Movie: Vazhakku Enn 18/9
Banner: Thirupathi Brothers & UTV Motion Pictures
Star Cast: Naveen Rai, Prajna
Direction: Balaji Shakthivel
Production: Lingusamy
Vazhakku Enn 18/9 – A Must-Watch Case History!
Most films are inspired from real life. An incident or an event can give a spark to a filmmaker to conceive a movie. They dwell on anything that happens around us. But at the same time, hardly do they reflect realism.
Driven by commercial cliches, filmmakers take a safe bet opting for mass elements in their flicks. However, a new set of directors are making their impact felt these years, with movies that reflect nothing but life. One such jewel in the crown of Tamil cinema is Balaji Shakthivel.
The ‘Kadhal‘ director, who set a new trend in Kollywood by narrowing the bridge between art house and commercial cinema, is back to charming us with ‘Vazhakku Enn 18/9‘.
The filmmaker in his sublime form strikes the right chord. He leaves no stones unturned in taking a serious issue that haunts teenagers today. His narration is so close to reality that the audience might feel that things just unfold almost next to them.
If his ‘Kadhal‘ was all about romance between a couple of different ‘communities’ and ‘Kalloori‘ spoke about the death of innocent students for political reasons, ‘Vazhakku Enn 18/9 ‘ is totally different, but much relevant for the day.
It harps about the obscene MMS scandals that play spoilsport on youngsters’ lives these days. The mindset of today’s youth, their wayward lives and romance has been picturised well.
Balaji Shakthivel has proved in the past that with lesser known star cast, he can make a mark on screen. ‘Vazhakku Enn 18/9‘ too is a script-driven movie, where the entire star cast is fresh. Hence, identifying with the characters is no daunting task.
More in the flashback mode, the movie throws light on two lover couples, a crime and an investigation by cops. It is more of sex, lies and crime, but well narrated without any obscenity.
Velu (Sri) is a fun-loving fellow who works in a roadside shop. An orphan, he works for his survival. He comes across Jothi (Urmila Mahantha). She works as servant maid in adjoining apartments. And it’s love.
There lives in the apartment Aarthy (Manisha Yadav), whose father and mother work to make both ends meet. Dinesh (Mithun Murali), a student too resides in the same apartment. Dinesh leads a wayward life and is obsessed to watch porn.
As it happens, Aarthy falls for him without knowing his past and intentions. A series of happenings lead to a crime and the baton is passed on to inspector Muthuraman (Kumaravel), who investigates the crime.
The rest is all but how law takes its own course that’s presented as a racy script.
It is a script that gets its sheen thanks to brilliant performance of the star cast. Sree as the platform dweller gets under the skin of his character to give his best, while Urmila is impressive as a short poetry on screen. She bubbles with energy and emotes at ease. A welcome find by Balaji Shakthivel and she is sure to go a long way.
Mithun Murali as Dinesh is tailor-made for the role. His desperation and is brought out well. Watch out for a good show by Kumaravel as a greedy cop. All these have all been director’s artistes delivering what Balaji Shakthivel wants.
Cinematography by Vijay Milton is the hallmark of the movie. Shot in soft lens, every frame speaks for itself on screen. Specially the scenes where Aarthy comes to know about Dinesh and his motives, how she manages to get his memory card are picturised well.
Prasanna‘s background score is something that lends solid support to Balaji Shakthivel’s sincere efforts. Complimenting the whole unit’s good work is slick editing by Gopi Krishna.
‘Vazhakku Enn 18/9‘ has moments that leave a lump in your throat. It needs a man with conviction like Balaji Shakthivel to come up with such a convincing film. Hats off the whole team for a splendid show! A must-watch this summer…
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Movies have to serve a purpose though they are classified as a source of entertainment. The filmmakers do share a sense of social responsibility. Knowing this well, director Balaji Sakthivel had been churning out movies that have an impact on the day-to-day life of everyone.
After Kadhal and kallori, he has come out with Vazhakku En 18/19 that speaks about adolescent love, sex and crime. Nowhere it goes sleazy or doesn’t fail to kindle sense of curiosity or interest in the audience.
Balaji Sakthivel has preferred to go realistic and the narration is simple and amazing. With a bunch of newcomers, he has managed to weave magic on screen.
Velu (Sri) is a platform worker. he too like every other human being has place for romance in his life The struggling orphan falls for Jothi (Urmila Mahantha), a servant maid in a nearby apartment. There in the flats stays Aarthy ( Manisha Yadav), a student. Dinesh (Mithun Murali), a students is her neighbour. he isa spoiled brat.
Aarthy falls for him the evil personified Dinesh takes her obscene MMS clips.
Aarthy happens to know his true colour. She threatens to approach police. Now begins the drama after Dinesh’s cruel acts.
All the artistes have given their best.
Sree as poor youth, Urmila as servant maid lives up to their characters.
The latter promises a plenty and is sure to go places.
Mithun Murali as Dinesh is tailor-,made for the role. Kumaravel as greedy police is appealing, while Urmila Mahantha walks away with honours.
Cinematography by Vijay Milton and music by guitarist Prasana is awesome and compliments the story.
Vazhakku En.. is a welcome change to Tamil cinema. It is sure to set a new trend. Watch it for its amazing and apealing.
Verdict: Hard- hitting and realistic
Balaji Sakthivel has earned a reputation for himself rendering meaningful movies. His Kallori and Kadhal speak for itself. Joining the list is Vazhakku Enn 18/9. A firm believer in script and the story, he has proved that all hope is not lost in Tamil cinema thanks to the invasion of commercial cliches. His Vazhaku En 18/9 speaks about sex, lies and video tapes.
