Vanam Kottatum (2020)

No, bro, listen to the kids...they don't want you to go back to Nattamai job...

It is hard to point the genre Vanam Kottatum belongs to, if at all there are genres in Tamil films, considering most directors would want to cram as much as they can…it has been the culture.

So, this will fit firmly into “family” film, considering the core of this film is the relationship between the quartet of father, mother, elder brother and a little sister. And then there are others, of course.

What happens is, in the flashback - which is like raisins in any Tamil film fruitcakes - we get to see Sarath Kumar making a supposedly righteous kill and his wife Radhika, to avoid the marauding villagers who do not take kindly to those without shame (hypocrisy is the biggest village harvest according to my lifetime knowledge of Tamil films). Sarath surrenders himself and goes to jail and Radhika moves to town to eke a living a bring up their son (Vikram Prabhu) and daughter (Aishwarya Rajesh).

When the film thankfully moves to the city and takes place years later when the boy grows up to be quite a maverick, finding his way around the market wholesale business, things start picking up. As expected, Sarath finishes his jail sentence and returns, and the kids do not take to his comeback kindly. He was not around when they slogged and made it where they are. Basically, the absent daddy issue that the Western society would blame on anything including termite problem at home.

But what makes this film work is that there was nary a dull moment. I attribute this to, not exactly the script which feels a bit too familiar, but to wonderful performances all around. Sarath and Radhika are like day and night when it comes to acting. The former goes from decent Scotch to watered-down juice, while Radhika can go from okay to apeshit insane crazy performance (watch her cry the entire flick in Pasum Ponn, that may have depleted the glycerine supply that year).

Here, both underplay where there are requirements and invites us to share their pain when it was necessary. I hate to say this, but Radhika was the key point of this entire flick, she held the whole film which could be shaky here and there without asking desperately for our sympathy. We naturally feel for her. There is this unnecessary plot involving love triangle or something, concerning Santhanu Bagyaraj who is well on his way to playing supporting roles (and did well here), but that will not weigh heavy in this film. It shouldn’t.

Of course, the purported main dude is Vikram Prabhu, who somewhat inherited his dad’s likeability factor…but not yet his granddaddy’s versatility. Soon, I hope because he really seems to shine in anything he touches. To me at least. Yes, I could be biased being a Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan and Prabhu Ganesa fan…but when Vikram Prabhu first appeared, I was armed up to my teeth to attack even the lightest register of ineptness in Prabhu’s junior.

But…but…dammit, he slipped between my punishing fingers. He IS good,  and as the Tamilians would say, I paraphrase, one that is born to a tiger will not become a cat. Well, actually, If Sivaji Ganesan was a goddam African Lion (majestic and doesn’t have to do much hunting, but when it roars…!), Prabhu would be a Bengal Tiger (fierce, imposing)  and I have a nagging feeling that Vikram Prabhu is a goddam Jaguar, which can give the tiger massive bruises, at least.

Enough “feline-esque” comparison, what matters the cast kept the film compelling to watch. The mood swings amiably, from tense to fun, especially the usual “Hero/Heroine” banter, to dead serious issues concerning the second heroine and her dad.

My grouse? Naturally, fast becoming my bad guy of most current films, the music. Someone should stop overpaying these composers who just want to impose their presence all over the place and God knows what bargaining chip they were using to subtly threaten the director to not to drop the background scores. Guys, we like Tamil film music just like the next guy (if the next guy loves MSV, Ilaiayaraja and A. R. Rahman), but please, please, don’t drop it like a glob of butter and toast the slices.

Vanam Kottatum (I have no clue why they sort of adapted the title from a Bond film…Skyfall, remember?) will neither surprise nor shock you. There are emotional moments but nothing that will push you to the extreme, say, like Bharathiraja’s Karuthama. It’s fun in places, dramatic where it should be, and the cast manages to make a somewhat simple plot get our attention.

And yes, for Vikram Prabhu this is another one of those steps for his ascension in this field. I believe I have said it before…with good projects and by further pushing himself, considering that he made an impressive debut just like his grandfather, he can do what his own father admittedly and unsurprisingly couldn’t…be better than daddy. Sorry, Prabhu, I love you, but fact is fact.