If only there was a stop button to end the music in Vaathil, watching the film would have been a more pleasant experience. Unfortunately, you have to sit through the music that grows painfully loud, in tune with the moods of the film that flip between happy and tense. You realise how much it matters in the few blessed moments the music is off. Through a wafer-thin plot about a couple’s long period of strife and a number of cliches, the film is still interesting enough to make you wonder where it is going. The performances, especially from Vinay Forrt in the unusual role of a husband going rogue, help. But a lot is left to be desired.
The film opens with a cringey exchange on WhatsApp, between a man who says he is in trouble and a woman who appears to be quoting from the nearest self-help book available. Ramakanth Sarju, directing the film, keeps the story flowing but lets it drag on in a way that tests the viewers’ patience. The script is by Shamnad Shabeer, who shows some promise though the writing sneaks in some forgettable clichés.
Anu Sithara plays the other half of the troubled couple. The flat they share is clearly an important part of the plot, the camera zooming in on every object in the first few minutes. It makes sense that the film is titled Vaathil, meaning door, literally and figuratively fitting the storyline. The apartment is luxurious and well-kept, with a few noticeable props such as the couple’s photograph and a wall hanging that has ‘daivam’ (god) written on it. It is an inter-religious marriage, we are told, without a lot of weightage on it, appreciably. Flashbacks tell you that Denny and Thani have been amiable with the other residents of the flat. You are given an all-too-real preview of life in an apartment building for a single woman – frowned upon because she is living without family, accused of wrongdoing, threatened to be thrown out.
Watch: The trailer of the film
Even as the dialogues and reactions of the actors seem natural, the ‘twist’ in the tale is forced, making it seem like a lazy attempt at storytelling. All it takes for Denny to change his very set ways is a night with his friend (Krishna Shankar), whose flirty ways and multiple affairs are written as comic relief. Denny, who was until then the no-nonsense boss at the office and the serious but loving husband cooking biriyani for his wife, decides to turn his life around, as per his friend’s advice, to enjoy every moment of it.
Thani is not your silently suffering wife. She speaks her mind, shows her anger, and cries when she is upset. But the solution she finds is not only clichéd, having appeared in movies and short films before, but also demeaning to her. All the women characters seem written with such an unflattering touch. Merin Philip’s role as an insurance agent is both vague and lacking in self-worth. Anjali Nair, playing Thani’s friend, asks Thani to shut up whenever she vents out her rightful anger against her husband.
With some really harsh editing, cuts to the script along with its clichés and its music, Vaathil might have been an enjoyable family thriller, as it claims to be.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.