Vasantha Mullai Movie Review

Cast and Crew

Director: Ramanan Purushothama

Bobby Simha ... Rudhra

Kashmira Pardeshi ... Nila (as Kashmira Pardesi)

Sarath Babu ... Doctor

Gireesh Krish Nair ... Shyam

Deepak Paramesh ... Rishi

Movie Review

Bobby Simha's Vasantha Mullai is off to a promising start. We see Rudra (Bobby), an IT team leader, on the first day in years when his office is bombarded with complaints about anger issues. He tries to solve them with a phone call while sitting in the theater with his wife. To make matters worse, he is constantly bullied from the back by impatient onlookers. Soon, Rudra loses his temper, which leads to a fight with the person sitting in the back seat. The sequence is skilfully shot because it puts us in Rudra's place and we feel as worried about him. Editing, sound design, and cinematography go hand in hand to make this experience a success. But when it ends, a flurry of questions ensues. "Why didn't Rudra go back to his office, especially with the all-or-nothing situation?", "Why didn't he come out to pick up the phone when no one was stopping him?", "Why is she your extremely supportive wife?" Don't talk about your situation?" Well, the movie doesn't give any explanation.]

It's clear from the first few minutes that first-time filmmaker Ramanan Purushottam wanted to give audiences a thrilling ride that wastes no time on logical consistency. It seems like a bold move if the surprise works out well, but it misses a mile as the film overwhelms with uninspired and lackluster writing. The initial plot fades quickly.

With a very thin plot and only a handful of characters, Vasanth Mullai needed a tense and fresh script. But the film fails miserably in this area and ends up being a blatant rehash of many Hollywood horror films.

The sincere efforts of cinematographer Gopi Amarnath, editor Vivek Harshan, and composer Rajesh Murugesan to make the visuals appealing are negated by a thoroughly unsympathetic protagonist, who acts on impulse and fails to read the piece most of the time.

Vasantha Moolai breaks a cardinal rule of horror movies by revealing the killer's identity without much tension. If you've been following the promotions for the movie, you know the role is played by Arya. Hiding the identity of the killer might have added a bit more intrigue, but here filmmaker Ramanan shows no restraint.

In a way, Vasantha Mullai can be called a time-loop film. While it seemed like an interesting idea, the movie doesn't learn anything about what went wrong due to the lack of innovation in the iterations and silly characters.

It is a bitter truth that National Award winner Bobby Simha is also a very limited performer and Vasantha Mullai is a stark reminder of that. Although the character requires the actor to express a wide range of emotions, Bobby Simha still looks angry. Kashmera Pardeshi's Neeta is a typical damsel in distress and I really wish our filmmakers threw at least a few rocks at the criminals without making our heroines wait helplessly for a male savior. Although the actress is serious about delivering a memorable performance, the character leaves little room for her.

The film ends with a long discussion emphasizing the importance of sleep. Sarath Babu, who plays the doctor, keeps repeating that he tried everything impossible but failed to put Rudran to sleep. After staying awake during this patience-testing thriller, I can safely say that they didn't try the most effective method.

Rating

I will give 2-star rating out of 5. If you are a true fan of Bobby Simha then you probably don't want to miss the movie.