Varnajalam
Varnajalam | |
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Directed by | Nagulan Ponnusamy |
Written by | Nagulan Ponnusamy |
Produced by | V. Gnanavel, V. Jayaprakash |
Starring | Srikanth Sadha Kutti Radhika Nassar Karunas |
Cinematography | B. Balamurugan |
Edited by | K. Palanivel |
Music by | Vidyasagar |
Production company | GJ Cinema |
Release date |
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Country | India |
Language | Tamil |
Varnajalam is a 2004 Indian Tamil mystery thriller starring Srikanth and Sadha in the lead roles, later dubbed into Hindi as Aankhein. The film was declared as a Hit at the box office due to its strange story and actions.
Plot
Devanathan IPS (Nassar), a retired DSP (Deputy Superintendent Of Police) of Chennai begins a new life with his family, which also includes his brother Shekar (Thalaivasal Vijay), sister-in-law Viji (Kanchana Mendis), and their children. He buys two large tea estates in Ooty and moves in with his family there. Devanathan's daughter Anitha (Kutty Radhika) is a teenager who wants to become a sincere IPS officer like her father, and his son Ashwin (Anand Samy) is a brilliant yet troubled and antisocial young man.
One morning, a young man named Daniel (Srikanth) arrives with a recommendation letter from a recently dead priest, Father Andrews, who is a schoolmate of Devanathan, to apply for a job as a tea estate manager. Daniel slowly becomes a favorite of the family with his good nature, music skills, and along with the fact that he saves Devanthan's life from criminals, and wins the family's heart.
One night, Ashwin scares Devanathan by dressing himself as a stalker, got chased by Devanathan, and revealed his identity to him, while laughing insanely and madly at Devanathan for scaring him. The next day, Ashwin drives too fast, almost kills the family from getting hit by a train, frightening them, and gets into an argument with Devanathan. He goes to Daniel's office. Daniel, while acting insanely, inflicts wounds on himself and blames it on Ashwin. Ashwin attempts to confront Daniel over this scene at the hospital, that Daniel is recovering from. Daniel created a scene that fabricated Ashwin attempting to murder Daniel for presumably having an affair with Anitha. Ashwin was captured by the ward boys and guarded in the hospital. Daniel was discharged and stayed alone at Devanathan's house. Ashwin escapes his hospital room by locking Shekar, who was guarding him in the washroom and confronts Daniel again at his home. Daniel starts a fire in the cabin, where all of Devanathan's awards and medals, blaming all that on Ashwin too. Ashwin attempted to stop and expose Daniel, but was unsuccessful and is taken to a mental hospital. Daniel disguises himself as Devanathan by wearing his cap and black coat while spying on Viji when she is bathing. She thinks it was Devanathan, and the friction between the brothers start, which grows to a end level, when Shekar leaves the house.
One day, while riding her scooter, Anitha discovers Daniel's jeep and is shocked to see him performing Hindu rituals for a woman named Abirami (Sadha). Daniel reveals himself to be Shakthivel aka Shakthi, raised up by his elder sister, Karthiga (Saranya Ponvannan) and his brother in law (Nizhalgal Ravi). He was academically very brilliant, but when his brother-in-law suffered from paralysis, he voluntarily gave up his school studies and became a painter. He and his sister's daughter Abirami are in love. Abirami enrolled herself in a medical college to become a doctor as her wish, while Shakthi covered the expenses and fee payments. Abirami's parents plan their marriage after Abirami finishes college. On Devanathan's last day in service, a junior officer, ACP (Assistant Commissioner Of Police) Prabhakaran IPS (Ajay Rathnam) requests him permission to perform an encounter operation on a famous rowdy Royapuram Guna (Riyaz Khan). But unbeknownst to anyone in particular, Devanathan is under Guna's payroll. Though Devanathan refuses permission, the chief minister overrides him and the operation is carried out near a bus stop, where Abirami was standing. Guna escapes due to Devanathan's prior given information to him, but Abirami is killed in the crossfire of the shootout between Guna and his gang against the police.. To save their names, Devanathan places Guna's photo inside Abirami's work folder and fabricated her as like his lover. Shakthi is innocently arrested and sentenced for about six months in imprisonment for beating up policemen, who came to question him and Abirami's parents for Guna's whereabouts, while Abirami's parents commit suicide over humiliation of the false fact of Abirami being Guna's lover. Devanathan retires with honors. Prabhakaran was guest visiting the prison that Shakthi was imprisoned in and revealed to him the truth when confronted by Shakthi and apologizes to him over being unable to do anything to reveal the truth, due to the fact that Devanathan was his superior officer and higher official.
