Vaathi review

2023 - 2 - 17

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Image courtesy of "Hindustan Times"

Vaathi movie review: Dhanush-starrer about right to education is brave (Hindustan Times)

Vaathi movie review: The film allows Dhanush to play to the gallery, but the story never glorifies his character. It also stars Samuthirakani, Samyuktha and ...

The film does allow Dhanush to play to the gallery in a few instances but the story never glorifies his character. The film’s finale is smart writing as the story takes a very familiar trope and turns it on its head to send audiences home on a high. The film does commercialise quite a lot of things in a way to appeal to the masses, but the point it tries to drive home, which is about making good education accessible to everyone, connects on an emotional level. After a lot of struggles, when Bala finally manages to convince the parents as well as the students to return to school, he’s faced with a different set of challenges. It doesn’t do anything pathbreaking in terms of storytelling, but it definitely manages to strike a chord or two in the fashion it chooses to narrate this story of one man’s dream to make good education accessible to all. Venky Atluri’s Vaathi, which is set in the late 1990s, is a straightforward film about one man’s fight against the privatisation of the education system.

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Image courtesy of "Dinamalar"

வாத்தி - விமர்சனம் (Dinamalar)

வாத்தி · தனுஷ் · சம்யுக்தா ஹெக்டே · 17 பிப், 2023 · வெங்கி அட்லூரி · வாத்தி - 55/100.

- இயக்குனர் - நடிகர் கல்வி தாளாளர், தந்தை என தற்காலத்தில் பெருமையாக அழைக்கப்படும் கல்வி வியாபாரியாக சமுத்திரக்கனி. அவருடைய போராட்டமும், முயற்சியும் எப்படியாவது வெற்றி பெறவேண்டும் என்ற உணர்வு நமக்கும் படம் முழுவதும் வர வேண்டும். ஆனால், அப்படி நடந்து அரசு பள்ளிகளின் தரம் உயர்ந்தால் தங்களது கல்வி வியாபாரத்திற்கு பாதிப்பு வரும் என நினைக்கும் சமுத்திரக்கனி, அதற்கு பெரும் தடையாக இருக்கிறார். அரசு பள்ளிகளின் தரத்தை மேம்படுத்த தனியார் கல்வி நிறுவனங்களின் சங்கம் முடிவெடுக்கிறது.

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Image courtesy of "Times of India"

Vaathi Movie Review: Dhanush scores high along with his students ... (Times of India)

Vaathi Movie Review: Critics Rating: 3.0 stars, click to give your rating/review,Vaathi is a film that's mounted on no-nonsense writing though it could have ...

Technically the film is sound and GV Prakash's music adds value to the film. The protagonist could have handled those situations in a bit more effective and intelligent way creating a larger impact. Samuthurakani, though not very menacing, plays a typical villain and has only few sequences to show his evilness. The USP of Vaathi is Dhanush and his effortless performance and screen presence. Though this template of fall and rise of a social reformer is a universal success formula, it completely depends on how it is handled. The chemistry between Samyuktha and Dhanush works. Vaathi starts in the present, tracing back to a mysterious person who is unraveled by a group of three students through an old VCD cassette. The sequences in which he comes up with innovative ideas to educate the students are both enjoyable and thoughtful. Ken Karunas has done an impressive job and other students deserve a mention as well. Dhanush's Vaathi, though seems to be loosely inspired by Hrithik Roshan's Super 30, is fairly acceptable as the central theme of the film is quite powerful and stands tall for a cause. Director Venky Atluri manages to tick most of the boxes to present a commercially empowering film. Samyuktha Menon, who plays Dhanush's pair and a biology teacher, looks refreshing and has done her part decently.

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Image courtesy of "The Hindu"

'Vaathi' movie review: Dhanush can't save this middling education ... (The Hindu)

Director Venky Atluri's film begins with an intriguing premise, but an uneven screenplay and a terribly-misspent Dhanush contribute to its undoing.

However, the film stops establishing the look and feel of the period soon, and there are terrible lip-syncs in scenes. At one moment, director Venky goes meta to say that even a cinema theatre can impart education if needed, and his noble message in the film is loud and clear. The setting of the film is the ‘90s in a town called Sozhavaram on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border. Now, the geographical and period settings definitely help — the lack of communication devices, modern modes of transport, and the internet are necessary to tell this story — and setting it in a border town helps this Tamil-Telugu bilingual film. The fine dancer in Dhanush takes a step back when there is no set-up for the first song; he walks down a street and shakes a leg casually with no notice. If the intro is so sobering and intriguing, Venky’s casual use of songs in the first half also carries this subdued energy, and the prospect of an entire film in the same mould excite.

