Vathiyar Review

After that disastrous `Kunjaliyan', Jayasuriya is back with one of his releases with a debutante director Nithin Shakthy in the movie `Vaadhyar'. A very predicable movie, striving hard to get across a decent message, `Vadhyar' offers a very average viewing pleasure with not much in store, mimicking the plot points of `Manickyakallu'. A shaky script and average direction from the debutante will leave this movie with much more in demand.

Jayasuriya is Anoop Krishna in the movie, an easy go lucky young man who aspires to go for an MBA and to earn big salary than to join the job of a U P School teacher, pre arranged for him by his late father Krishankutty-an inspiring teacher of many, by paying an amount of 10 lakhs. But due to insistence from his family who are finding it difficult to pay back the loan amount taken for the purpose from a local bank, Anoop decides to give a try. He joins as a teacher in the Saraswathy Vilasam U P school at the silent village of Kottappuram, managed by Gangadhara kurup (Vijayaraghavan) and his sister in law Subhadra,(Menaka) who is also the headmistress of the school.

The students of the village school are visibly surprised by the T Shirt and jeans clad funky styled Anoop, who  also receives a different form of teaching where the teacher makes them see popular movies in his laptop all day instead of any classes. Anoop even keeps his teacher job hidden from his friends as he doesn't like one. But one day they find his secret rendezvous and create havoc in the school. And in no time, Anoop decides to drop the job and pursue his other aspirations. But there are something more to happen for Anoop as he is destined to take an U- turn and prove himself as an able teacher, like his much revered father.

As usual with the recent movies, the problem with `Vaadhyar ` is that it doesn't have much to tell than that very old , predictable, preachy  stuff where the reformation of an youth results in the total change in the system. The first half has not many events, but occasional dialogues laid with observations evoke laughter and thought. Like the answer that protagonist gives to a question about the qualification of a teacher-`a B Ed and ten lakhs', the scriptwriter Rajesh Raghavan has used many such little gems, all through. But the hackneyed turns in the later half where the big guns from the nearby management school trying to swallow the smaller school is all that which is often discussed on-screen. But the makers must be given a thumps up for sticking on to their feel good message about the need to manage government schools effectively. Many of the sub characters also lack finesse and meat and don't add to the quality of the movie.

In acting side Jayasuriya makes a cakewalk through his tailor made role, while Menaka is also good as the H M, Subhadra. Kochu Preman evokes mirth in his few sequences as the D E O. The rest of the cast including Ann Augustine, Vijayaraghavan, Anoop Chandran, Kalpana and Biju Kuttan doesn't have much to do, while Salimkumar and Anil Murali are wasted in inconsequential roles.

In the technical side Pradeep Nair's cinematography is much poorer than the standards he has already set. R Gawtham's BG scores are appropriate while the songs are  average, with the remix of `Va va Vadhiyare' appearing the best among the lot. The title graphics are impressive and Ranjan Abraham has crisply edited the sequences. All in all, this `Vaadhyar' is definitely not a must watch. But the movie with not much double entendres can fill in your free time, as the movie hardly takes any more than 1.45 hours to complete, that too with a decent message.

Rating:5.5/10