Varnajalam

Varnajalam
Directed by	Nagulan Ponnusamy
Produced by	GJ Films
Written by	Nagulan Ponnusamy
Starring	Srikanth Sadha Kutti Radhika Nassar Karunas
Music by	Vidyasagar
Release dates	13 February 2004 (2004-02-13)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Varnajalam is a 2004 Tamil film starring Srikanth and Sadha in the lead roles, later dubbed into Hindi as Aankhein. It was remade in Malayalam as Aagathan.

Synopsis

A retired policeman, Devanathan, begins a new life with his family (which includes his brother and his wife) to keep his past. Devanathan's daughter Anita is a teenager, and his son, Ashwin, is a troubled young man. One morning, a young man named Daniel arrives with a recommendation letter from a priest to apply for a job as a tea manager. Daniel saves Devanthan's life from criminals, and wins the heart of the family. A flashback follows, with a boy named Sakthivel (raised by his aunt and uncle, a friend of Abhirami's (Sada). Ashwin drives too fast, frightening the neighborhood children. One day Devanathan gets into an argument with Ashwin, who goes to Daniel's office. Daniel behaves insanely and begins hurting himself. In the hospital Daniel begins dreaming about Abhirami, threatens Ashwin with a knife and cuts himself. Later, Daniel starts a fire in the house. Ashwin is taken to a mental hospital. Daniel disguises himself and spies on Devnathan's sister-in-law when she is bathing, thinking it was Devanathan. He lies to her; the brothers become enemies, and the younger brother leaves the house. When riding her bicycle, Anita discovers Daniel's motorcycle and is shocked to see Daniel performing rituals for Abhirami. Daniel claims to be Sakthivel, and explains to Anita that Abhirami was murdered by Devanathan and other criminals; Anita is shocked to hear that her father is a murderer. Finally, Sakthivel kills Devanathan and the criminals are killed by the police. At the film's end, we see Sakthivel reading a newspaper account of Devanathan's death.

Cast

• Srikanth as Daniel/Sakthivel
• Sadha as Abhirami
• Kutty Radhika as Anitha
• Nasser as Devanathan
• Anand Samy as Ashwin
• Riyaz Khan as Abhirami's murderer
• Saranya Ponvannan as Abhirami's mother
• Nizhalgal Ravi as Abhirami's father
• Thalaivasal Vijay as Devanathan's brother
• Kanjana Mendis as Devanathan's sister-in-law
• Karunas as Logu ^[1]

Soundtrack

Production

The film was shot for nearly 25 days in Sri Lanka, 15 days in Ooty and 20 days in Chennai,^[2] Director Nagulan Ponnusaamy who earlier worked as an assistant to G. M. Kumar and Rajkapoor and worked as dialogue writer made his debut as director with this film.

Release

The film failed at the box-office. Nagulan Ponnusaamy hadn't directed any film so far and he went to hibernation before resurfacing as an actor by playing Karu Pazhaniappan's father in his film Mandhira Punnagai. This was Kutty Radhika's last film in Tamil.

Reviews

The film received mixed reviews.^[3] Hindu wrote:"ON THE face of it GJ Cinema's "Varnajaalam" (the title is a well-thought out one) is just another tale of revenge. But Nakulan Ponnusamy's treatment gives new dimensions to the narration. Though it is a thriller of sorts surprisingly the film has very few action scenes. But fear and suspense continue to mount at every stage, till the climax".^[4] Another critic wrote:"nothing new to offer as it lacks style, newness or a tautness of a thriller".^[5] Balaji wrote:"its slow pace and lack of suspense and tension prevent it from becoming a successful entry".^[6] Bizhat wrote:"the first half lacks consistency. The screenplay is a bit slow and most of the scenes are predictable. But the second half is neat and fast paced".^[7]

References