Movie Review
Vaathi (Secret in Telugu) is Dhanush’s first foray into the Telugu film world. Directed by Venky Atluri, Vaathi (Master) tells the story of the education system and the flaws in the privatization of education. It is about the journey of a simple middle class person who happens to be a teacher.
In the beginning we are introduced to three boys who find a box of video cassettes and as they play one we see Bala AKA Balamurugan (Dhanush) teaching Maths. They take the tapes to the District Collector’s office and we flash back to the late 90s when Bala was an assistant maths teacher at the Thirupati Coaching Centre. He is sent packing to teach underprivileged children in a government school because the government has contracted private training centers to run the government schools. Thirupathi Coaching Center is run by Srinivasa Thirupathi (Samuthirakani) and he sends all the teachers he considers ‘third class assistant teachers’ to these government schools.
Bala comes to Sozhavaram and he finds that no student is attending school and decides to change that. When all the public school students in Sozhavaram pass with first class marks thanks to Bala, Thirupati warns him not to mess with the existing system. “Zero fee, zero education. More fees, more education,” says Balaya. And at this time, Bala takes it as a problem. Does it change the education system? Can he enlighten public school students?
When Telugu director Veky Atluri and Dhanush announced their film together, there were doubts about how the film would pan out. Vaathi justifies the skepticism as the storyline is similar to what we have seen in numerous films before – a teacher tries to reform the education system. Case in point – Sattai (2012) in which Samuthirakani himself played the lead as a government school teacher and Raatchasi in which Jyothika played the principal of a government school. This film also has shades of Bollywood film Super 30.
Unfortunately, his talent is wasted as the story writing and narration are quite weak. The theme of the importance of education, especially for the middle class, and the need for good education to be accessible to all is admirable, but not convincingly translated on screen. The point of conflict is quite weak and so is the role of Thirupati. Bala wants to change the system, but in the end he doesn’t, and Thirupati keeps doing what he’s been doing – selling education at a high price. While honey has done something for children in need, we haven’t seen a dramatic change.
Vaathi is more about the journey of a middle class teacher and director Venki Atluri has done his best to make the audience connect emotionally with this flat film. Some scenes are effective, others just don’t make sense. Take the scene where Bala tries to convince his parents to send their children to school in the village. He tells the story of APJ Abdul Kalam, which supposedly opens everyone’s eyes to why education is important, and they decide to send their children to school.
G V Prakash’s BGM is good and already a big hit with his song Vaathi, the audience is also enjoying it on screen. Cinematography by J. Yuvaraj is good but editing by Naveen Nooli could have been tighter. There are considerable delays in the film, especially in the second half.
As always, Dhanush has given a good performance, but the pretty Meenakshi Samyuktha, who Samuthirakani and Bala fall in love with, doesn’t have much to do in the film. There are other actors who make brief appearances on screen without making much of an impact.
Venky Atluri’s Vaathi may strike a chord with middle-class parents who want to see a change in the education system, but as in the film, everything is up in the air.