Yes. This is what ’Varanam Ayiram’ means, and it is from an ancient verse in Tamil denoting the love of Krishna and Andal.
The plot is very small comparing with the length of the movie. The thin story of a thick relationship between a Dad and his son, both superbly played by Surya, is deftly handled by Gautham Vasudev Menon
As most of his films are ’inspired versions’ of Hollywood flicks, I had a doubt that this must be based on ’Forrest Gump’, but no, this is a simple tale of human relations, and I doubt, taken from his own life. It tells the story of a lad who grows and grows into a matured army man.The parents have a love story behind them, which is often narrated to him by his mom . The son following his parents’ footsteps also falls deeply in love with a beauty, whom he meets in the train. She doesn’t believe in ’love at first sight’ and is on her way to US for her MS. He follows her..tragedy follows...and he now becomes a drug addict. Life has its own twists, and he turns a new leaf, becomes an army man, finds a new love. The film starts with the dad’s death, and then unfolds the son’s narration of their relationship.
The movie is of course slow and lengthy compared with the regular standards. It lacks comedy, like most of Menon’s films. But after seeing all his movies, here I find a certain maturity and style in film making. There is a rhythmic flow in the narration, except for the episode of the child kidnapping and rescuing. The scenes of Surya with Sameera Reddy are picturised with a romantic lens, you should say. She steals the scenes with her beautiful close ups and facial gestures.
Surya has scaled new heights with this film. His performance tries to be in par with Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Hassan and he excels in it with his make ups and body language. He occupies every frame of the film like Kamal in Dasavatharam. From a school kid to an old man in death bed, it is a visual treat to watch his transformations. The dual act provides him ample scope to exhibit his versatility. The simple movements, gestures and styles reveal the great homework he should have done. His drug addiction days are superbly executed. The changes in his physique from a lean teenager to a six pack body builder in one role and from a young man of yester years growing into a jolly but serious veteran is something to be seen to be believed. And no wonder the film took such a long time to shoot.
And Simran comes next in her performance as Surya’s wife/mother. Her younger days are like seeing a Shammi Kapoor film of the 60s and the heroines in them. On the technical side, Cinematography to Music are of very high standards. Cinematographer Ratnavel, Music Director Harris Jeyaraj, Editor Antony and Art Director Rajeevan have given their best. The locales, the army flight, the dual role special effects, the bits of music from the world of Pop, Rock and Roll, Ilayaraja and O.P.Nayyar; the painstaking sets like the interior of a railway carriage..everything smells of class and Gautam should be really proud of them.
The movie is certainly not for people who seek plain entertainment and front benchers, as most of the characters freely mix English in their conversations. The length of many scenes is really killing, especially the episode of Surya saving the child, and on the whole the movie could be cropped still more. As Gautham has the habit of naming his films in Chaste Tamil, he has given this poetic title, and only in the last frame, we get a lame excuse for the title ’Varanam Ayiram’.
And to add, I saw this movie in the company of a proud father, Veteran actor Sivakumar, dad of Surya, and I could see gleams of pride in his eyes, while watching his son’s performance. And please don’t think I have praised this movie for this sake (lol).