Vellathooval

'Eeta’,‘AvaludeRavukal’,‘‘Meen’,‘Angadi’,‘Eenaadu’,‘Vartha’,‘Adiyozhukkukal’,'AdimakalUdamakal’, ‘Thrishna’,‘Athirathram’,‘Aavanaazhi’,‘Aksharangal’,‘AalkkoottathilThaniye’,‘Karimbinpoovinakkare’, ‘Anubhandham’,‘Kanamarayathu’,‘InspectorBalram’,‘Devasuram’……. the list is endless for the person who has directed more than 110 films; majority of them being super hits; he is none other than the hit maker IV Sasi, one of my personal favorites. He has given the maximum multi starrer big budget films in the 80s. Also keep in mind that this veteran holds the record for doing maximum films in a calendar year (12 films in 1977).

Now the ace director has come up with his new project ‘Vellathooval’, featuring young faces. Nithya, who acted in ‘Aakasa Gopuram’ and Ranjith Menon (‘Goal’ fame) are the main stars. They are supported by Lalu Alex, Jagathi, Seema, Ganesh, Vijayaragahavan, Seetha, Sithara etc. The script writer of the film is John Paul (‘Chamaram’, ‘Athirathram’, ‘Yathra’, ‘Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam’ fame) and Anandakkuttan, who did camera work for maximum number of films is capturing the frames. So, with all such experienced men in the team, the expectation is high. But the bad outcome of recent films from the director like ‘Tharadas vs Balram’ and ‘Symphony’ is still there in my mind…

The heroine (Nithya) hails from an upper middle class family. Her naughty behavior is always supported by her father (Lalu Alex), but her mother (Seema) was against her daughter’s peculiar character. Heroine’s classmate and neighbor (Ranjith Menon) was not rich, he has also got some family problems. The attitude of his drunkard step-father (Vijayaraghavan) created insecurity for him and his mother (Seetha). Being frustrated, both of them decided to leave their own houses. On the way, they met with a murder incident and returns when their families are tensed. In the end, the heroine gets punishment for accidently killing the villain.

The delay in watching a film usually make me upset, but once inside the theatre the feeling was same, but for a different cause. When will the show be finished…? I never expected such a poor and ordinary presentation of the film with such a bad script. Though the director had told the teen age love story in ‘Ina’ and got success in it; he should think that it was a good film that happened almost 27years before. But, here it is a total failure on the presentation side. We are not in the 80’s, the time is passed and we stand in the middle of ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Krish’, ‘Shivaji -The Boss’, ‘Dasavatharam’, ‘Twenty 20’ etc… (I know, all of them doesn’t belong to the group of “very good films”, its just an example to relate the period)

The family scenes of the heroine resemble a teleserial only. The director’s wife (Seema), performed with her own voice (since Kottayam Shantha, the usual dubbing artist for her is no more), has got maximum number of scenes to cry, which is intolerable sometimes. Police Commissioner (Ganesh) giving instructions to the ASI, most of the time by standing inside the house is also not good to see. Scenes involving police sometimes treated as comedy and in some areas it is serious. Heroine Nithya, an NRI malayalee used her own voice. It is not so good, but she covered it up with a good performance. Hero’s action and gestures is also not flexible. The songs and its visuals suits well for a film in early 90s only. The script writer John Paul has used the unusual usage “spare me” dialogue in some scenes. (I heard the same in many scenes in the film ‘Nammal Thammil’ released recently, in which he was the dialogue writer). Only advantage with this film is that the director / cameraman can add one more into their list of films if it is counted for a world record…!!!

‘Vellathooval’ is such a poor creativity from the veteran film makers who gave memorable projects at their good time.

Rating : 2.5 / 10