Vadhandhi: The Fable of Velonie

Vadandhi (Rumour - The Fable of Velonie) is yet another engaging whodunit from the creators of the gripping crime thriller Suzhal, Pushkar and Gayatri. This time around, the eight-part series is created, written and directed by Andrew Louis and unravels a series of web and deceit.

A young woman, barely aged 19-20 is mysteriously found dead in the middle of a shooting spot in the outskirts of Kanyakumari. When she is mistaken for the lead actress of the film, a promising upcoming star, rumour mills start doing the rounds. As a bolt from the blue, the actress herself calls the film crew and states that she is alive, the spotlight turns on the young woman at the mortuary. Who is she ? How did she end up in the shooting spot ? And most importantly, who is Velonie ?

The man roped in to investigate the case is none other than SJ Suryah himself. And the actor as Sub Inspector Vivek fits into the role like a glove. As SI Vivek begins his investigation into the crime, a series of lies and deceits are unearthed. Suspicion falls on a number of people, including writer KI Sebastian (Nassar), who is captivated by her charm and calls her poetry and Sanjeev (Avinash Raghudevan) and Ashwin Kumar (Santhosh). As you delve deep into the plot, the makers reveal that Velonie's single mother Ruby (played by Laila), who runs a mansion called Eraniel, is not on great terms with her daughter. They break into frequent quarrels and we get to know that Velonie is engaged to (Vignesh) Kumaran Thangarajan without her interest.

Throughout the investigation, Velonie is constantly talked about for the way she looks. For instance, Ramar (Vivek Prasanna), tells Vivek during the course of the investigation that Velonie's beauty went to waste since she died so young. Even as Vivek gives him a nasty glare, the audience gets the message. And this includes the media houses and editor Sethuraman (Hareesh Peradi) who decide to sensationalise the news and cash in on the gossip and her looks. There is a force-fitted scene where a bunch of IT employees discussing Velonie and her character.

Vadandhi has perfect edge-of-the-seat moments like it did in Suzhal, but the web of lies keep you hooked to the story nevertheless. SJ Suryah owns his role as SI Vivek and has come up with a measured and nuanced portrayal of the character. Laila too plays her role in a subtle manner, and so are the supporting characters Nassar, Vivek Prasanna to name a few. However, the stars of the show are SJ Suryah and Sanjana, who plays the charming Velonie. She takes to her role like fish to water and it seems like it was tailor-made for her.

The cinematography and background music are quite impressive, too. The drawback however, is the duration of the episodes which are at times unnecessarily stretched way too long.

A gripping crime thriller that keeps you hooked until the last minute.

Kudos to the music director for crafting a perfect bgm for a neat crime thriller with a major support of brilliant cinematography a crime thriller can't get better than this...one can feel easily a wave of this webseries in a few days which is going to raise the eyebrows in other states also...A standing ovation for pushkar and Gayathri for yet a remarkable production after the success of "SUZHAL THE VORTEX".... Now Andrew Louis will be ina limelight and will be strangled by great production companies for next similar ventures .... definitely a strong recommendation and to be true I am not going to review anything about plot or other aspects as this webseries has a lot to speak to those who watch it....make sure u watch it at one full stretch to enjoy its core idea of screenplay.....

Watched this after seeing the reviews (Pls pass over the Kumaran Thangarajan Fan Club Reviews as the enitre web series is shadowed by its highlights. His performance is also lovely and is a subset of some extraordinary work by the entire crew).

The story screenplay, bgm, casting are all excellent, Kudos to the director to bring an entirely new unseen backdrop to tamil and a big appreciation to the language and dialect trainers who have done a great work. Since this dialect is new, hence you may have to repeat a few scenes to get a better understanding in a few places.

All the best for the sequel. Really looking forward from this team.

I have no idea how this show has good reviews. I think the only reason this exists is because SJ suryah did an excellent job as a cop in 'Maanaadu'. Vadhandhi is an unbelievably illogical story with terrible writing, bad acting and even worse dialog delivery. The cops do such a bad job that you start squirming in exasperation - they don't even collect basic statements from people at the site of crime and people related to the victim. Suspense is purely lack of logic, there are convenient gaps in the story that are actually massive holes. I think this is made for people who watch Bigg Boss, maybe they will think this show is good. The benchmark is so low in Tamil web series that even this trash is considered acceptable.

Good investigation thriller.

Slow paced script... Amazing background music Long web series , twist and turn are less.. But overall nice investigation thriller with good acting little bit let down by Average story line.. Series like candy , Aranayak have better script writing... But amazing acting lifted the story.. Amazing cinematography and Excellent background score.. SJ SURYA lifted the whole story on his shoulder..Very attractive Female lead sparkle the story... amazing acting by her All supporting cast sone their role properly.. Long web series but very compelling and Good enough to watch it... Good investigative thriller.