''Varmaa'' is a 2020 Indian
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
-language
romantic drama film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...
directed by
Bala
Bala may refer to:
Places
India
*Bala, India, a village in Allahabad, India
* Bala, Ahor, a village in the Jalore district of Rajasthan
* Bala, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
Romania
* Bala, Mehedinți, a commune in Mehedinţi ...
and produced by Mukesh Mehta of E4 Entertainment. A remake of the 2017
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
film ''
Arjun Reddy
''Arjun Reddy'' is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film written and directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, and produced by his brother Pranay Reddy Vanga's company Bhadrakali Pictures. It stars Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey while ...
'', directed by
Sandeep Vanga
Sandeep Reddy Vanga is an Indian director and screenwriter who is known for making Telugu and Hindi films. Vanga debuted with Vijay Deverakonda starrer 2017 big Telugu hit '' Arjun Reddy'' and rose to further success with its remake, the Shahid ...
, the film stars
Dhruv Vikram
Dhruv Vikram (born 23 September 1995) is an Indian actor, singer and lyricist who works in Tamil films. The son of actor Vikram, he made his acting debut with the 2019 romantic drama ''Adithya Varma'' and has since starred with his father in ' ...
and
Megha Chowdhury
Megha Chowdhury is an Indian actress who has worked in Bengali, Telugu, and Tamil-language films.
Career
Chowdhury began her career as an assistant director for ''Haseena Parkar'' (2017) when she was sixteen years old and went on to work as a ...
, the latter in her Tamil debut. The film features music composed by
Radhan
Radhan is an Indian music composer. He made his debut with the Tamil-language film ''Vikadakavi'' (2011), before going on to work on Telugu films. He became popular in Telugu through the film ''Andala Rakshasi'' (2012). Few of his most popular ...
, with
M. Sukumar
M. Sukumar is an Indian cinematographer, who has worked in the Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam language films.
Career
Sukumar began his career in 1995 by assisting his brother M. Jeevan, who had then, broken into the Tamil film industry as ...
handling the cinematography and
Sathish Suriya
Sathish Suriya is an Indian film editor, who has worked on Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada language films.
Career
Sathish Suriya began his career as an editor with Indian television channel Apt TV, before choosing to join the post-production ...
, taking in-charge of the editing.
Filmed between March and September 2018, its release was initially cancelled after E4 Entertainment was unsatisfied with the output and re-shot the remake in 2019 as ''
Adithya Varma
''Adithya Varma'' is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Gireesaaya in his directorial debut and produced by Mukesh Mehta under E4 Entertainment. The film stars Dhruv Vikram in his acting debut and Banita Sandhu in her ...
'' with a largely different cast and crew. Despite E4's initial refusal to release ''Varmaa'', the film was released on 6 October 2020 on
over-the-top
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...
(OTT) platforms to negative reviews from critics.
Plot
Varmaa Vasudevan is a house surgeon. Despite being a brilliant student, he has severe anger management problems that earn the wrath of the college dean. Varmaa's aggressive nature also earns him a reputation among his juniors as a college bully. After a brawl alongside his friend Kamal against members of the opposing team during an inter-college football match, the dean asks Varmaa to either apologise or leave the college. Varmaa initially chooses to leave the college but stays back after meeting the first-year student Megha.
Varmaa and his friend Ashok enter a 1st-year classroom and announce that Varmaa is in love with Megha and asserts that she is exclusive to him. Initially afraid, Megha starts adjusting to Varmaa's overbearing attitude. She eventually reciprocates his feelings and they develop an intimate relationship. Varmaa graduates with an MBBS degree and leaves to pursue a Master's degree in
orthopaedic surgery
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
. Over the course of 15 days, Varmaa's and Megha's relationship becomes stronger. Days later, Varmaa visits Megha's house, where her father sees them kissing and throws Varmaa out.
Megha's father opposes her and Varmaa's relationship due to Varmaa's brash behaviour and also because they belong to different castes. Varmaa demands Megha decide within six hours otherwise he will end their relationship. Following this incident, Megha's parents seize her phone, preventing her from contacting Varma. By the time she manages to visit Varmaa's house, he is drunk, injects morphine into himself, and becomes unconscious for two days. Megha is then forcibly married to someone from her caste. Varmaa learns about the marriage from Ashok and goes to her house. He is assaulted and gets arrested for making a scene. Varmaa's father throws him out of the family home for ruining his reputation.
