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'Vanangaan' Movie Review: Bala Returns With An Insipid Parody Of His Own Movies
The Arun Vijay-starrer is so dated and lifeless that we watch with apathy, even when we witness a series of events that must have sounded shocking on paper.
Director: Bala
Writer: Bala
Cast: Arun Vijay, Roshni Prakash, Mysskin, P Samuthirakani
Bala probably forgot that he is Bala. Why else would a director with an obsession for the same pet themes begin a film with a song like ‘Irai Nooru’? The song composed by GV Prakash, isn’t the issue. It’s another one of those mirthful songs about a brother and the unending love he feels for his sister. They have fun, they go to the beach, they go to temples, they go to church, and they are obviously very happy. The year is 2025 and by now, we have a 100-year history of movies telling us that something terrible is going to happen when a film begins with such a lazy, happy montage.
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And then we must remember that this movie is being made by Bala, a man who has built his brand around tragedies. The remaining runtime of Vanangaan, then, isn’t so much about what’s going to happen and why, as much as it is about how many people are going to die and if we will care when they do.
However, the film we get is so dated and lifeless that we watch with apathy, even when we witness a series of events that must have sounded shocking on paper. Take the example of a heavy-duty fight sequence that happens towards the end of the first hour. Not only does the fight miraculously shift locations midway, but it is choreographed around the hero Kotee (Arun Vijay) beating two bad guys with a cactus. Back in the day, Bala got us to squirm and wince as if it was child’s play, but in Vanangaan, he is simply trying to outdo his old self.
The attempt is to increase the dosage of brutality hide the gaps in the film’s characterisation. When this fight ends with the two men dead with giant spears sticking out of them, we feel slightly amused and nothing else. This pretty much sums up what we feel throughout the duration of Vanangaan, a movie that was intended to make you feel the full weight of being hit with a sledgehammer.
Not that it did not have some fascinating ideas to begin with. It is about Kotee who has a hearing disability. Several scenes are written around this aspect of his, but what makes them even more interesting are the people around him. His sister, for one, is a singer. When she sings at church, we get shots of him enjoying her singing, not because he can hear, but because he can feel it in his gut. The same applies for Kotee’s girlfriend Tina (Roshni Prakash), a travel guide who not only speaks a lot, but can speak in multiple tongues.
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Yet, the one idea I felt needed a much better film has got something to do with Kotee, a man who cannot speak, choosing to remain silent during an investigation. He is trying to save the identity of women who have been wronged, and when Vanangaan transforms briefly into a courtroom drama, we see Kotee refusing to explain his side or back off from his mission.
What follows is a series of cliches that conveniently tie it all together, ruining any scope of this angle being developed into something original. Bala instead is stuck with the same old signatures we’ve seen from his first movie (including the caricaturish portrayal of TamBrams). We end up with the director’s weakest film yet, one that repeats everything Bala is known for, albeit without the sting.