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Review: Vadhyar falls short on many fronts

Paresh C Palicha feels debutant director Nidheesh Sakthi Vadhyar has done a shoddy job with Vadhyar.

It's the story of a strong-willed teacher who reforms a few wayward students and gets them back to school and even saves the school from closure. Not an unfamiliar theme, so just how different is Vadhyar from other films of this type?

Here you have Anoop Krishnan (Jayasurya), a lazy youngster, who warms his bed till 11 every morning and pretends he is studying for an MBA. His late father was an illustrious teacher and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, to which end he paid a school Rs 10 lakh to employ Anoop.

So, a young man who would be spending his time with his friends in a bar or watching sleaze on his cell phone, instead, finds himself pitch-forked into handling a classroom of kids. His idea of educating them is to hand out bubble gum or put on a movie for them on his laptop. This goes on till he hears the eulogies showered on his father by his students, which includes none other than the district collector himself, who praises Anoop for treading the same path as his

father.

It is a 'coming of age' story at one level, and transforms into something like Manikyakkallu (2011), where the hero fights against the powers that be who have ordered the closure of his school because of its non-performance and dwindling number of students.

An attempt is made to make use of Jayasurya's image of a flawed character like the ones he played in films like Ivar Vivahitharaayal and Payyans. But, the story does not have enough meat to give the hero any substance or ask anything challenging out of him.

The case for the leading lady Ann Augustine is even worse; she hardly gets any lines to speak let alone romance the hero.

Heroine of yesteryear, Menaka, plays the role of the headmistress which is well fleshed out.

On the whole, the story seems like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that don't quite fit. It has a running time of a comparatively short two hours, but nobody has asked for brevity at the expense of logic or cohesiveness.

Vadhyar directed by newcomer Nidheesh Sakthi falls short on many fronts.

Rediff Rating: