Vaaranam Aayiram

"Whatever happens life has to go on…" an important phrase in the film Vaaram Aayiram written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film is about a Father- Son relationship where Suriya (the protagonist) organize all his memories at the moment when he is on a mission (an army mission) while he heard about the demise of his father. Suriya went back through the times which he had spent with his father. It also welcomes you into the world of love; the eternity and divinity of that wonderful feeling.

"Vaaranam Aayiram" is a true and an honest attempt at making a realistic and meaningful Tamil film. The screenplay revolves around the most famous middle class in the world conversing in fluent English and it has all the elements that are most common within this group; studying MS in USA for instance. The direction is outstanding in some places and mostly good at other times. Gautam's conception of the Train scenes between Surya and Sameera Reddy is extremely refreshing. Harris Jeyaraj's music is of utmost quality, especially in the "Adiye Kolluthey" and "Nenjukkul Peidhidum" songs and that is evident from the fact that "Adiye Kolluthey" song was the first Tamil song to be played on V Channel.

Simran is perfect as a charming girl from the 70's and very gracious and respectable mother of the 90's. Sameera Reddy shows a lot of signs of good acting skills in addition to the oomph factor. Divya comes across as a very sensible lady expressing her thoughts with subtle emotions. The art director shows his brilliance when he brings to life the streets of 70's and 90's and the beauty of San Francisco bridge.

The actor, who eclipses everybody else with ease including the director, is Surya. Nobody would believe if he is the same actor after watching him in "Nerukku Ner" in 1998. He is growing by leaps and bounds in every movie and stands now as one of the real acting talents of the current generation in line with Vikram. He is extremely honorable as a father (except for some makeup goof-ups) and a truly pitiable young man having lost the love of his life. Not many actors can transform themselves completely to look like a teenager in such an incredibly realistic manner. Not stopping there, Surya has also taken extreme measures to build six packs and look like an Army Major that would even make some of the real military personnel feel ashamed. His dedication and acting abilities seem to be a serious contender for Kamal's ingenious work seen recently in Dasavathaaram.

Vaaranam Aayiram--itz Surya all the way...He roxx to the core....What a versatility he gave to the different phases of his character... As a teenager, lover, loser, commando, aged man his performance is top class...His body language and voice modulation all are excellent...I can say..now he is in big league with the finest actors of our country...

Coming to the film....itz an autobiographical one...so we cant blame the pace of the movie...Even though the narration is racy in first half. In second half there are lot of incidents...(transition from a loser to a good individual..) Surya-Sameera reddy love track is minty cool..n Surya-Divya track is also OK...Then the Delhi episode...IMO itz a refreshing idea frm Goutham..(To overcome the loss of tragic event in Hero's life..)Someone may not agree that...After that the army scenes...surya really looks like an army man...And the final dialogue from simran is also touching...

Performancewise Surya...His career best performance till date....Next comes Simran...Matured performance ..Both Sameera and Divya are apt for the roles...No gimmicks in Cinematography and Editing...BGM and music is beautifully synchronised with the mood of the film....

If you are looking for a masala entertainer, then stay away from here...

Overall, itz a must watch ....

First of all its a Gautham Menon film,lot of ups and downs,twist and turns yet its totally different from all the other movies its a Masterpiece given by him,the story deals with a simple relationship between father and son,but said in a extraordinary way. Its a visual treat for audience gave by Surya and Sameera Reddy on one half- The brighter part of the film deals with the childhood days with his dad and most beautiful part of the film his love with Megnha ,and the movie turns dark when Megnha dies,and Surya goes mad couldn't bare her loss,he goes on 2 drugs,then once again his hero-Dad comes in his life changes everything around him,turns his negatives into positives creating him a major in the Indian ARMY.The best of the film are is memories with his father...THANK u Gautham Menon for giving this film its not just a film its a fragment of my heart..

This movie was well made with nice melodious songs. What I really like about this movie was that it showed how fathers are important as well. Most movies always talk about mother as the motivation and somehow portray the dad as military style attitude or just thrown in for show but this movie was all about a dad's motivation, a dad who was living and compassionate. As for the actors: They really created magic with this movie. Surya was amazing. He really dug into the characters' role equally. His expressions and flawless Hindi and Tamil made this movie very enjoyable as well as his dual role. His attitude kept changing so it held the audience's eyes. Sameera Reddy was also wonderful. Despite the limited screen time, she really made a strong impact. Simran was also great. It has been a long time since I have seen her and her presence made the movie pleasant. Divya Spandana was not bad at all. I felt that she was thrown in but there needed to be something to make the movie going. The songs were very nice and melodious. Although it was not very fast paced, the creative sounds made it worthwhile. Only negative thought: I really wished that there were subtitles so that we could understand what Hindi words were spoken. Overall, this movie had a little bit of everything: love, violence, adventure, music and it is a definite must watch.