Anitha couldn't believe it at first, but Shakthi forcibly took her to the guesthouse that Devanathan brought and showed her him chatting on a escape plan for Guna and his friend, who were hiding in Ooty by Devanthan to escape from the authorities. She was shocked to learn that her father is a murderer and ran away form Shakthi. Guna and his friend are about to escape to Ooty in a vehicle driven by Devanathan himself to avoid unnecessary checking. Shakthi chases them, and when they are about to cross a check post, he shoots at the car. Guna and his friend mistakenly thought it was police firing, so they came out and start firing, which triggers the actual and real police to come to the spot and kill Devanathan and the criminals in the shootout. Shakthi revealed his identity to Devanathan before he died, while stating that having him killed in the same way Abirami was killed is Shakthi's punishment to him.
At the film's end, Shakthi is seen sitting in a bus leaving Ooty reading an article on a newspaper of Devanathan's death, with Anitha revealing the truth about her father being a criminal to the entire world written in it.
Cast
- Srikanth as "Daniel" / Shakthivel aka Shakthi, the main protagonist
- Sadha as Abhirami, Shakthivel's niece and lady love
- Kutty Radhika as Anitha, Devanathan's youngest child and daughter
- Nassar as DSP Devanathan IPS, the main antagonist
- Anand Samy as Ashwin, Devanathan's eldest child and son
- Riyaz Khan as Royapuram Guna, Abhirami's murderer and Devanathan's sidekick
- Saranya Ponvannan as Karthiga, Shakthivel's elder sister and Abhirami's mother
- Nizhalgal Ravi as Shakthivel's brother-in-law and Abhirami's father
- Thalaivasal Vijay as Shekar, Devanathan's younger brother
- Kanchana Mendis as Viji, Devanathan's sister-in-law
- Karunas as Logu[1]
- Soori as Thief
- Ilavarasu as Police Constable
- Ajay Rathnam as ACP Prabhakaran IPS
- Chittibabu as Wine Shop Owner
- Crane Manohar as Drunkard
- Sridhar in a special appearance in the song "Matha Matha"
Soundtrack
Song Title | Singers |
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"Nee Vendum" | Karthik, Mahathi |
"Pinju Mazhai Charal" | Karthik |
"Oh Baby" | Nuproon Gosha, Reshmi |
"Sottu Sottai" | Mathangi |
"Matha Matha" | Freddy Koikaran, Malathi Lakshman |
Production
The film was shot for nearly 25 days in Sri Lanka, 15 days in Ooty and 20 days in Chennai,[2] Director Nagulan Ponnusaamy who earlier worked as an assistant to G. M. Kumar and Rajkapoor and worked as dialogue writer made his debut as director with this film.
Release
The film was declared as a Hit at the box-office. Nagulan Ponnusaamy hadn't directed any film so far and due to the film's success, he became popular before resurfacing as an actor by playing Karu Pazhaniappan's father in his film Mandhira Punnagai.
Reviews
The film received positive reviews.[3] Hindu wrote:"On the face of it GJ Cinema's "Varnajaalam" (the title is a well-thought out one) is just another tale of revenge. But Nakulan Ponnusamy's treatment gives new dimensions to the narration. Though it is a thriller of sorts surprisingly the film has very few action scenes. But fear and suspense continue to mount at every stage, till the climax".[4] Another critic wrote:"nothing new to offer as it lacks style, newness or a tautness of a thriller".[5] Balaji wrote:"its slow pace and lack of suspense and tension prevent it from becoming a successful entry".[6] Bizhat wrote:"the first half lacks consistency. The screenplay is a bit slow and most of the scenes are predictable. But the second half is neat and fast paced".[7]
References
- ^ Varnajalam cast Retrieved 2011-05-14.
- ^ "Suspense thriller". The Hindu. 30 January 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Varnajalam - Deccan Herald". Archive.deccanherald.com. 29 February 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Varnajaalam". The Hindu. 20 February 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Review : Varnajaalam". Geetham.net. 14 February 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Varnajaalam". Bbthots.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ HostOnNet.com. "BizHat.com - Varnajalam Review. Srikanth, Sada, Kutty Radhika, Nasser, Nizhalgal Ravi, Thalaivasal Vijay, Kanchana Mendis". Movies.bizhat.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.