Vivek n unni

Varathan (The Outsider) It's been some time since we saw Fahad Fazal on the big screen, last time it was with the dull Carbon and fans were eagerly waiting for his next outing. Not much is known about the relatively newer actress Aishwarya Lekshmi although a fine performance from her in Mayanadhi confirms her obvious talent and screen presence. Varathan revolves around the life of young couples Abin and Priya. Owing to Abin's firing from his job in Dubai or as his company subtly puts it ' you are way too good for us to afford' and Priya's miscarriage they decided to take a break from it all and heads to Priya's ancestoral property in the hills back in Kerala. Here we are not greeted with beautiful subtilities by which we call it 'God's own country' rather Amal Neerad shows us all the ugly non-social elements poking it's ugly head whenever it seemed convenient. From the fat uncle reading newspaper who is the epitome of moral policing to the unemployed youth who is into voyeurism and booze are all something that we can relate to. Give it to Amal Neerad for transforming the cheeky and comical girirajan kozhi Sharafudheen to the dark, destructive and medling Josy K Jose, the leader of the gang that causes so much nuisance to Abin and Priya's lives. The protagonist is not the out right mass hero that you crave but rather someone who is pushed to a corner and fights tooth and nail for his survival. The film is stricken with clues littered around in the usual slow pace demeanor of the director for the grand mouth watering half an hour of a climax. The resemblence to the hollywood flick 'stray dogs' is obvious and in whatever way you put it as being inspired or influenced it is still a copy. I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that another remake was there in 2011 from the original 1971 film of the same name. But in the end they nicely mallufied the whole thing (I did'nt say it was a ripoff, did I?) to give us a good entertainer and a paisa vasool movie.