucks. Even Bollywood has exhaustively shown films set in the gullys of Mumbai/Delhi/Punjab.

Coming to the film itself. The movie could have easily gone off track with the multiple tracks (Nikki-Teacher, Bipeesh-his brother-Akashavani, Unnikrishnan-Teacher, etc.) but everything here is inter-woven so well, you're invested in the proceedings.

There are many standout scenes, especially with Urvashi. Her scenes are a scream and her scenes with Nikki (Kalyani) will likely leave you teary-eyed. Suresh Gopi as the retired Major, Unnikrishnan shows that time hasn't been kind to him, but man when he delivers, he delivers. His speech in the climax is just outstanding. Then there's Shobana (what grace!), KPAC Lalitha (another stealer as the serial artiste and caretaker of Bipeesh and his brother). Enough has been said about Dulquer's efforts, he continues to deliver here, but the MVP is Kalyani Priyadarshan. The scope she didn't get in her previous Tamil film, HERO, she got the right opportunity and scope for performance and she SOARS.

Go watch it. Dear, Tamil filmmakers, you can still make feel-good family entertainers without resorting to bumbling comedians like Soori, Sathish, Rajendran and Yogi Babu adding reels and irritating us. Even a Santosh Subramaniyam (despite being a Telugu remake) is still repeat worthy than say a "Seema Raja" or a "Varthapadatha Valibar Sangam."

It's the starcast and the popular directors sons debut which probably created the hype for this movie, the script was very average, casting was good but the characters lacked depth and didn't connect the dots. Overall a very average movie experience. Also it was pretty poor effort to create jokes by repeating old movie dialogues of same actors.