36 Vayadhinile

Honestly, the only reason I booked tickets for Jyothika’s comeback film “36 Vayadhinile” was just to ensure that my free movie ticket vouchers (offered by American Express) weren’t wasted! I knew this was a heroine-centric movie and the remake of a Malayalam hit (I didn’t even know the name of the film it was based on). I didn’t have any expectations about the movie and in fact, as I walked into the multiplex, I was visualizing a very clichéd plot. How wrong I was!

Right from the initial scenes, when the director keeps you guessing about the purpose of the police department conducting background verification on Vasanthi Tamilselvan, played by Jyothika, to the end, when Vasanthi Tamilselvan meets the President of India, this film is refreshingly different. Director Roshan Andrews breaks all clichés of a heroine-centric movie and comes up with a winner. If there’s something he could have done differently, it’s the characterization of Tamilselvan, Vasanthi’s husband, played by Rahman. A husband-who-treats-his-wife-like-a-maid is the only cliché that the director ends up dishing out in an otherwise different movie. And yes, we are thankfully spared of scheming, villainous in-laws. We get to see folks who are very supportive of their daughter-in-law!

This performance is undoubtedly, Jyothika’s best! She has shed plenty of kilos, looks much younger and has come up with a performance of a lifetime! Be it as a simple middleclass working woman in the first half or as a woman who is out to prove herself in the second half, she is simply amazing!

Special mention to R.Diwakaran’s camera for capturing the small by-lanes of Triplicane beautifully! It surely did bring back fond memories of the place where I grew up! Surprisingly, nobody from Triplicane told me about the shooting of this film!

Lalitha Vijayakumar’s rendition of the title track “Rasathi”, a catchy tune composed by Santhosh Narayanan is also worth a mention.

Jyothika couldn’t have selected a better script for her comeback film! This film is not just about feminism, woman empowerment etc. It’s also about dealing with mid-career blues that everyone goes through! This film is definitely worth a watch with your entire family! Go for it!!