Just read that Vaaranam Aayiram completed 10 years today. I remember 10 years back how I was stunned during its interval sequence on its first day. If Meghana(Sameera Reddy)’s death was a shocker, the most beautiful scene from the movie and one of my most favorite movie scenes ever is a phone conversation that follows when Suriya calls his dad to tell about the incident.
The screen splits into two and you could see both sides together. After the dad hears about Meghana’s demise, he couldn’t take it more and gives the phone to his mother (Simran). Suriya still thinking it is his dad to whom he is speaking, goes on to say that he was madly in love with her and that they made love. In a movie about father-son bond, I liked how Gautham Menon showed the mother is still an important part that binds them.
What beautiful music did the movie have ! What terrific performance did Suriya give ! It might have been perhaps great to have Mohanlal as the father, who was Gautham Menon’s first choice. But Suriya took up the challenge of dual roles surprisingly well and came out in flying colors. Two years later, Singham released and we lost this performer somewhere down the lane.
Vaaranam Aayiram had a slightly difficult to watch second half, but it was a movie with a soul. As a child, Suriya leaves his father’s fingers, runs to pick something on a beach and gets lost in the crowd . When his father comes and finds him, Suriya narrates in the background -“Daddy, It was on that day, I told to myself, I will not leave your hands again”. Like this soothing narration by Suriya, Vaaranam Aayiram was a poem for its most part !
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