Vazhakku Enn 18/9

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21 - Priyan B @Priyan May 27, 2025 An heart wrenching drama. Rating: 8.7/10 See more Jan 11, 2019 What language is this? See more Jun 9, 2012 bit like a documentary but very good film and i love the climax See more Jun 3, 2012 The other day one of my friends was talking about a "powerful" tamil movie in 2012. The title sounded something along lines of varushum 16 or vayasu 18 and I did not bother at that time...during the weekend, here I was trying to kill time and googling Top tamil movies of 2012 and having a laugh at some of the entries. At the top slots inevitably was Shankar and Vijay combo Nanban...eminently watchable for a Vijay movie, but faithful remake of the original 3 idiots. I moved on. The next entry caught my eye, Vazhakku enn 18/9...crime thriller? social revolution? My initial impulse was racing wanting me to get the storyline out by going to the review pages...However I controlled my urge and continued to watch the movie through the only option available(West coast of US) for such movies... Online!!! I still wonder how the desi production houses conclude that only masala flicks showing the hottest of big stars is a panacea for sucess in theaters outside India. The movie began fairly as a typical tamil flick, flashbacks, crime scene, poor boy meeting girl blah blah blah that I was tempted to just end the game by closing the browser. But then something in this was different, the realism of street lives, the poverty, the characters we might often pass by and cursorily overlook on the teaming streets of our cities...that is unless you want to turn yourself away from your work woes and look up the reality on the streets...For a desi settled in the US its more easy to even wonder at all this when the odd beggar you see in the Lincoln square park here has a TV, Radio and a mini tent to carry on begging in the name of recession!!! As the story moved on Sri's past in Dharmapuri, the acute poverty, people selling agriculture land and migrating for finding work as petty laborers...the march of Indias development attested by the swanky malls, pub life, people snapping up "layouts" in suburbs for investment etc, amongst all this the have nots are further trampled and crushed under as if they are some pests that need to be eradicated as an eyesore...The travails of the family as they fall into the unregulated microfinancing blackhole in India, giving up their lives and the dreams about their sons...I have been to one of these forgotten Dharamapuri villages in the late 80's. Even without the arrival of the globalization tsunami, those areas were under acute developmental neglect and left at the whims and fancies of nature that often played cruel games with the crops. Chaaval was a luxury item reserved for 1day of the week...my aunt who worked as a health care assistant used to tell me that some of the villagers used to eat small animals/rodents when food was scarce and she had to treat them for the complications. All those painful memories came flooding back. Sri was perfectly able to convey the absolute helplessness and sorrow that I had firsthand in those villages...Moving on from there, the film goes on about Sri's current life, his street-smart friend at the petty shop and his love at first sight...his tiffs with Urmila and his mother...the prostitute samaritan Rosy...typical street life of the city poor. Each and every character oozes realism and matter of fact performances adeptly executed through Balaji Shakhivels direction. From hereon the story moves to the other side of the spectrum, the typical middle class family of Manisha as Aathi whose parents both work to make their higher ends meet and Mithu and his mom as one of the liberalization get-rich-quick generation. Dinesh's mom being a cheap prostitute turned concubine of a minister turned educationist runs an premier instition and has powerful clout with the powers that be. Dinesh obviously is a by product of the negatives, a brat for whom entertainment means bowling over the gals through fancy cars/phones and finally taking obscene MMS of them...is a vulgar display of his machoism for his friends who are all in the high society group. Aarthi naturally is torn between her mobile middle class bringings, the freedom that comes with no parents to supervise her activities courtesy work, desire for fancy gadgets and the thought of becoming rich and sucessfull through Dinesh...needless to say her friends also help her along egging her to just try if not go through the relationship full steam. Soon enough Dinesh has his mobile full of obsence MMS of Aarthi that she manages to delete before it spreads. The anger of Dinesh towards Aarthi, his gruesome attack on her and the disastrous consequences on Jothi who just happened to answer the bell as Aarthi was in shower...the story movies at breakneck pace.. From hereon you have the Police inspector Kumaravel who tries to put on a Robin hood cap by trying to get money from Dinesh's mom to help Jothi provided Sri goes to jail for Dineshs crime and how the mask is revealed as Kumaravel helps himself to all the money whilst Sri gets a lengthy jail term without parole as Jothis family are driven to the street due to poverty...and what happens at the end...you got to watch the movie!!! All in all poetry in every frame, highlighting the good, bad and ugly side of Indias development...the positives of the good people who have ensured that we do not become an utter anarchy....everything is captured on screen in the right proportion without going overboard or too preachy....A welcome change from the formulaic affairs and the he-man hero beating to pulp an army of thugs with his bare hands!!! See more May 29, 2012 Does a successful Tamil movie need to have a sad ending ???? See more May 15, 2012 A movie well made! Recommended!! ;) Go watch it! 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Vazhakku Enn 18/9

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