A genre that is less travelled in Tamil cinema, Vazhakku En 18/9 is a movie that is more realistic and prudent. The director would have been tempted to come up with a pot-boiler, but thanks to his conviction and courage, Vazhakku En 18/9 ends up a film that serves a purpose.
He spoke about true and obsessed love where caste is the hindrance in Kadhal. In contrast, Vazhakku En speaks about love in a different colour.
It speaks about sleaze, distrust and greed.
The issue of obscene MMS scandal and the greedy cops twisting cases for money have been dealt in detail by him.
The movie stars new faces. Sri, Urmila Mahanta, Manisha Yadava and Mithun Murali enact the strong roles offered to them by Balaji Sakthivel.
The storyline goes like this: Velu (Sri) is a fun-loving youth who in a roadside shop. He comes across one Jothi (Urmila Mahantha), a servant maid in an apartment and its love between them.
In the apartment, lives Aarthy (Manisha Yadav), a student and Dinesh (Mithun Murali), a spoiled brat. Aarthy falls for him without knowing his intentions. Dinesh hoots clips of her on his mobile phone. Aarthy happens to see her pictures on Dinesh’s mobile. Annoyed, she moves away from him.
An angry Dinesh is afraid that she would expose him in public. So he tries to finish off Aarthy, but the target misses and Jothi becomes victim and sustains serious injuries in the melee. Jothi’s mother suspects that Sri would have done it, as she had seen him chasing her daughter.
Enters Inspector Muthuraman (Kumaravel) who investigates the case. He enquires Sri and finds that he is innocent. They Aarthy comes forward to tell the police about Dinesh. The police officer finds the truth and arrests Dinesh.
Here comes the twist. Dinesh’s rich mother is ready to go to any extent to save her son.
Will the police officer accept her offer? Will the justice prevail?
Watch some the powerful climax to know the answers.
Balaji has chosen a contemporary issue and converted it into a gripping movie. His portrayals of true and shallow love are good albeit they tend to be predictable after a point. The movie with rich visuals, sensitive depiction, and fine performances makes for an interesting watching. The proceedings however move a bit slow in the second half due to the predictability but the portions leading to climax and the climax save the film.
The high point of the movie is cinematography by Vijay Milton. Prasanna’s background complements Balaji Sakthivel’s theme well. The songs too sound good.
The dialogues, the brisk narration of events towards the latter part adds pep to the viewer’s expectations. There may be some lacunae in the form of logical lapses and pace. But one must admit that Vazhakku En is a whiff of fresh air in Tamil cinema and hence it deserves to be appreciated.
After the simple Kaadhal and the memorable Kallori, director Balaji Sakthivel is back with his next venture Vazhakku Enn 18/9. Balaji Sakthivel is noted not only for his realistic style of film making, but also for his observation skills and ability to transform these observations into a neat celluloid version that attracts viewers. Surprisingly, Vazhakku Enn 18/9 is an out-and-out love story. The film deals with how the concept of love has changed today, beginning with the so-called ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ culture. The film is produced jointly by Thirupathi Brothers and UTV Motions Pictures; and has newcomers Sri, Mithu Murali and Urmila Mahanta in the lead roles.
Knowing what Balaji Sakthivel is capable of, we eagerly anticipate this film!
What is it about?
Looks like director Balaji Sakthivel has taken inspiration from many news articles to create a solid plot for Vazhakku Enn 18/9. The films opens with an ambulance rushing towards a hospital…. the victim is in serious condition and her mother suspects Velu. From there the police investigation begins…
Flashback… Due to circumstances Velu (Sri) is forced to work in a chips (and snacks) making factory in the rural areas of North India. When his parents die in an accident, the owner of the factory hides it from Velu and when he overhears this, he decides to leave his job forever. Obviously Velu lands in Chennai and ends up working in a roadside fast food. One day Velu ends up in a small conflict with the innocent Jothi (Urmila Mahanta) and her rude mother. So who is Jothi… A simple teenage girl hailing from a poor class family. She works as a maid in a nearby posh flats. In the same flat, Dinesh (Mithun Murali), son of a rich industrialist, sets his eyes on Aarthi (Manisha Yadav) and interestingly Jothi works in Aarthi’s house.
On a fine day someone throws acid on Jothi’s face while she is in Arthi’s house… So who is behind it, and wat is Dinesh’s role in this? Watch out in Vazhakku Enn 18/9!
Performance and Techniques
It is the script which triumphs over everything and the real hero is the screenplay. Director Balaji Sakthivel has once again proved that it is not necessary to have big star’s dates to make a good film. The director has used the first half to narrate the background information of all the characters and the story progresses in the second half. Unlike the regular perception that Vazhakku Enn… is an intense rural drama, the film is an intense love story which is pure and simple. Balaji Sakthivel’s screenplay is well supported by S. D. Vijay Milton’s camera works. He has used a Canon EOS 7D digital camera for the filming of this flick. Another major highlight of the flick is the soundtrack composed by noted guitarist R. Prasanna. Gopi Krishna’s editing could have been better. On the flip side, the second half could have been tweaked a bit to increase the pace of the film. Awards are for sure, but now it would be interesting to see how audience welcome it!
Perfect casting! Sri, who played the lead role in TV serial Kana Kaanum Kaalangal, has done an excellent job as Velu. Malayalam child star Mithun Murali is equally good but his dubbing could have been better. Urmila Mahanta is innocent and naive; Manisha Yadav is perfect for the role. The rest of the star cast Muthuraman, Chinnasamy, Senthil, Rani, Rithika, Goutham, Vidhya Eeshwar and Anjali have done their roles very well.
A very well made realistic drama! Kudos to Balaji Sakthivel and team!