Vaazhthugal

Vaazhthugal (transl. Congratulations) is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Seeman, in his last directorial work before his entry into politics.^[1] The film stars Madhavan and Bhavana, along with Venkat Prabhu, Ilavarasu, Na. Muthuswamy and R. K., who play supporting roles. Produced by T. Siva for Amma Creations and with music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vaazhthugal was released on 15 January 2008, during Pongal.

Vaazhthugal
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Seeman
Written by	Seeman
Produced by	T. Siva Arunamaheswari
Starring	Madhavan Bhavana
Cinematography	B. L. Sanjay
Edited by	K. Pazhanivel
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production company	Amma Creations
Distributed by	Pyramid Saimira
Release date	15 January 2008 (2008-01-15)
Running time	151 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Vazhthugal revolves around Kathiravan, a successful entrepreneur who manages a software company. Kathiravan is an affectionate son and socially responsible too. His company is involved in various social activities.

When his close friend's parents are forced by their daughter-in-law to leave home, Kathrivan decides to marry a girl who will keep his parents happy. While watching a television programme he is impressed by Kayal, a college student from Coimbatore being interviewed on a show.

To a question by the interviewer, 'where do you see yourself in another ten years?' Kayal deviating from the usual clichéd answers replies, "As an ideal wife, mother and daughter-in-law." And during the course of her talk, she attributes her success to her large and loving family consisting of her parents, maternal grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins. Kathiravan is impressed with her attitude and feels that she is the right life companion for him.

He goes to Coimbatore to woo her. But meeting her in her college does not help. So he takes it as an opportunity when he learns that Kayal's grandfather is on the look out for an interior designer to renovate their traditional home. Posing as an interior designer, he undertakes the job winning the hearts of Kayal and her family members.

When the family learns that they are in love, especially Kayal's grandfather who believes that all love marriages are a failure. However, Kathiravan does not want to marry Kayal without her family's acceptance. So he tries to win their acceptance.

Cast

• Madhavan as T. Kadhiravan
• Bhavana as Kayalvizhi Thirunavukkarasu
• Venkat Prabhu as Kalai
• Ilavarasu as Thirunavukkarasu
• RK as Vetriselvan Selvanayagam
• Na. Muthuswamy as Selvanayagam
• Vijayalakshmi as Vennila
• T. Siva as Doctor
• T. Velmurugan
• Mallika Sukumaran
• Revathi Sankaran
• Trotsky Marudu
• Mu Ramaswamy

Production

After collaborating on Thambi (2006), director Seeman and actor Madhavan decided to work on two more projects titled Vaazhthugal and Pagalavan,^[2] although the latter project was dropped.^[3] Venkat Prabhu later joined the cast of Vaazhthugal, making a return to acting after a sabbatical as he had been focussing on direction.^[4] The film was shot in locations including Coimbatore, Pollachi, Udumalaipettai,^[5] and Kerala. It notably features no English dialogue, given the director's passion for the Tamil language.^[6]

Soundtrack

Music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and the lyrics were provided by Na. Muthukumar.^[7] The soundtrack was released on 3 January 2008. The lyrics of the song "Muzhumai Nila" were taken from a poem written by Bharathidasan.^[8] Saraswathy Srinivas of Rediff.com called it "A remarkable album that is worth listening to over and over again".^[9]

Song	Singer(s)	Duration
"Enthan Vaanamum Neethan"	Haricharan, Mahathi	5:29
"Chinna Chinna"	Shweta Mohan	4:17
"Pookkal Rasithathu"	Haricharan, Ajindan	3:52
"Muzhumai Nila"	Sriram Parthasarathy, Mukesh	2:03
"Unmela Aasapattu"	S. P. B. Charan, Anuradha Sriram	4:00
"Kannil Vanthathum"	Haricharan, Dishanthan	5:15
"Enthan Vaanamum Neethan (Reprise)"	Rahul Nambiar, Rajalakshmi	5:27

Release and reception

Vaazhthugal was released on 15 January 2008, during Pongal, alongside other releases like Bheemaa, Pazhani, Kaalai, Pirivom Santhippom and Pidichirukku.^[10] Distributed by Pyramid Saimira, it was initially postponed to 26 January 2008, Republic Day,^[11] but later returned to the original date.^[10] Sify wrote, "Seeman's intentions to make Vazhthukkal were noble but his execution is tacky and the final outcome is a dreary and boring message film that leaves you exhausted! The flaw is not in the tale, it's in the telling — too many songs, conversations going nowhere, clichéd characters and a long drawn out 30 minutes tedious climax".^[12] Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com wrote, "Seeman has obviously tried desperately, and failed to make a movie with a moral message for today's generation."^[13]

Madhumitha of Kalki praised the acting, music, cinematography and dialogues also for having heavy Tamil flavour but panned slow-paced scenes, predictable screenplay which seems to pull the film backwards if this was avoided it would have been an unforgettable film.^[14] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote that the film "begins promisingly enough, the earlier scenes focusing on the responsibility of children towards their aging parents, and the trauma the latter undergo when they are discarded by their progenies. But as the narration proceeds, the script loses it's [sic] focus, the director unable to maintain the same pace, feel and interest".^[15]