VSOP review: Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga is a U-rated obscenity

Director: M Rajesh

Cast: Arya, Santhanam, Tamannaah, Bhanu, Vidyullekha Raman, Karunakaran

Rating:

M Rajesh after his directorial debut Siva Manasula Sakthi (SMS), which turned out to be a blockbuster, went on to make films which were like sequels to his debut venture. But he took a break from this trend by making All In All Azhagu Raja, which fell flat at the box office.

Now, with Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga, the director has gone back to his formula, only for worse.

This one is Arya's 25th film and it has been produced under his own banner - The Show People. VSOP (to shorten the title to an acronym is again a M Rajesh's trademark) has Santhanam and Tamannaah, Bhanu, Vidyullekha Raman and Karunakaran in pivotal roles.

Like all of Rajesh's previous outings, VSOP is about two friends Vasu and Saravanan, and the elements which threaten their unbreakable friendship.

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The film starts with Arya and Santhanam starting a hunger strike against girls who break up with men for silly reasons. The reasons and situations which push the friends to this drastic step is shown in flashback.

Vasu and Saravanan run a mobile store called VASA, but throughout the film they are more seen at the bars than in their shop. After seeing the number of beer bottles and drinks Vasu and Saravanan gulp down throughout the film, the drinks (if it had been real booze) alone should have cost a sizeable amount for producer Arya.

Everything goes fine for the friends until Vasu gets married to a girl. Vasu's wife, played by Bhanu, hates Saravanan for obvious reasons. Bhanu declares that until her husband severe all his ties with his friend, they can't have sex (Yeah! seriously). Now the only way for Vasu to get laid here is to make the jobless Saravanan to fall in love with a girl, so that he stops bugging him.

They end up finding Aishwarya Balakrishnan (Tamannaah), a staff in a matrimonial bureau. Tutored by Santhanam, Arya starts following Tamannaah and bugs her to accept his proposal. The director's euphemism for stalking is 'following'. Surprisingly, Tamannaah ultimately ends up falling for her stalker ("Stalk-holm" syndrome?)

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Rajesh's two-and-half-hour script has nothing, but female bashing, making fun of plus-sized women, double-meaning-ed, innuendo-ed dialogues and absurd one-liners, which are sweet-coated as humour. Aishwarya's friend, a well-built girl is bashed throughout the film. She is called all demeaning names such as Kung-fu Panda, aunty and idly cooker (the director's idea of a joke). Still, the girl loves her abuser, the handsome Arya.

Another baffling thing about the film is the 'U' censor stamp it carries. Apart from the bar scenes, the film is loaded with obscenity. Actor Shakeela has made a cameo in the film, and her scenes are filled with double-meaning-ed dialogues. In the end titles, Santhanam is about to make love to his wife on the floor, and she wonders why there is no bed. As an answer, Santhanam reveals that he is wearing knee pads. Respected Censor Board, how will you explain that to a child?