Express News Service
Remember the ethereal Monica Bellucci walking down the streets of a nondescript and sleepy Sicilian town in the World War 2 drama, Malena? Every single man wanted to be with her, and almost every single one of them knew she was way outside their leagues. The closest they got to her was by spreading rumours about Malena. It was like their ultimate revenge against the woman who didn’t even know of their existence. In many ways, when Velonie (Sanjana) walks down the streets of Kanyakumari, Vadhandhi: The Fable of Velonie is cut from the same cloth as Malena.
At one point in the series, a shattered Velonie cries out loud to her strict mother asking if being born beautiful was her fault. In any other setting, such a dialogue might scream haughtiness, but here, it comes from a place of poignant honesty. This is the core emotion that the series carries through its eight episodes. But Vadhandhi moves so away from this emotion that a sense of bloatedness creeps in and a tight narrative, which is the backbone of any gritty crime thriller, starts fraying around the edges.
Vadhandhi starts off with a cinema shooting where a missing heroine is mistaken to be the dead body found at the shooting location. But soon, we get to know that it is indeed the titular Velonie who is found dead on a windmill farm. This mistaken identity proves to be the fuel for a whirlwind media s*itstorm and a trial by society that takes over the lives and even memories of Velonie and her mother Ruby (a brilliant Laila).
Considering the series is titled Vadhandhi (Rumours), the film does start off with a bunch of people saying things about Velonie and what might have prompted her gruesome killing. Creator Andrew Louis is successful in building a world that leaves us with doubt if Velonie is indeed what is being said about her. In a very smart move, even if Velonie is the central character of the series, she never tells us anything directly, and all that we see on screen is hearsay.
It is her friends telling us about the kind of friend she was. It is her mother telling us about the kind of daughter she was. It is writer Sebastian (a consistently effective Nassar), one of the guests in the mansion run by her mother, who paints a rather wholesome yet sketchy picture of the gaps in Velonie’s story. There is a fiance here, a lover there, and a few forbidden romantic liaisons somewhere else. And just like the audience figures out things, we have police officer Vivek (a rather restrained SJ Suryah) figuring out the same along with us.
Points to the makers to treat the audience with respect, and give us a slowburn that allows the investigation to breathe, and doesn’t cramp it all up. Velonie’s story manifests into various forms, and takes a huge toll on Vivek’s mental makeup. Vivek goes through these emotional upheavals because he is forced to rummage through all these unwanted flab to get to the bottom of the case. Unfortunately, the same can be said about Vadhandhi too. We too have to navigate through a lot of unnecessary distractions to stay on the course of what’s happening.
Be it the thread about five IT employees consuming the news of Velonie through mainstream media and passing judgments or the narrative on certain powerful media houses manipulating the news, Vadhandhi’s representation is unnecessary, distracting, and a colossal waste of runtime.
Vadhandhi, which is bolstered by Simon K King’s music, makes maximum use of its picturesque locations, and is one of the better-looking series on OTT thanks to DoP Saravanan Ramasamy. However, the novelty, especially with the casting and the setting, doesn’t always shine bright. While the Anglo-Indian dialect is delivered with a lot of conviction, the protagonists aren’t always convincing with their Kanyakumari dialect, which is delectable with the smattering of Malayalam. The labour in delivering these lines are clear, and it only makes the characters feel inorganic. On the other hand, certain representations definitely felt problematic, especially a disturbing dream sequence that later becomes something more ‘family friendly’ and the visual aesthetics, and certain allusions that borders on the Lolita-isation of Velonie.
For a series that is convinced of its strengths to deliver a slow burn, an almost rushed final act feels like a copout. As Suryah’s Vivek points out the depravity of people who indulge in rumour mongering, in the final episode, by the time, the eighth episode is done, and the credits start rolling, we too are as tired as him, and just want to curl up in a safe space.
Vadhandhi aims to be a lot of things and does end up being some of them, but what it doesn’t end up being is more compelling and a bigger reflection of its misgivings. To paraphrase Vivek’s observation about the power of truths and lies — Indha maadhri kadhaila nalla vishayam odum, nalla illaadhadhu parakkum.
Director: Andrew Louis
Cast: SJ Suryah, Laila, Sanjana, Nassar
Streaming Platform: Prime Video
Rating: 2.5/5
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