Yentha Vaadu Gaanie review, rating

The real heroes of Yentha Vaadu Gaanie, the third film in Gautham's police franchise after Garshana, are the heroines Trisha and Anushka, for whom the film's best moments have been written.

If you've followed Gautham's films, the kind of roles he writes for his heroines and the way he portrays them are commendable even if they were to feature briefly, and you wonder if any other filmmaker can supersede him in this regard. Most of the film's story revolves around or should I say is linked to the roles, played by Trisha and Anushka respectively. Ajith, who plays police officer, puts his life on the line to protect them and not just because it's his job.

Yentha Vaadu Gaanie is the evolved story of police officer, who strives hard to strike a balance as a family man as well. Everything about the film and its protagonist is evolved to the extent that he's ready to accept a woman with a child in his life.

In one of the film's best stretches he proposes to Trisha, and as he waits for her reply, he goes on to talk about things they plan to do as a couple -- like how they plan to send her daughter to the best school, buy a piece of land and settle down as a family.

He prefixes the word 'they' in these sentences to symbolically highlight she's already been accepted in his life and he's ready to do everything together. In an earlier scene, he drives her to the hospital when she's in labour, not as a policeman, but while working incognito as an auto-rickshaw driver to nab a local rowdy.

When they reach the hospital, she pays him (a man's got to earn, you see). And when they meet in court a few years later, she thanks him and says her daughter Isha came into this world because of him.

The icing on this relationship is the fact there's no mention about Trisha's first husband, and it really doesn't bother the cop. Gautham asks us, the audience, how many would be willing to accept a woman with a child without even inquiring about her past. There's an indication that Ajith might have learnt about her past when he says how much he's impressed with her decision to teach dance (she's a dancer) free of cost. As a policeman it runs in his blood to do a background check on everybody he meets.

In the initial moments between ajith and Anushka, there's a lot of talking, although they're strangers who've just met on a plane. When she feels nauseated, he, a stranger, puts his hand on her shoulder to ask if she's alright. For a change, he doesn't stalk her; it's the other way around.

There's even a moment when it almost looks like he's going to say I've fallen in love at first sight but Gautham avoids these cliches.

In this story, the women also become the weakness of the heroes, for Ajith and Arun Vijay, who plays the antagonist Victor. There are two scenes where both the guys end up doing something because of the weakness for the woman in their lives. And it costs them heavily in their careers.

Talking about human drama, there's a lot of focus on friendship and betrayal. Ajith is a man with an itch, as he describes himself, for inviting trouble. Gautham uses a thin line to separate the police officer from the gangster. And the same line resurfaces in a scene towards the end when both are talking on cell phones and the screen splits into two halves separated by a thin black line.

The problem with Yentha Vaadu Gaanie, and of course with its creator Gautham, is the filmmaker's growing obsession with some of his familiar tropes - the hot-headed and loud villain (Arun is terrific in the role), who reminds you of Pandian from Kaakha Kaakha, the perennial danger the protagonist's family gets into, the weakness for women, the role of a father, the songs that stop and break into conversations and again continue playing, the narratives that lose steam in the end and finally the length.

There's a wonderful father-daughter relationship. At one point, the film does feel like a story of a police officer who wants to give his daughter a life his father couldn't. There's also a brief flashback scene with Ajith and his father, played by Nasser, and it only reminds us how much the cop misses his father when he tries to be dotingly good to his daughter.

Despite some tonal and length issues, Gautham impresses mostly in Yentha Vaadu Gaanie, and gives this tale of a police officer a much need emotional tug. Ajith's screen presence is unbelievably amazing and it takes guts for a star with a crazy fan following to do something so bold. It's refreshing to see the actor in Ajith overshadowing the star and going on to prove who is much better.

Check out the trailer to get peek into the story

Cast: Ajith Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Anushka Shetty Vivekh, Arun vijay, Nasser, Ashish Vidyarthi, Daniel Balaji
Director: Gautham Vasudev Menon
Rating:3/5

By Haricharan Pudipeddi