With Ashok's help, Varmaa rents a flat and joins a private hospital as a surgeon. To cope with his emotions, he starts taking drugs, attempts one-night stands, buys a pet dog, and names it after Megha and drinks alcohol; all of which are unsuccessful. Within months, he becomes a successful surgeon and a high-functioning alcoholic who is feared by the hospital's staff members, one of the reasons being his high surgery count. Varmaa's self-destructing behaviour and refusal to move on worries Ashok. He persuades one of his patients, Raiza Wilson, a leading film star, to have a no-strings relationship with him, which he ends when she falls in love with him.
On a day off, Varmaa unwillingly agrees to perform life-saving surgery and collapses from dehydration. The hospital staff examines his blood samples, which show traces of alcohol and cocaine. The hospital chief files a case against Varma, who accepts the truth on the grounds of violating his professional ethics during an in-house court hearing, despite Ashok making arrangements to bail him out. Varmaa's medical licence is cancelled for five years and he is evicted from the flat. The next morning, Ashok manages to reach Varmaa to convey his father's death; he and they reconcile. Varmaa gives up his self-destructive habits soon after.
While leaving for a vacation, Varmaa sees a pregnant Megha sitting in a park. Convinced that she is unhappy with her marriage, Varmaa meets her after returning from his vacation. Megha reveals that she left her husband days after their marriage and continued to work in a clinic. She tells Varmaa that he is the child's father, and they reunite.
Cast
*
Dhruv Vikram
Dhruv Vikram (born 23 September 1995) is an Indian actor, singer and lyricist who works in Tamil films. The son of actor Vikram, he made his acting debut with the 2019 romantic drama ''Adithya Varma'' and has since starred with his father in ' ...
as Varmaa Vasudevan
*
Megha Chowdhury
Megha Chowdhury is an Indian actress who has worked in Bengali, Telugu, and Tamil-language films.
Career
Chowdhury began her career as an assistant director for ''Haseena Parkar'' (2017) when she was sixteen years old and went on to work as a ...
as Megha Hariharan
* Akash Premkumar as Ashok
*
Easwari Rao
Easwari Rao is an Indian actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada cinema. She played the lead roles from 1990 to 1999. She started to play supporting and character roles from 2000 onwards.
Personal life
She married di ...
as Bhavani
*
Raiza Wilson
Raiza Wilson (born 10 April 1989) is an Indian model and actress who appears in Tamil films. She rose to fame following her appearance in the Tamil reality TV show ''Bigg Boss''. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South for he ...
as Herself
*
Sandra Amy
Sandra Amy is an Indian film and television actress and a video jockey.
Career
Amy was born in Idukki. After appearing in supporting role in the Malayalam film ''Kasthooriman''. Amy acted in Tamil films ''Poraali'', ''Sivappu Enaku Pudikkum' ...
as Devi
*Jai Bala as Prem Vasudevan
*Mathew Varghese as Varmaa's father
*Gomathi Priya as Deepa
*
Rajashree as Megha's mother
Production
Development
In September 2017, it was announced that E4 Entertainment had bought the rights to remake the
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
film ''
Arjun Reddy
''Arjun Reddy'' is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film written and directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, and produced by his brother Pranay Reddy Vanga's company Bhadrakali Pictures. It stars Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey while ...
'' (2017) in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
and
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
languages. The following month,
Bala
Bala may refer to:
Places
India
*Bala, India, a village in Allahabad, India
* Bala, Ahor, a village in the Jalore district of Rajasthan
* Bala, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
Romania
* Bala, Mehedinți, a commune in Mehedinţi ...
was chosen to direct the yet-untitled Tamil remake. On 10 November 2017, the title was announced as ''Varma'', although it would later be amended to ''Varmaa''.
