The trailer of Dhanush's latest flick 'Vaathi' was pretty straightforward. A school teacher, who was part of a private institution earlier, visits a government school in a humble village and tries to revive a government school and help the students there understand the importance of education.
'Vaathi', a bilingual, seems to be inspired from a dialogue delivered by Dhanush himself in his earlier film 'Asuran': “Padippu mattum namaka kitairunthu eduthukve mudiyathu,” roughly means “no one could snatch education from you.” Dhanush plays a mathematics teacher, Balamurugan, who hails from a middle-class family, and is sent to teach at a government higher secondary school in Chozhavaram by a private institution run by Thirupathi, played by Samuthrakani. The incidents there and how Balamurugan succeeds in his 'challenge' form the rest of the story.
The film is set in the late 90s. Though the screenplay is predictable, director Venki Atluri tries his best to stay away from the usual narrative of private vs government school education theme. The film draws enough parallels between education and divinity. Samyuktha, who plays a biology teacher, Meenakshi, working in the same government school, is the female lead. Though she gets noticeable screen space in the first half of the film, it becomes minimal in the second half.
Though there are 'heroic' moments, Dhanush and director Venki Atluri have portrayed Balamurgan a bit modestly, with less 'mass hero' moments. The technical crew of the film has done a good job, and music director G.V. Prakash Kumar adds soul to the film through his background score. While the first half of the film is pretty engaging, the second half, feels elongated, as the audience are pretty sure of how the film would end.
Vaathi works as an one-time watch.
Rating: 3/5.
