Vai Raja Vai review: Dhanush's cameo is the only good thing in this damp squib

When Aishwarya Dhanush’s first movie, 3 – a serious, heavy and emotional film – released, everyone was surprised that the daughter of Superstar Rajni could direct. Then, baffling expectations again, Aishwarya has chosen a completely different genre - a commercial entertainer - for her second film. Vai Raja Vai is Aishwarya’s attempt at mainstream commercial cinema, and it’s taken two years to hit theatres. The story revolves around Karthik (Gautham Karthik) who comes from a good, middle class family (mom, dad, elder sister and himself). He doesn’t aspire for much – just a good job and a good life. His obstacle to getting the job is his best friend Satheesh (Satheesh) whose every whim and fancy Karthik has to pander to in order to get him to snare a job in Satheesh’s company. Once Karthik gets the job, he also meets the girl of his dreams, Priya (Priya Anand), a plant pathologist. [caption id=“attachment_2223628” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Vai Raja Vai. Image from Facebook.[/caption] So it looks like Karthik is now all set for happy ever after, but then here’s the twist. Karthik is endowed with a special power – premonition. As a child, Karthik uses this power to excel in exams and he gets into trouble at school. His father (Vasanth) makes him swear that he’ll never use this power in his life and somehow these premonitions magically disappear. But they start again suddenly and Karthik gets ensnared in the vicious world of cricket betting and gambling, with help from his predictive abilities and his colleague Pandu (Vivekh). This is Gautham Karthik’s third film, but his performance is not riveting on screen. For the most part, his expression remains flatly morose, despite the fact that his character goes through myriad emotions, ranging from sadness to anger to shock. It’s not that Karthik can’t act. He was far more expressive in Mani Ratnam’s Kadal, his debut flick. In Vai Raja Vai, however, the only time there’s a visual change is when Karthik smiles – and that’s quite rare in the film. Priya Anand is a natural and performs the role of dutiful girlfriend and obedient daughter with ease. Daniel Balaji (the villain) and Vivekh’s characters are quite well-etched and being veterans in the film industry, they do their roles justice. Taapsee sweeps in during the second half of the film as the glam factor with her sexy outfits and snazzy hairstyles. Though the director modelled Taapsee’s character on Bond women, there’s really not much Bond there (the mandatory swimsuit was missing). As for the music, Yuvan Shankar Raja’s songs are nothing to rave about. The only song that has been on the airwaves consistently is sung by his father Ilaiyaraaja for this film, called “Move your body”. This was Karthik’s entry song and it clearly showed he could not move his body. Some of the songs also weighed down the film – for instance, the song with director S J Suryah didn’t add anything. With a running time of 119 minutes, Vai Raja Vai’s highlight is the climax (last ten minutes) of the film when Kokki Kumaru (Dhanush) makes his entry in a black Rolls Royce. The theatre erupts and the screen sizzles with energy. This was the best ten minutes of the film – the dialogues, the acting and the screen presence of Dhanush lifts the film completely. In fact, this was clearly the most anticipated act in the film by the audience. Aishwarya Dhanush has penned the story, screenplay and directed the film, which is evidently a dedicated attempt at the commercial genre in Tamil cinema. However, the story is not gripping enough and it slows down considerably post-intermission. There is some respite through comedy, thanks to Vivekh and Satheesh, but the lines aren’t that memorable and the impact isn’t enough to keep us interested.