Vaaranam Aayiram wows audiences Almost every single person said they either absolutely loved the movie or liked it immensely.

After a touching premiere for the movie by Tanker Foundation and Reach India, who held a special screening of Vaaranam Aayiram yesterday in Chennai, audiences walked out of theatres moved nearly to tears by the impact of the movie. Almost every person said they either absolutely loved the movie or liked it immensely.

For a project that seemed to have been jinxed from the start, Vaaranam Aayiram has perhaps found a new lease of life in a quality that should be and essential part of any movie - a beautiful story and a beautiful narration.

When asked what they liked best about the movie, the audiences of the charity show last night responded with a slew of replies, from "fabulous music and visuals to match" to "a most touching father-son relationship" to "beautifully portrayed love stories" to "an amazing perspective of a modern-minded middle-class Indian family".

All in all, it seems that Vaaranam Aayiram could well prove to be the huge strength of director Gautham Menon at the box-office as well as in critics' circles.
It is heartwarming to see the dedication of Suriya, who was filming near Mumbai for Ayan, arrived at the premiere promptly. Divya Spandana and Sameera Reddy looked amazing at the premiere.

Surya shines as father and son in ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’ (Tamil Film Review)

Film: “Vaaranam Aayiram”; Director: Gowtham Menon; Cast: Surya, Simran, Divya Spandana, Sameera Reddy; Music: Harris Jayaraj; Rating: *** “Vaaranam Aayiram”, which means ‘a thousand elephants’ in Tamil, is a Surya film all the way. The actor strides through it with his double role, giving a scintillating performance.

The tale is about a goody-goody relationship between father and son. Surya plays a wizened old man, Krishnan, in the autumn of his life and a strapping army major with aplomb..

The 33-year-old Surya even sends the audience into complete disbelief looking every inch a 17-year-old for a brief while in the film.

The story recalls the touching moments in a family that has only love for each of its members - comprising father, mother (played by Simran) son and his girlfriends (Sameera Reddy and Divya Spandana) spread between India and the US.

While it first describes the love between the father and his wife in the 1970s, it also beautifully portrays the son’s love life many years later.

After a love affair in Chennai, the protagonist head to the US, where he sweeps the fashionable and chic Sameera Reddy off her feet.

Playing men of different ages and times, Surya makes subtle changes in his gait, body language and dialogue delivery, thereby creating different shades to his two roles.

The time difference between father and son is also shown with painstaking digital detail.

The cinematography by Rathnavel is excellent as he matches the digitally superimposed visuals with live images.

Hit music in all the seven songs by Harris Jayaraj provides the icing to the cake.

Director Gautham Menon has exceeded himself in creativity, extracting great work from his cast.

The over-sweet nature of the story and its lagging length in the second half are its minus points that pale into insignificance due to Surya’s brilliant essay of the two roles and a moving climax.

Gautham trims Vaaranam Aayiram

When Gautham Menon showed his magnum opus Vaaranam Aayiram to the censors, the running time was 3 hours and 5 minutes. A day before the release on producer V.Ravichandran's request, he trimmed 10 minutes of the film.

But after the opening day noon show, theatres in Tamilnadu complained - Padam rombam slow, interval thandi oru documentary mathiri irruku ( The film is very slow, especially after interval it looks like a documentary).

By night show, Gautham instructed theatres to trim 12 minutes of the film, mainly the Delhi kidnapping episode scene. But most theatres outside Chennai city did their own editing of the film!

Now in some places after Surya's gets cured of drug addiction due to his fathers love and care, he is shown joining the army. The entire Surya's travel to Kashmir and Delhi including the kidnap episode has been chopped.

And some theatres have also trimmed Harris Jayaraj's favourite song in the film - the soft melody Anal Mele.., the last song in the film picturised on Surya and Divya!

Now in Chennai city, the running time of the film is 2 hrs and 41 minutes while beyond Chrompet in most places it is around 2 hrs 30 minutes!

It's Surya all the way

If Kamal Haasan [Images] had his Dasavatharam with oodles of make-up and a blast of Chaos Theory, then this can easily be called Surya's Dasavatharam -- minus a couple of incarnations, of course. Rarely do actors -- even the good ones -- get such scope and screen-space to play out every intricate detail.

Aascar Ravichandran's Tamil movie, Vaaranam Aayiram (A thousand Elephants), directed by Gautam Vasudev Menon is almost a love-story with Surya, and no one but Surya at it's epicentre.

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Also Read: Showcasing Vaaranam Aayiram

The beginning shots of a doddering Krishnan (Surya) at the fag end of life, still eager to live his life, come with an expectant twist. Even as you appreciate the make-up and the body language that brings an old man to life, there's a trim and fit Major Surya (Surya) in the Indian Army [Images], who is part of a rescue mission.

Meanwhile, Krishnan's wife Malini (Simran [Images]) and daughter Shreya make him lie down as he goes into the throes of sickness -- and even as he breathes his last, his son remembers all the things that made his father he Who had the Strength of a Thousand Elephants -- and his own journey towards becoming one.

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Exclusive! Suriya on Vaaranam Aayiram, Ghajnini

Gautham Menon has crafted a moving story, calculated to describe in the minutest details the story of an ideal father: Krishnan is a merry, strong individual who sweeps Malini off her feet (the Mundhinam Parthene song sequence is a rollicking riot from the 70s, with even the old Spencer's Plaza painstakingly re-created digitally). The moment they set eyes on each other, they know that their fate is bound sealed. Years roll, and there appears Surya, their son -- who moves through life, experiencing the same kind of love with Meghna (Sameera Reddy [Images]) -- and Priya (Divya Spandana).

Surya has obviously been on a roll. For those who thought a thirty-something could never go back to being a 17-year old, here's a newsflash: with his paltry moustache and perky enthusiasm, Surya's perfect.

As a love-struck young man who falls flat on his face for Sameera Reddy, he's adorable. As a drug addict faced with life's greatest trials, he's marvellous. But when he appears on screen as six-pack moulded Major, the whistles hit the roof.

In every instance, he's subtly altered his body language, the expression in his eyes, the indefinable something that marks the difference between a father and son -- and even in the various stages of a son's life, he's managed to alter himself. This one is clearly is magnum opus among the films he's done so far.

Sameera Reddy is buxom, full of life and creates a pang in your heart. Divya Spandana earns your respect with her sober demeanour. And Simran, as Malini, fits her role to the hilt. Sometimes you wonder if this was once the heart-throb that acted in skimpy outfits with Surya himself -- and you have to laud her for how well she's done her job.

Harris Jeyaraj's songs have already become chart-busters; his background score gels well with the movie.

Rathnavelu's camera is smooth at certain times; gives a jerky feel at others, creating the impression that you're watching an intimate scene within a family -- and both work.

So, aren't there any pitfalls? Is this Gautam Menon's beautiful, perfect classic? Hardly. Yes, it's a very moving tribute to a perfect father and loving son; the screenplay does move swiftly in the first half -- but at times, the father grows too perfect; the son too loving. Krishnan is so completely the ideal of a father-figure that you wonder if such men actually exist in real life.

More than half the conversation is in English too, and it's generally up-market -- a non-urban audience might not relate too easily to this film.

At three hours, this one is too long -- a healthy snip would have made for much better viewing. Towards the end, you wonder if so much detail really is necessary.

But if you ignore the lagging last hour, some dialogues and too-ideal situations, the movie is clearly a movingly visualised tribute to fathers and sons by Gautam, and beautifully portrayed by Surya, a brilliant actor.

It might be just a feather in Gautam's hat. As for Surya, it's an ostrich plume, a justified triumph.

A starry screening

Imagine watching a special screening of the latest movie
to hit screens with the star sitting in your midst! It was a dream come true for a select few of Radio Mirchi listeners when they came face-to-face with Kollywood’s dream hero Surya at a special screening of his latest Vaaranam Aayiram.

The highlight of the evening was an engaging Q &A session with the hero, heroine Divya Spandana and director Gautham Menon. “Tell us something about your awesome six-packs,” shouted a fan to which Surya quipped, “Watch the film carefully. If you blink your eyes a bit fast during that sequence, you might actually miss it!”

When an elderly fan reminded the actor about his sizzling chemistry with wife Jothika, it was his turn to blush and smile. “I might do a lot of great movies, but Kaakha Kaakha will always remain special,” he gushed, even as director Gautham Menon nodded, probably in approval.

Divya Spandana, dressed in black, stole the show with the men drooling over her. “We — just the both of us — actually drove a plane during the shoot.... I don’t know how they let us,” smiles Surya. Director Gautham Menon was his usual subdued self, especially when asked about his on-going tussle with composer Harris Jayaraj. “You’ll have to ask him about it,” he replied, when a concerned fan told him that he would miss the combo’s magic.

Watch Vaaranam Aayiram with Surya!

Yes it is true! You can watch Vaaranam Aayiram with Surya, but only in the US.

The actor is now camping in Bay Area, San Francisco and enjoying his vacation with wife Jyothika and daughter Diya. His recently released Vaaranam Aayiram has been running in US for the second week and the distributors of the film now want to use his vacation for the business promotion of the film.

Now Bharath Creations, the distributor of Vaaranam Aayiram is making arrangements for the Surya - Fans meeting in Bay Area. There will also be an interactive session with the audience at the theaters, as announced by the distributors.

Now Pritviraj has a six-pack abs!

Prithviraj who is playing an important role in Mani Ratnam's bilingual has worked out at a gym with a personal trainer for the last three months to get a six-pack abs for the film tentatively titled Asokavanam!

Prithvi joins Tamil hero's like Surya and Vishal to spot a six- pack. He started working on his six-pack while he was shooting for his Malayalam film Lollipop with Bhavana.

Mani Ratnam had insisted that Prithvi has a six-pack in the film, where he is supposed to play Aishwarya Rai's husband who really does not love her as he is a self obsessed man. He had Thiruvananthapuram's best known trainer to chart out his workout.

The actor now looks fit as a fiddle and is said to have lost 10 kilos during the last three months .He is very secretive about his new look, and has refused to show off his six pack, as "Mani sir does not like the look to go public."