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Image courtesy of "Hindu Tamil"

வாத்தி Review: கல்வி குறித்து பாடம்... கிட்டியதா பாஸ் ... (Hindu Tamil)

5 ஸ்டார் உணவகங்களில் விற்கப்படும் உணவைப்போலலல்லாமல் கோயில்களில் கொடுக்கப்படும் ...

இறுதியில் தனுஷுக்கான பாரதியார் வேஷம் சர்காஸ்டிக் முயற்சியோ என எண்ணவைக்காமலில்லை. கடவுளாகவும், தியாகியாகவும் சித்தரிக்கப்படும் தனுஷுக்கான சோகப் பாடல் காய்ந்து போன பசைப்போல ஒட்டவில்லை. ‘வாத்தி’ என சொல்லப்பட்டாலும் மாணவனுக்கான லுக்கில், ஆக்ஷன், எமோஷன் என அழுத்தமான நடிப்பில் திரையை ஆக்கிரமித்திருக்கிறார் தனுஷ். 5 ஸ்டார் ஹோட்டல் சாப்பாடு மாதிரி விக்காதீங்க’ போன்ற வசனங்கள் கவனம் பெறுகின்றன. இந்த அவல நிலையை மாற்றியமைக்க தனியார் பள்ளிகள் சார்பில் ஆசிரியர்கள் அரசுப் பள்ளிகளுக்கு அனுப்பிவைக்கப்படுகின்றனர். 90களின் இறுதியில் ஆசிரியர்கள் இல்லாததால் அரசுப் பள்ளிகள் மூடப்படுகின்றன.

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Image courtesy of "ABP Nadu"

Vaathi Review: வாத்திக்கு விசில் போடலாமா? விளாசித் ... (ABP Nadu)

Vaathi Review: வாத்திக்கு விசில் போடலாமா? விளாசித் தள்ளலாமா? - ஃபர்ஸ்ட் கிளாஸ் ரிவ்யூ இதோ....!

அதேசமயம் படம் முழுக்க தெலுங்கு சினிமா மேக்கிங் ஸ்டைல் அப்படியே தெரிகிறது. அதனால் படம் பார்க்க செல்பவர்களால் கதையில் ஒன்ற முடியாமல் போகிறது. ஜி.வி.பிரகாஷ்குமார் இசையில் வா வாத்தி, நாடோடி மன்னன் பாடல்கள் ரசிக்க வைக்கிறது. குழந்தை தொழிலாளர்களை மீண்டும் பள்ளிக்கு வர வைப்பது, சாதிய பிரச்சினைக்கு தீர்வு காண்பது என ஏற்கனவே பல படங்களில் காட்சிகள் வந்து சலிப்பை ஏற்படுத்துகிறது. அதில் கல்வி அனைவருக்கும் போய் சேர வேண்டும் என நல்ல எண்ணம் கொண்ட வாத்தியாராக தனுஷ் இருக்கிறார். மருத்துவம், பொறியியல் போன்ற கல்வியின் வியாபார வளர்ச்சியின் நோக்கத்தை தெரிந்து கொண்ட தனியார் பள்ளிகள், நுழைவுத்தேர்வுக்கு பயிற்சி மையங்களை தொடங்கி நன்கு தேர்ந்த பள்ளி ஆசிரியர்களை விலைக்கு வாங்கி அரசு பள்ளிகளை மூடுகின்றனர்.

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Image courtesy of "The Indian Express"

Vaathi movie review: Dhanush starrer about right to education fares ... (The Indian Express)

Vaathi movie review: Despite having a stellar plot that could have helped director Venky Atluri create a good entertainer, this Dhanush-starrer proves that ...

In these sequences, Atluri also shows a cinema hall transforming into a school, highlighting the power of motion pictures. While he falls in love with her at first sight (as is customary), Meenakshi develops feelings for Balamurugan after hearing him give a (completely uninspiring) speech to the villagers about how Dr APJ Abdul Kalam became “The Missile Man”, making their bond appear childish. The scene in which Bala Sir teaches his students about caste discrimination as a social ill thus becomes meaningful, even with the tepid dialogues. It is only towards the end when he appears looking like Raavanan and Bharathiyar (in different scenes), that the film provides some kind of goosebumps in its entire running time of about 140 minutes. This happens after Srinivasa Thirupathi (Samuthirakani), the head of Thirupathi Educational Institutions and president of the private schools’ association, offers a ‘helping hand’ to the failing government schools by agreeing to send some teachers from private schools to their state-owned counterparts. Their search for the teacher takes them to a District Collector who, upon seeing the cassettes, beams with pride and says that he was the teacher’s student.