Raju Murugan
Raju Murugan is a writer, journalist turned filmmaker from Tiruvarur. His works include ''Vattiyum Muthalum'', ''Ondru'' and ''Gypsy'', all of which were published in ''Ananda Vikatan''. He made his directorial debut with ''Cuckoo (2014 film), ...
was chosen to pen the dialogues.
M. Sukumar
M. Sukumar is an Indian cinematographer, who has worked in the Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam language films.
Career
Sukumar began his career in 1995 by assisting his brother M. Jeevan, who had then, broken into the Tamil film industry as ...
was selected to handle the cinematography and
Sathish Suriya
Sathish Suriya is an Indian film editor, who has worked on Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada language films.
Career
Sathish Suriya began his career as an editor with Indian television channel Apt TV, before choosing to join the post-production ...
was chosen as the film editor, after having earlier worked for Bala's ''
Naachiyaar
''Naachiyaar'' is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language action crime film written, produced and directed by Bala. The film featured Jyothika in the titular role, with G. V. Prakash Kumar and Ivana in other leading roles. The film tells the tale of the p ...
'' (2018). Producer Mukesh Mehta said the remake would be 20 minutes shorter than the Telugu original. Actor
Vikram's son
Dhruv Vikram
Dhruv Vikram (born 23 September 1995) is an Indian actor, singer and lyricist who works in Tamil films. The son of actor Vikram, he made his acting debut with the 2019 romantic drama ''Adithya Varma'' and has since starred with his father in ' ...
was cast as the male lead, in what would have been his acting debut. It would have been the debut for the
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
-based model Megha, who was chosen to play the female lead. Akash Premkumar was chosen to play the lead character's best friend. Whereas other roles were given to
Easwari Rao
Easwari Rao is an Indian actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada cinema. She played the lead roles from 1990 to 1999. She started to play supporting and character roles from 2000 onwards.
Personal life
She married di ...
,
Raiza Wilson
Raiza Wilson (born 10 April 1989) is an Indian model and actress who appears in Tamil films. She rose to fame following her appearance in the Tamil reality TV show ''Bigg Boss''. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South for he ...
,
Sandra Amy
Sandra Amy is an Indian film and television actress and a video jockey.
Career
Amy was born in Idukki. After appearing in supporting role in the Malayalam film ''Kasthooriman''. Amy acted in Tamil films ''Poraali'', ''Sivappu Enaku Pudikkum' ...
and Mathew Varghese.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in early March 2018 at
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, and a week later, after completing the first schedule there, the crew shifted to Chennai for the second schedule. However, shooting of the film was briefly stalled due to the Tamil Film Producers Council strike, but resumed in April after the strike ended. The final schedule of the film took place in August 2018, for which the team had shifted to
Tiruvannamalai
Tiruvannamalai (Tamil: ''Tiruvaṇṇāmalai'' IPA: , otherwise spelt ''Thiruvannamalai''; ''Trinomali'' or ''Trinomalee'' on British records) is a city, a spiritual, cultural, economic hub and also the administrative headquarters of Tiruvanna ...
.
It was completed in September 2018, thus principal photography of the film has
wrapped.
Shelving
On 7 February 2019, E4 issued a press statement stating that they would go for a complete reshoot as they were not satisfied with the final cut provided by Bala.
Bala's version of the film contained deviations from ''Arjun Reddy'', which resulted in the conflict. Changes included the absence of many characters from ''Arjun Reddy'', including the male lead's grandmother. ''Varmaa'' was also two hours long while the original was three. In their press statement, E4 added that the film would be relaunched with a completely new cast and crew while retaining Dhruv.
In a separate press statement, Bala decried E4's comments, saying it was his own decision to quit the film "in order to safeguard creative freedom" because he was asked to make changes. This became the first such incident in Tamil cinema that the producer of the film refuses to release the film due to unsatisfactory final cut despite the completion of the film.
The new version, directed by Gireesaaya, was titled ''
Adithya Varma
''Adithya Varma'' is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Gireesaaya in his directorial debut and produced by Mukesh Mehta under E4 Entertainment. The film stars Dhruv Vikram in his acting debut and Banita Sandhu in her ...
