Vastaad Review

Vastaad is one of those Tamil movies that are imported for no substantial reason. There's no star appeal, no path-breaking plot, and no great songs. You matter so little to the makers that they don't even care whether you sit through the film to the last - curtains are brought down clearly well before the actually ending.

The film opens with Prabhu (Aadi), an upcoming volleyball player, and his younger brother, a stammering Sravan, fighting with each other for silly reasons. This sibling rivalry is supposedly meant to give you all the wrong ideas when, some scenes later, Prabhu is burying Sravan on a rainy night and there is blood everywhere.

Next, there are a couple of politicians who Prabhu gets close to as their personal bodyguards, but he promptly finishes one of them. What is happening? What score is Prabhu trying to settle with these netas? What had happened to Sravan? Where are the exit signs in the theatre when you need one?

This is a routine formula movie, and doesn't waver much from predictability. The film has all the clichés possible, even in the romantic scenes between Prabhu and his student (Meera Nandan).

The evil politicians' deeds aren't very startling either. One of them once bumps into a random young girl at a village fair, and the next moment, he's asking for her for the night, unable to control his craving. It's a sequence you've seen in practically every masala movie that needs a bad guy, and reeks of a lack of creativity.

Aadi, as the leading man, doesn't have to do anything except look rugged and wear a morose expression throughout. He looks well-built and pulls that strong-and-silent types expression off pretty well, and now it's hard to judge whether he's indeed a good actor or whether this is all he's capable of.

Meera Nandan's role is insignificant, but she's good. The support cast is an ensemble of good actors. The woman playing Prabhu's mother looks too young for her role, though.

Thaman's tunes are quite forgettable, and the visuals are decently slick.

Overall, the film has reason to be a minimum guarantee production wherever it was made, since it has a neatly flowing script, drama, fights, songs and all. But like we said, there's no reason why Telugu audiences would flock to watch it. If you find one, keep it to yourself.