Vantha Rajavathaan Varuven First Day First Impression: Typical STR In A Typical Sundar C Film

Language: Tamil

Cast: Silambarasan, Megha Akash, Catherine Tresa, Ramya Krishnan

Director: Sundar C

1) The second it was known that the new Sundar C-STR film was going to be a remake of the Telugu film Attarintiki Daredi, starring Pawan Kalyan, there were doubts of how such a film could be localised to suit the peculiar fans of both the star and its star director. And to be honest, a good half hour of the film suffers from this identity crisis. It is neither an STR film nor a Sundar C film.

2) These initial scenes are almost directly taken from the original, sans the grandness. For instance, the introduction scene in the Pawan Kalyan version, with flying helicopters, SWAT-style assassins, and a cool slow-motion fight sequence was extremely popular during its release. In comparison, the STR intro is far more subdued and uninteresting.

3) The scale generally seems a lot smaller in this film. Scenes that are supposed to look like Spain, especially with Nasser and Suman, look tacky and artificial and also very obviously Chennai.

4) It takes around 30 minutes for the film to really become something, especially after STR moves to India and starts working as a driver. This is also where Robo Shanker steps in, taking over comedy duties from VTV Ganesh.

5) It's still a mystery why Catherine Tresa was cast in this role. Not only is her role insignificant but her dubbing, yet again, is a major bummer. Even a song that features her contributes little to the film.

6) This is another film where plays Ramya Krishnan gets to play a Ramya Krishnan™ role. She's powerful, strong-willed and stubborn, a role Nadhiya played in the original. But what's new in that? She even gets a couple of Bahubali references.

7) The songs are a hit and a miss. 'Red Cardu' , especially with STR's mean moves in the pick of the lot. The segue into  'Modern Muniyamma' in unintentionally hilarious.

8) A few comedy stretches, especially involving Yogi Babu is typical Sundar C stuff. How much you enjoy those scenes, along with his suspiciously mischevious camera angles, are based on how big a fan you are of the director. Even so, it's one of his best of his best. It's far from it.

9) But there's still a lot of fun seeing STR in this world. He seems at ease right through the film and he really delivers in the climactic emotional scene. It's also nice to see him a very Sooraj Barjatya-like setting, that too after CCV, which was truly the opposite idea of a "family feud".

10) Apart from his performance, it's also incredible how many self-referencing jokes that are written around the STR image. Apart from the Red Card controversy, the star's professionalism (or the lack of it), his "Buddha-like" spiritual asides, his relationships and several other aspects from real life is used in the film for great comic effect. Only Rajini gets as many references in his films. It's STR doing what he does best.