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Image courtesy of "Film Companion"

Vaathi is an Elementary Message Movie About The Most Primary ... (Film Companion)

It is when the film goes a little easier on itself that we get portions where it's most inventive. Especially, there is a lightness when it transforms into ...

It is a highly melodramatic sequence that is meant to show the pain Bala goes through in his efforts to keep teaching. In this, not only does it speak about the cinema hall becoming a temple of learning, but it also creates the space for Bala to keep appearing in different costumes (including that of Subramania Bharathi) without the effect feeling too contrived. But it is the manner in which we arrive at foreseeable plot points that makes it hard to keep engaging with Vaathi. The main antagonist here (played by Samuthirakani) is a man who is not just the pioneer of private education in Tamil Nadu but he is also Balamurugan’s ( Be it a film like Saattai (2012), the more recent [Master](https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/master-movie-review-tamil-vijay-thalapathy-flaws-and-all-lokesh-kanagaraj-delivers-a-classy-mass-movie-vijay-sethupathi-baradwaj-rangan) (2021), or [Nammavar](https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/super-30-kamal-haasans-nammavar-and-the-inspirational-teacher-trope-in-cinema) (1994) which inspired the Lokesh film, it’s as though it is only a matter of time before we get another montage of a campus cleanup featuring annoyingly gleeful students. [teacher as a saviour](https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-lists/10-teachers-from-tamil-cinema-we-love-master-nammavar-saattai-pasanga) has been a part of our movies for so long that it has become easy to predict the ebbs and flows of the subgenre.

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Image courtesy of "Times of India"

'Vaathi' Twitter review: Dhanush aces in the film sends a beautiful ... (Times of India)

Dhanush starrer 'Vaathi' has hit the big screens today (Feb 17) and the Tamil-Telugu bilingual drama is released along with the Telugu version titled.

https://t.co/dvClEPhJHW— Abhishek Karuna (@abhishek_karuna) https://t.co/YC2ZEJDJYA— sathiyasodhanai (@sathiyasodhanai) https://t.co/rAvVEiNz15— jaswanth desu (@jaswanthdesu)

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Image courtesy of "koimoi"

Vaathi Movie Review: Dhanush Can Never Go Wrong & Even The ... (koimoi)

Star Cast: Dhanush, Samyuktha Menon, Samuthirakani, Sai Kumar, and ensemble. Director: Venky Atluri. Vaathi Movie Review Out ( Photo Credit – A Still From ...

Venky Atluri in his direction quite cleverly understands that he has to make his movie around Dhanush in a way that his message is conveyed and the audience is entertained too. The actor manages to make you feel the pain that he goes through and his struggle he does to give the children access to education. All the actors who play students do a very fine job in their respective parts and make the movie a very good experience. The story that the writer sets out to tell about the present and how a boy is not that great at studies stumbles upon a box of footages from the past. The actor with his little frame beams maximum power in a movie that has all the actors larger in frame than him. Samyuktha Menon gets to play a stereotypical part that is always in service of the leading man Bala. The film completely forgets to address this and gives him a conclusion. With Dhanush coming to the big screens with a film with the same word, it was surely an intriguing factor. The film is a simple entertaining watch that also tries to educate, you can give it a try. He balances out the seriousness and drama of the subject pretty well. The film wants to educate people about the importance of education, and make them believe that only academics can make people think better and away from the orthodox system that we are conditioned to live in. Little does the corrupt head of the said institute knows that the teacher will equip the students of the rural school to top the exams and excel even more than his city children.

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Image courtesy of "The News Minute"

Vaathi review: Bad script, bad politics let down Dhanush starrer on ... (The News Minute)

It's a shame that Dhanush's entry into the Telugu movie industry has to be marked by a film of such mediocrity and confused politics.

Sentimentalisation in the name of religion seems to have blinded the director to the fact that education is a basic right, separate from religion. Vaathi even attempts a tongue-in-cheek reference to Master, when the ‘JD Soundtrack’ plays briefly at the beginning of the film. The director seems to think that a lecture from Dhanush and a trick he plays on the students is enough to bring down centuries of segregationist practices. Without a foil we can take seriously, the film flounders to give its hero a convincing arc of defeat and then victory. It’s a shame that Dhanush’s entry into the Telugu movie industry has to be marked by a film of such mediocrity and confused politics. It is a bland paean to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota, which in itself is casteist.

