Varisu

Directed by Vamshi Paidipally, 'Varisu' exploits Vijay's humourous and emotional facets while exploring an all-familiar tale.

There are plenty of moments in the second half – especially during his conversations with his brothers and Prakash Raj’s gang – during which Vijay goes back to having fun and being the hero we loved a few decades back, before he became too socially conscious in his roles. Will Vijay agree to ditch his carefree life – the first time we see him, he’s on a bike trip and enjoying Nature’s sights and sounds – and show interest in his father’s multi-crore business? Bland popcorn in the movies isn’t exciting anymore, and that seems to be the case with on-screen proceedings as well.

Varisu movie review: It's a quintessential family drama with all the familiar beats. Along with Vijay, the film also stars Rashmika Mandanna, Sarath Kumar, ...

For the family drama angle to have worked even more effectively, the conflict between the brothers should’ve been even more stronger. The story is centered around a family that’s headlined by Rajendran (Sarath Kumar), who is one of the biggest businessmen in India. It’s your quintessential family drama with all the familiar beats and it’s largely salvaged by the presence of one man, Rajendran’s youngest son, Vijay Rajendran (Vijay), returns home after seven years for the birthday party at the behest of his mother. His two sons – Jai and Ajay (Srikanth and Shaam) - look after his business and one among them is hopeful of becoming the heir. In spite of the myriad iterations of the same story template over the years, it is one genre with a very high success rate.

Vamshi Paidipally makes a film that Vijay is perfect for — song, dance, fight and some snide antics. Sadly, that's precisely what makes Varisu rather ...

The template has its beats and there is something to give us a booster shot every time the predictability flu is about to hit. For most of the first half, the predictability of these beats and the setup-punchline-slomo structure of these scenes make us restless to just get on with it. Varisu celebrates a woman’s stoic acceptance of the kitchen as her place. Vijay blackmails board members of a public limited company with inane personal stuff in response to which they vote for him as chairman; some of them even dance at the board meeting (somewhat Forget the Bechdel test, she is such an integral part of this film’s family that she has not a single dialogue of consequence. If you can catch the references (I couldn’t, at least not all) and enjoy the ridiculousness (I most certainly could), Varisu is certainly tolerable. The good thing about Vamshi Paidipally’s Varisu is that there is no pretense of doing anything new, unique or imaginative. His wife, Sudha (Jayasudha), is a long-suffering mother and family peacekeeper. His wife (Sangeetha) is a long-suffering loner with a perpetual long face. It’s also the off-handed acceptance of the message that Varisu is going for: Even if toxic, to the point of being murderous, families are sacrosanct. His wife (Samyuktha)...well, by now, you know the drill. At its head is the controlling and competition-obsessed father, Rajendran (Sarathkumar), who also runs a business conglomerate.

The plot falters due to weak writing in the first half but gathers steam to deliver an entertaining family drama by the end.

The director, who seems happy to include innumerable and elaborate fight sequences, doesn't feel the need to include more realistic emotions for the women involved in the film. The other women in this film too are restricted to only playing a role that in some way completes the image of the men in it and even there, they are given dialogues (if any at all) to justify the toxicity and sexism that prevails through the runtime. Just when you think the actor and director are empowering women in bad relationships, they decide to undo their good work and settle back for the trope of a wife who forgives all. At this point, if the movie seems complete without the mention of even a single woman in it, you are correct in your observation. His third and estranged son Vijay meanwhile (a real throwback to the actor's blockbuster Suryavamsam), is living a page right out of Ranbir Kapoor's 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani', moving around with a camera to shoot exotic people and places in India. From advocating sticking to family no matter how toxic they are (and we mean toxic in the level of an attempted murder), to sending goons flying as a manner of conflict resolution in business, actor Vijay's latest outing Varisu is everything that its trailer promised it would be.

Varisu neither offers the punch for fans, nor does it have a connect..Vijay Movie release. Varisu Movie Review. Vamshi Paidipally. Rashmika Mandanna.

That leaves space for the villain or villains, and finally the romantic interest of the superstar. Vamshi’s Sankranti, Pongal offering leaves a lot of raw, uncooked ingredients. The unit in the focus of Vamshi’s bilingual potboiler is a joint family.