‘Vaagai Sooda Va' (Tamil)
Director: A Sargunam
Cast: Vimal, Iniya, Bhagyaraj, Thambi Ramaiya, Ponvannan, Kumaravel and Shanthini
After their teaming in the delightful ‘Kalavani’, director Sargunam and actor Vimal return with their second joint venture, ‘Vaagai Sooda Va’. And this time, the director sets his plot in the backdrop of the late sixties, depicting the life of a youth, Velu Thambi, who aspires to be a teacher in a government school.
Velu’s experiences in a remote village where he goes as part of his training, changes his priorities and the whole outlook on life.
It’s a village with a couple of dozen hutment dwellers, and the barest of facilities. With brick making as their traditional occupation, the people live below the poverty line and are exploited by traders like J P (Ponvannan). Velu faces a tough time coaxing the kids to attend his classes in a makeshift tent. The early scenes of the movie in which the mischievous kids, playing various pranks on him and discrediting him in the eyes of their parents, present some humorous moments.
The kids’ sudden volte face in rooting for Velu and eagerly coming to attend his class has no convincing lead to it. The attitude of the parents too is a lukewarm one, taking no strong stand either way. There is the usual village madman (Kumaravel, impressive in a brief role), brought in just to add some colour to the drab ambience. There is this scene where he comes in the dead of the night to Velu’s hut and whispers ominously, ‘I have to go, but you remain here’.
Velu gives a puzzled look, and we wait for something to happen, but till the end, his words remain a puzzle unsolved. Vimal is more controlled and low key here. The final conflict between JP, the villagers and a rival trader seem forced and contrived. The pace is sluggish at many places. Some interesting incidents could have been weaved in to depict his growing awareness of their problems, which would have made his change of heart look more convincing.
There is the love angle, where Madhi (Iniya) who runs the local tea shop, provides food to Velu. She first cheats him of a few pennies, but later thaws towards him. The exchange of riddles between Velu and 248 (Ramaiya) are other fun moments.
Graceful and expressive, Iniya (she’d played Cheran’s sister ‘Yudham Sei’) plays Madhi with understanding. Though set in the late sixties, there is not much of a period ambience required here.
What the director could have done is reflect on the real events of the time through dialogues. But there is not much effort in this direction. The radio shown and the old songs aired being the exception. A key strength to the film is its cinematography (Om Prakash). Shooting in the confines of the barren land, with no lush greenery for distraction, the various camera movements and angles he’s tried not just capture the ambience realistically, but help to keep monotony away to an extent.
From the ‘Kalavani’ team, one expected an equally delightful and an engaging film. The director’s intention to offer something different and off beat is appreciable. But ‘Vaagai…’ is more like a docu-drama. It documents Velu’s life and makes the audience more an objective viewer, than an empathetic part of his journey.