Varisu (2023) ‘Prime Video’ Movie Review: Director Vamshi Paidipally with Varisu promises a full-blown splendid elite family drama. Watching Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar (as Vijay Rajendran) shouldering the august performances was a joy. But you start missing his energy if he is missing in the scene. Varisu is about who will be the next heir of the rich family of Rajendran Palanisamy (R. Sarath Kumar). The film begins with two business tycoons Rajendran and Jayaprakash ‘JP’ (Prakash Raj), competing with each other and at odds with their egos bursting out of them. We are shown side by side that Vijay is undesiring and unsatisfied with his father’s business and wants to leave the luxurious lifestyle behind to pursue his dream of a food delivery start-up.
His observations on time, travel, and hunger inspire the start-up. Vijay believes that a human person cannot escape these three essentials, and to his credit, he wins an investor, well, not during the session but later. Vijay is truly missed by his mother, Sudha Rajendran (Jayasudha), who continues to converse with her son in hiding. She decides to invite him home on his father’s 65th birthday. Vijay attends the birthday celebration though the family members, apart from his mother, are unhappy with his presence.
The rivalry between the other two brothers is revealed on the same day. Both Jai Rajendran (Srikanth) and Ajay Rajendran (Shaam) are inefficient in shouldering a successor’s responsibility. One is due to his illicit relationship with Smita (Nandini Rai), and the other owes a huge amount to financier Mukesh (Ganesh Venkatraman), respectively. Vijay finds himself helpless when he sees his family members are at odds with each other. When his father, Rajendran, requests him to take on the charge, he rightly refuses. He refuses because he isn’t yet aware of his father’s terminal illness. Subsequently, the best friend of Rajendran, Dr. Anand Padmanabhan (Prabhu), conveys the grim news to Vijay.
Vijay, the prodigal son, had returned home first for his mother’s sake. The second time he returns for the sake of his beloved father, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. Vijay observes that the greed for power has made each of his family members self-obsessed, except his mother. He notices that his mother is distant from worldly powers and all the baggage. She is pure and ready and willing to be of service to all. Vijay wants to make sure whether she is happy in the house, to which she replies even if she tries to explain, he won’t be able to understand.
Vijay realizes that he has got a gem of a person in his mother. She teaches him how important family is. No matter whether there are displeasing individuals in the family, one must learn to overlook and avoid the unpleasant areas of the other and just pour one’s love and forgiveness.
The rest of the movie is about how Vijay tries to save the business of the father as an heir. He also gets back his brothers, who were lost on their way and were revealing their father’s secrets to his arch-enemy. Vijay, towards the end of the movie, through his dialogue, makes it very clear that the purpose of the movie was to tell the viewer that it is more important to live life rather than running after things pass. Vijay was introduced to the audience through a song that said, “He is the fire and the flame in full view.” And certainly, from start to finish, he remains to hold the spark of the fire of Varisu.
We are particularly reminded of that when we see him delivering the high-octane action sequences in the movie. Your body reacts to every punch he lands unflinchingly. Vijay has got his peculiar subtlety and playfulness attached to his acting. He persuades you because he is convinced. He drives you crazy because he is passionately silly about something. Most importantly, he alters situations in his stride to make us believe that he is the heir and that Rajendran shouldn’t regret crowning him.
Although disappointing except for the mother character, the other female characters have little to do with the plot. Vijay and Divya (Rashmika Mandanna) are shown falling in love with each other. Thus, the dance numbers of the movie are between Vijay and Divya, which are choreographed perfectly. Once again, Vijay proves to be one of the country’s beloved dancers. The songs are powerful, energetic, catchy, lovable, emotional, and melodious. Each of the dance numbers had a variety of costume selections, and that was a treat to the eye. Vamshi Paidipally definitely has the potential for a greater massy movie in the years to come. Not that Varisu wasn’t, but it was too dependent on Vijay to rescue it at all moments.
Varisu offers you an unforgettable lesson that none of our families is perfect, and we need to learn to embrace it despite the flaws and revere it since there is only one. Varisu concludes on that positive note, making no distinctions based on caste, customs, religion, or social status.
Also, Read: Drishyam 2 (2022) Review: A Sequel of Mixed Experientiality Justified by its Necessity
VARISU (2023) MOVIE LINKS: IMDB, WIKIPEDIA
VARISU (2023) MOVIE CAST: JOSEPH VIJAY, RASHMIKA MANDANA, SHAAM