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Image courtesy of "FilmiBeat Tamil"

Vaathi Review: எப்படி இருக்கிறார் வாத்தி! திரையில் ... (FilmiBeat Tamil)

நடிகர்கள்: தனுஷ், சமுத்திரகனி, சம்யுக்தா, கென் கருணாஸ் இசை: ஜி வி பிரகாஷ்

சுருக்கமாக சொல்ல வேண்டுமென்றால் மெசேஜ் சொல்கிறேன் என்கிற பெயரில் எந்த இயக்குநர் வந்தாலும் இனி எச்சரிக்கையாக இருங்கள் என பாடம் எடுத்திருக்கிறார் வாத்தி தனுஷ். [Vaathi Review: தனுஷின் வாத்தி பாஸ் ஆனதா? ஒருகட்டத்துக்கு மேல் ஊரைவிட்டு துரத்தப்படும் வாத்தி திரையரங்கில் பாடம் எடுக்கிறார். அந்த குழப்பத்தை தீர்ப்பதற்கு இயக்குநர் வாத்தி பாலமுருகனுக்கு காஸ்டியூமை கொஞ்சம் மாற்றியிருக்கலாம். ஆனால் வம்சி, வெங்கி அட்லூரி போன்றவர்கள் மீண்டும் கதாநாயகிகளை பேச்சுக்கு வந்து போகும் கதாபாத்திரமாக மாற்ற முயன்று கொண்டிருக்கிறார்களோ என்ற அச்சம் நிச்சயமாக எழுகிறது. மிகுந்த எதிர்பார்ப்புடன் வாத்தி படம் இன்று திரையரங்குகளில் வெளியானது. மாணவர்கள் மத்தியில் சாதி ஏற்றத்தாழ்வை போக்கும் விதமாக தனித்தனியாக பாடம் எடுப்பதும்; அதன் பிறகு வாத்தி வைக்கும் ட்விஸ்ட்டும் ஈர்க்கும்படி இருக்கின்றன. எங்கு நடக்கிறது தெரியுமா?- விவரம்](https://tamil.mykhel.com/cricket/ipl-2023-schedule-released-by-bcci-csk-and-gt-will-clash-on-first-match-of-16th-season-036521.html) [Automobiles](https://tamil.drivespark.com) [குறி வெச்சுட்டாங்க! படம் எப்படி இருக்கிறது என்பது குறித்து விரிவான விமர்சனம் வெங்கி அட்லூரி இயக்கத்தில் உருவாகியிருக்கும் படம் வாத்தி. 3 முறை வட்டி அதிகரிப்பு இருக்கலாம்..!](https://tamil.goodreturns.in/news/goldman-sachs-predicts-3-more-us-fed-rate-hikes-no-cuts-in-2023-033881.html) [Sports](https://tamil.mykhel.com) [ஐபிஎல் 2023 அட்டவணை வெளியீடு.. அத்தன பேரும் ஆடிப்போய் கெடக்கறாங்க!](https://tamil.drivespark.com/off-beat/high-security-registration-plates-hsrp-mandatory-for-all-vehicles-from-today-full-details-here-034968.html) [Technology](https://tamil.gizbot.com) [ஆப்பிள் போன் பயன்படுத்தினால் தூக்கு தண்டனையா?

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Image courtesy of "India Today"

Vaathi Movie Review: Dhanush is the only saving grace of this ... (India Today)

Dhanush, who plays Bala, tries to change the education system by making education accessible to all. While Vaathi has a noble mission, Venky Atluri's story ...

There are a lot of lags in the film, especially in the second half. Take the scene where Bala tries to convince parents to send their kids to school in the village. He is sent packing to teach underprivileged kids in a government school because the government formed a deal with private coaching centres to run the government schools. Unfortunately, his talent goes to waste as the story writing and narration are quite weak. Bala arrives in Sozhavaram and he finds no students actually attend school, so he decides to change this. [By Latha Srinivasan](/author/latha-srinivasan): Vaathi (Sir in Telugu) is Dhanush’s first foray into the Telugu film world.

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Image courtesy of "Lensmen Reviews"

Vaathi Review | Dhanush Starrer Is a Bland Blend Of Message and ... (Lensmen Reviews)

It is no secret that the essential ingredient of a typical star film in Tamil Nadu is the hero's preaching and lecturing about social issues.

What Vaathi misses is the craft of that. The landing and setting of scenes that talk about the various pertinent social topics have to be impactful. The climax of the film feels way too utopian. The script development of the movie is extremely unrefined. I found that character and the various lines of that character unintentionally funny. It is no secret that the essential ingredient of a typical star film in Tamil Nadu is the hero’s preaching and lecturing about social issues.

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