One of the main factors that make Bollywood movies a huge hit is the depiction of social issues. The industry has always done this, and Vaathi is another example. Vaathi is the first Tamil movie by the director Venky Alturi. He made his directorial debut with the Telugu movie ‘Tholi Prema,’ was proved to be a great hit. This movie was written by Venky only and was produced by Suryadevara Naga Vamsi.
It was shot simultaneously in both Tamil and Telugu films produced by Sithara Entertainment and Fortune Four Cinemas. Initially, It was scheduled to be released on 2nd December 2022, but later it was postponed. In November, it was again scheduled to be theatrically released on 17th February 2023. Therefore, It started its shows in the cinema halls on 17th February and got a large audience at the start only.
The main protagonists of the movie are Dhanush and Samyuktha. The other cast includes Sai Kumar, Tanikella Bharani, Rajendran, Shrutika, and many others in supporting roles. The whole cast includes:
Dhanush is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist, and playback singer who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. Despite the fact that it has been 20 years since Dhanush made his Kollywood debut, it is evident that he does not take his success for granted.
He is a very versatile actor in Tollywood as well as Bollywood. The audience always appreciates his works, just like this movie. Dhanush plays the role of Bala in the government school. He, with his exemplary acting skills and performance, plays every role with such ease and smoothness.
Samyukta is a Malayalam Indian actress who made a debut with the Malayalam movie ‘Popcorn’ in 2015. Though the movie was unsuccessful, she caught the attention of many great directors and filmmakers and won the hearts of the audience.
Meenakshi, in the movie, plays the role of a biology teacher at the same government school where Bala works, played by Samyuktha. She is seen performing flawlessly along with Dhanush in her movie presence. She is kept occupied with the same simple template with loud dialogues.
P. Sai Kumar as the village president, Tanikella Bharani as Thanigachalam, School Headmaster, Aadukalam Naren as Bala’s Father, Hareesh Peradi as Mohammed Ansari, Bala’s teacher, Praveena as Bala’s mother, Ken Karunas as A. M. Kumar (Muthu). Other characters too justify their roles in the movie. The soulful music was composed by G.V. Prakash Kumar. The release of songs was as follows:
- On 10th November 2022, the first track, “Mastaaaru Mastaaru” in Telugu and “Vaa Vaathi” in Tamil, was released.
- On 17th January 2023, the second track, “Banjara” in Telugu and “Naadodi Mannan” in Tamil, was released.
Vaathi Movie Plot
Vaathi is set in the 90s, a period of economic liberalization, Privatisation, and Globalisation in India. How a teacher tries to survive and transform the lives of underprivileged students through an innovative education system of his own despite the presence of dominating private players in the market forms the backbone of the story.
This movie is based on a very relevant issue, and this relatability between the audience and the story plot is a very big hit for the movie. Notwithstanding the politics of education in the 1990s, an assistant math teacher undertakes the difficult work of transforming poor kids.
It is a film on the obstacles that exist in the educational system and how the teacher helps pupils tackle these challenges, whether they are related to race, gender, caste, class, or their intersections. The film starts with a set in which three students, in search of an erotic movie, play an old CD cassette, but with surprise, the CD plays a man writing a mathematical formula on the blackboard.
The man was no other than Dhanush, the main lead. Apart from being a moral message movie with no surprise, this movie is also an action movie. As soon as the first scene, the audience experienced a bunch of punches too.
Just like the plot of “The Hindi movie – Super 30 starring Ritik Roshan” Vaathi revolves around the life of Bala, a hardworking school teacher (he used to be an assistant Maths teacher) who is sandwiched between the politics of the prevailing education system, the private system in the 90s. He is left to prove his mettle in an abandoned government school without support from his parents and administration.
In the initial set, he is seen going to the government school. When the students of that school showed exemplary performance in their papers than the private organizations, he was sent away from the school area.
The whole movie plot revolves around how he still finds a path to help these students in their knowledge gathering and education. Most of the sets of the movie are simple and easily understandable, which helped the movie gain higher views.
The movie is not focusing on a romantic track but still has some small angles for it to make the movie more engaging. The main lead, Dhanush, plays a very intriguing role of an underdog as he leaves the village and still helps the students to achieve great heights. This benefits the movie by touching the audience through its genuine true moments.
Vaathi Movie Review
But as every coin has 2 sides, this movie also has some untouched corners. The film falls out of the main track when the script becomes pretentious in the content and dialogues. The audience felt that the dialogue of somewhat out of place in some scenes, which reduced the girt of the plot. The movie’s second half is a better hit than the movie’s first half.
The director and the back team could have avoided the comedy scenes in the 1st half, as the scenes failed to make the audience laugh. The protagonists could have led to handle conflicts in more effective ways, which could have left more impact on the audience. While some scenes are well acted and emotionally catch the audience’s interest, some scenes look unnecessarily imposed in the movie.
Vaathi tries to focus on and resolve some social issues, but while resolving each negative issue, other issues are not at all considered. Every complex problem is packaged as something that can be handled with an inspirational speech or a fight.
Vaathi: An Ironic Movie in the Aspect of Social Issues
When villagers are not able to understand the importance of education, he tells them the story of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Everyone gets impressed by the motivational speech, and the next morning, all the students attend school. However, It is not at all clear how all the students of the village seem to be in the same year.
Gender discrimination is also resolved by Bala. In this context, when a girl is asked not to go to school by her mother, Bala intervenes and gets permission to go. But before she got permission, her father slapped her mother for not allowing her initially. So we can say that aspect of domestic violence is not taken into the subject when considering gender discrimination.
The plot is supposed to be about young people and their future; they are shown as stereotypes rather than as individuals. In the film, where education is of utmost importance, there is little attempt to investigate what education truly means or what these young people are interested in studying – the focus is solely on obtaining state ranks and passing the TNPCEE (Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination).
In one of the scenes, Bala is seen slapping the young students if he believes they are also going astray. Ideas like encouraging independent thought are nowhere to be found in the plot, as Bala expects students to do whatever they are told, only not on their own. The audience believes that Vaathi could not have been possible without Dhanush.
It just passes the benchmark of a good movie because of the exceptional efforts he has put into the movie. Overall the film has a very relatable moral message to be sold in the market. Though the script could have been better, the simplicity of the script and the overall run time is a great factors for engagement. The overall rating for the movie will 2.5/5
Our Rating: 2.5/5.
Also read: Top 50 Movies To Watch With Family Right Now
