Tamil Month - Varushamellam Vasantham

Just after the opening credits of Varushamellam Vasantham (2002), a voice-over tells us that “For a crow, all its chicks are golden chicks.” It’s part of a personal plea from the director, who describes himself as “A mother crow who has delivered her first chick”, and it comes across as more than a little needy. My expectations are never high when the director feels the need to tell the audience, “I made this movie. Please like it.” It’s a shame, really, because Varushamellam Vasantham is a fine movie with nothing to apologize for.

Raja (Manoj) is the black sheep of his prosperous, educated rural family; his grandfather (M. N. Nambiar) is a retired Collector, other family members are doctors or engineers, but Raja failed the Eighth Standard in school. The grandfather is particularly embarrassed by Raja, and belittles and berates him at every opportunity, often comparing him to his younger brother Ramesh (Kumal), who is educated, successful, and living in the big city.

While he is the black sheep, Raja isn’t particularly bad. He’s unemployed and spends most of the day hanging out with his similarly unemployed friends and the owner (Mayilsamy) of a local tea stand, but but they don’t steal fruit or sell black market movie tickets or sexually harass passing women, they go swimming. The most shocking thing Raja does is teach his young cousins a silly and slightly insulting rhyme.

When Ramesh comes home for a visit, the family (and especially Grandfather) are thrilled, but Raja is unenthusiastic. It’s easy to see why; Ramesh is a smug, self centered twit, and no one but Raja seems to notice.

Ramesh isn’t the only relative coming to visit, however, and when Raja meets his cousin Latha (Anita) he immediately falls in love. (It’s not hard to see why; Latha is cute in a ‘girl next door” sort of way, but she’s also the first person to show Raja any genuine kindness.) Ramesh meets her and is promptly smitten as well, and so the two brothers find themselves in direct competition.

On the advice of Tea Stand Guy (and I wish I knew the character’s name, but the IMDB is not great when it comes to Tamil films), Raja gives up on impressing Latha with his intelligence, education, and success, and instead invents a failed romance in the hopes of gaining her sympathy. Apart from occasionally messing with his brother, Ramesh doesn’t really bother with strategy; as he sees it, Latha is an intelligent and educated girl, and she’s bound to wind up with the guy with the Master’s degree.

Varushamellam Vasantham is a family drama, so there’s not much suspense. Whatever happens, we know that Grandpa is going to come around in the end and that everything will turn out okay. The film flirts with unpredictability when Ramesh manipulates Raja ito interrupting the wedding of his “lost love” (a complete stranger) and the bride stands and says, “Yes, it’s true. I love Raja and I want to marry him,” but that subplot is disposed of quickly, and we’re back to the central love triangle. This is fine, because no one watches this sort of family drama for the carefully crafted plot twists. These movies are all about the emotions, and in that department, all of the principals deliver. Manoj, in particular, has the soulful, noble suffering look down.

While Varushamellam Vasantham has a slow pace, especially for an Indian movie, there’s a very pleasant lyrical, almost dreamlike quality. It’s a very nice movie.