'', and did not retain any scene shot by Bala for ''Varmaa''.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was composed by
Radhan
Radhan is an Indian music composer. He made his debut with the Tamil-language film ''Vikadakavi'' (2011), before going on to work on Telugu films. He became popular in Telugu through the film ''Andala Rakshasi'' (2012). Few of his most popular ...
who signed the project in July 2018. The song "Vaanodum Mannodum", written by
Vairamuthu
Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...
and sung by Vignesh G., was released on 27 December 2018 as a single, but was not included on ''
Adithya Varma
''Adithya Varma'' is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Gireesaaya in his directorial debut and produced by Mukesh Mehta under E4 Entertainment. The film stars Dhruv Vikram in his acting debut and Banita Sandhu in her ...
''.
Marketing
The teaser for ''Varmaa'' was released on 23 September 2018. It was widely ridiculed and criticised on social media, while a critic from ''
The New Indian Express
''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...
'' called it "a failed attempt to remake the original". The teaser received five million views within fifty hours of release. The trailer was released on 9 January 2019.
Release
When ''Varmaa'' was scheduled for a theatrical release in January 2019, Shakthi Film Factory acquired the Tamil Nadu distribution rights. Despite E4's initial refusal to release it,
after more than a year of deadlock, the film was released on 6 October 2020 on
over-the-top
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...
(OTT) platforms. It was released on Simply South and Tentkotta internationally, and within India on The Ally, Shreyas ET and
ShemarooMe. The decision to release an alternate version of a film was compared to the announcement of ''
Zack Snyder's Justice League
''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' (colloquially referred to as the Snyder Cut) is the 2021 director's cut of the 2017 American superhero film ''Justice League'', the fifth film set within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) based on the team of ...
'', a director's cut of ''
Justice League
The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...
'' (2017).
Reception
''Varmaa'' received generally negative reviews from critics, many of whom compared it unfavourably to ''Adithya Varma''. M. Suganth of ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' rated the film 2 stars out of 5, saying, "Instead of feeling new age-y, ''Varmaa'' comes across as old-fashioned and even crass at times. It gets ''Arjun Reddy'' all wrong." Suganth also felt many of the actors like Chowdhury were miscast and criticised the lack of onscreen chemistry between her and Dhruv. He concluded that Dhruv looks "sure-footed in some scenes and like a novice in some".
Baradwaj Rangan
Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu'' ...
of ''
Film Companion
Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...
'' wrote, "Not a single frame is distinctive, or shows that a major filmmaker is behind the camera. You get the feeling Bala was forced to direct this with his hands tied." Ranjani Krishnakumar of ''
Firstpost
''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18.
The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...
'' wrote, "''Varmaa'' is not rooted anywhere. The milieu does nothing for the film. Varma’s pain, which is what made ''Arjun Reddy'' intense, is heavily diluted. In fact, for the most part, he is just your average alcoholic, only too pampered."
Manoj Kumar R of ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
'' wrote, "After watching ''Varmaa'', I could see why the producer thought it was not a good idea to release it in theaters. Bala's interpretation of Sandeep Vanga's material strips the larger-than-life aura around the self-indulgent, inconsiderate, alcoholic and self-destructive protagonist." However, he concluded that the film "is a unique, honest and bold interpretation of a character that we all love despite the breathtaking level of faultiness." Srivatsan S. of ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' wrote that "But the Bala Cut, as it would come to be known, is surprisingly cold and lifeless — even by the standards set by ''Adithya Varma'' — and edits out the dramatic bits of the Telugu original, only limiting to its plot points" and stated that the film was a "reinterpretation to his own ''
Sethu''".
Sudhir Srinivasan of ''
Cinema Express
''Cinema Express'' was an Indian Tamil-language entertainment fortnightly magazine published from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was a part of The New Indian Express Group, which also publishes ''Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika'' weekly as well as '' Din ...
'' gave the film a rating of one-and-a-half out of five stars and noted that "What would the Bala of today change about/add to this story that’s been told so many times now that you can predict its every beat? Well, it turns out that he hasn’t. He has settled to giving us a jaded, curtailed version instead".
References
External links
*
{{Bala
2020 romantic drama films
2020s Tamil-language films
Alternative versions of films
Films directed by Bala (director)
Indian direct-to-video films
Indian romantic drama films
Tamil remakes of Telugu films