BFF—Best Friends Forever, that’s the main theme of Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga (VSOP). Never mind that for both, the beer bottle is their best friend! For someone who has had a dream run in Kollywood, I would have expected Arya to select a blockbuster script for his 25th film. To start with, almost every scene surrounds the ubiquitous beer bottle. Then, there is the non-stop interaction between Arya and Santhanam, which sometimes tires the aural senses.
After his last tepid outing in All In All Azhagu Raja, I would have expected director Rajesh to be a little more careful with his story and screenplay. While it is all good to focus on the value of friendship, there is absolutely no emotion in the relationship he tries to drum up between Arya and Santhanam. As for Tamannaah, besides looking gorgeous, she did have a pivotal role to play in the ‘make or break’ relationship to foster their (Arya-Tamannaah) romance.
Well, it’s all a comedy set-up, with no action or steamy love scenes to mar the jest-a-minute punch lines being delivered by Santhanam. Two childhood friends, thick as thieves, partners in business and happy as a lark, one day realise that their lives will not be complete without a woman to share their future with. So, Santhanam nabs his love first while Arya looks for his eternal ‘Nayantara-like’ girl. He finally is smitten by Tamannaah, who works in an online matrimony centre where he had gone to register his name.
But, both girls have a common condition: “Break your friendship if you want to chart your own family life! Your friendship is too strong and influential, which interferes with our personal relationships.” What happens after this forms the rest of the story. But, the seriousness of it all, is missing. Rajesh could have written in relevant passages that show how a long-lasting male bonding need not affect their personal lives. Emotions could have been built to highlight the values of friendship versus man-woman relationship. Vidyulekha Raman’s side-kick role to Tamannaah, is unusually loud and crass. A good actress, she could have aided the lead pair's love with a sensible role. This would have helped elevate the script.
The songs by D. Imman lend themselves well to the mood of the film, which is all about youth, friendship, casual love and beer, of course. Singers as varied as Sooraj Santhosh, Kailash Kher, Armaan Malik, Benny Dayal, Shakthishree Gopalan, Santhosh Hariharan, Neeti Mohan and others have delivered different flavours to the modern compositions.
Writer & Director: M. Rajesh
Actors: Arya, Tamannaah, Santhanam
Music: D. Imman
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
