Veetla Vishesham Movie rating: 3/5
Production: Bayview Projects, Romeo Pictures, Zee Studios Cast: Aparna Balamurali, KPAC Lalitha, Pavithra Lokesh, RJ Balaji, Sathyaraj, Urvashi, Visvesh Direction: NJ Saravanan, RJ Balaji Story: Akshat Ghildial, Shantanu Srivastava Music: Girishh Gopalakrishnan
The Tamil remake of Badhaai Ho is a well-made entertaining film that manages to not just be good on its own but even stands up to the National Award-winning original.RJ Balaji plays Ilango, who is shocked to learn that his parents (Urvashi and Sathyaraj, who are terrific together on screen) who are in their 50s are expecting their third child. He struggles to come to terms with the news of his mother being pregnant and it affects his relationship with his girlfriend Sowmya (played by Aparna). The rest of the story is about how Ilango along with his younger brother and their grandmother prepare themselves to welcome a new family member.
One of the best things about Veetla Vishesham is that the film never tries to recreate the original scene by scene. As much as it’s a remake, you can sense that a lot of effort has gone into the writing, especially the humour and drama part to suit the local sensibilities. If it was a game of tambola in the original, it’s chit fund scheme involving some women in the remake.Given that Badhaai Ho was backed by strong writing, RJ Balaji and team here stay close to the original, making only minor changes to the material that add a local flavour to this universal story. Some of the changes, like making Ilango’s profession work. That a seemingly progressive biology teacher, who is keen to on his students getting sex education, isn’t able to cope with the fact that his parents might be having an active sex life, puts across the irony of his situation and the double-standards in the society better. Even the addition of an angle about women having the right to choose between a normal and a cesarean delivery seems well-intentioned, though the makers here choose a somewhat over-the-top humourous tone (over a heartfelt moment) to deliver this ‘message’. The film also wins us over with its genuine progressive outlook.
In fact, the entire film has a slightly louder tone compared to the original’s. While this doesn’t detract its effectiveness or the points it wants to make, it still leaves us with a could-have-been-better feeling in some places. The performances, too, don’t rank as high as what we got in Badhaai Ho. While Urvashi pulls her role off with elan, some of the humour with Sathyaraj, like his hobby of doing short videos, have a certain affectedness. The late KPAC Lalitha delivers a strong performance, too. But RJ Balaji, while effective in the humorous scenes — a scene in which he makes his girlfriend Sowmya (Aparna Balamurali) get in secretly into his flat is quite hilarious — falls short in the emotional moments, like in the scene in which he confronts Sowmya’s mother and stands up for his parents. He delivers this speech even as he sways a little this way and that, and this body language is distracting and lessens the emotional impact of the scene. The film’s humour quotient comes in the form of RJ Balaji’s dialogues and Sathyaraj’s body language. RJ Balaji is a riot in the humorous scenes. Aparna Balamurali proves why she is one of the best actresses in the industry with a cakewalk performance. But the entire film is shouldered by the performances of Sathyaraj and Urvashi who look extremely confident about their craft. Their experience also aids the film very well.
The film has made minor changes to the original such as skipping a few regressive dialogues about abortion. A lot of scenes have been trimmed as well which works both ways for the film. On one hand, the duration helps the engagement while on the other hand, the film feels slightly rushed.
The cinematography and editing are strictly functional and doesn’t hamper the film in any way. The music is dramatic which amplifies and makes the funny scenes funnier. But the same music when used in the dramatic portions feels out of place. Other than that there’s nothing much to complain. Veetla Vishesham too is about the social stigma of an elderly couple getting pregnant, but it’s also about women taking control of their bodies. This is a bit of a peripheral theme in the original, but here, this idea gets drummed in a few times. Krishnaveni, for instance, establishes that feminine strength isn’t about staying away from medical help; it’s about making decisions that she is comfortable with. The film also speaks of the folly of deifying mothers and pressurising them, actively or otherwise, into staying away from their many needs including sexual. This is why Sowmya’s question to Elango is so important. “Do you think wearing jeans and sunglasses makes you progressive?”
And yet, it’s a film with not too much finesse. There’s a grating loudness about it, and the score doesn’t make things easier. I wish there were longer moments of quiet reflection in the film, and I wish that Urvashi and Sathyaraj had been allowed more time to breathe and talk and contemplate. In fact, my most favourite moments of this film are of quiet conversation, rich with emotion. Like Krishnaveni advising Elango about his love-life. Or Elango casually slipping in an ‘aunty’ while speaking with Sowmya’s mother. Or Unni dropping a loaded ‘sorry’ to his son, Elango, who himself is on the verge of apologising.It was so refreshing to see Sathyaraj in a role that extracts a very natural performance from him. The ever-dependable Urvashi is effortless as the mother and her scenes with Sathyaraj are some of highlights of the film. KPAC Lalitha as the grandmother is another interesting casting choice and she’s brilliant in the few scenes where the spotlight is on her. The story is set in the railway quarters and the writing reflects in the way the scenes play out involving the neighbors.
