''Veetla Vishesham'' () is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language
comedy-drama film directed by
RJ Balaji
Balaji Patturaj (born 20 June 1985), popularly known as RJ Balaji, is an Indian actor, radio jockey, television presenter, comedian and film director in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is best known as the host of the 92.7 Big FM shows ''The Night Sho ...
and NJ Saravanan. It is a remake of the 2018
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
film ''
Badhaai Ho
''Badhaai Ho'' (; ) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Sharma, Aleya Sen and Hemant Bhandari under Chrome Pictures and Vineet Jain under Junglee Pictures. It stars Ayushman ...
''. The film is being produced by
Boney Kapoor
Achal Surinder "Boney" Kapoor (born 11 November 1955) is an Indian producer primarily associated with Hindi cinema in addition to Tamil and Telugu cinema.
Early life
Kapoor was born as Achal Surinder Kapoor in 1955, the son of Surinder Kapoor ...
in association with
Zee Studios
Zee Studios is a film production and distribution studio established in 2012, as a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited. Known to include a library of productions under its predecessor banners Zee Motion Pictures and Zee Limelig ...
, Bayview Projects LLP and Romeo pictures.
The film was released in theatres by 17 June 2022. It received positive reviews from critics and audiences and became commercial success with praise for the performances of the cast, story and
comic timing
Comic timing emerges from a performer's joke delivery: they interact with an audience— intonation, rhythm, cadence, tempo, and pausing—to guide the audience's laughter, which then guides the comedic narrative. The pacing of the delivery of ...
of main leads.
Plot
Ilango is 26 years old, working as a biology teacher in a school. He is in a stable relationship with Sowmya, who is the school owner’s daughter in which he's working. Her mother likes him and approves of their relationship. His father Unnikrishnan ‘Unni’, is a middle-aged man working in the Railways. His mother Krishnaveni is a typical housewife. His younger brother, Anirudh ‘Ani’ is a high-school student. His family resides in the railway quarters, near the train station. Ilango’s grandmother always quarrels with Krishnaveni and dominates over her son, Unni. One day, she taunts Krishnaveni, who gets hurt by her comments. Unni consoles his wife and gets intimate.
17 weeks later, Krishnaveni realises she is pregnant after visiting the doctor. She decides not to abort the child. So Unni announces Krishnaveni’s third pregnancy to the family. The two sons are embarrassed and start to avoid their parents, friends, and society, over the fear of being ridiculed. Unni also tells his mother about Krishnaveni's pregnancy and his mother responds that they must deals with whatever God's desires are. The next day, Unni's mother makes a big scene and asks Krishnaveni to do a tedious work because she was not wearing her
hearing aids
A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers su ...
the night before when Unni broke the news to her.
The news of the pregnancy becomes viral and they are made fun of by family, friends, relatives, and society. Ilango begins to avoid Sowmya. Eventually, he reveals the news of his mum’s pregnancy to Sowmya. Unni and Krishnaveni ask Ilango and Anirudh to go to Kerala for their cousin’s wedding. Both of them refuse by making excuses. This makes Unni angry at them and he leaves them with Krishnaveni and his mother. Meanwhile, Sowmya offers a room date to cheer Ilango up. But he is unable to get intimate with her as it reminds him of his mum’s pregnancy. Sowmya’s mother gets to know about Krishnaveni’s pregnancy from Sowmya. She is shocked and speaks bad about Ilango’s family. Ilango eavesdrops on their conversation and talks harshly with Sowmya’s mum, and breaks up with Sowmya.
At home, Anirudh reveals to Ilango that some boys made fun of him at school and when he responded to them, one of the boys hit him on the face. Ilango and Anirudh then realise their love for their mum and dad. While in Kerala, Unni’s elder sister-in-law and sister teases Krishnaveni for her late pregnancy. For the first time, Unni’s mother defends her daughter-in-law for her dutifulness and makes them realise their selfishness and harsh attitude towards her.
Ilango then reconciles with his parents after their return and begins to fulfil his duties as a son. Krishnaveni realises that Ilango has broken up with Sowmya, and she tells him to apologise to Sowmya’s mother. Ilango reluctantly agrees, for his mother’s sake, and tells that he misses Sowmya, and the reason he accepted his mum’s pregnancy was because of Sowmya.
After the baby shower, Krishnaveni experiences labour pain and is immediately taken to the hospital where Chief Minister
LKG is also admitted due to heart pain. Sowmya’s mother tells her daughter about Ilango’s visit and apology as well as saying that she has forgiven Ilango. Sowmya visits Ilango at the hospital. After the comical/strenuous delivery, the doctor announces the birth of a baby girl.
The family are delighted at the announcement. Later, the family gather around Krishnaveni in joy and take a group selfie with the baby girl.
Cast
Production
The project, a remake of the
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
film ''
Badhaai Ho
''Badhaai Ho'' (; ) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Sharma, Aleya Sen and Hemant Bhandari under Chrome Pictures and Vineet Jain under Junglee Pictures. It stars Ayushman ...
'', was first reported in March 2021 under the title ''Veetla Vishesham''.
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 a ...
began in August 2021 at
Coimbatore, and
wrapped the following month after 40 working days. The actual title ''Veetla Visheshanga'' was announced on 18 March 2022.
Music
The music rights of the film are owned by
Zee Music Company
Zee Music Co. (ZMC) is an Indian music company, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. It carries its business activities mainly from New Delhi. The company has captured a major chunk of market share in Bollywood music in a shor ...
. The music of the film was composed by
Girishh Gopalakrishnan and lyrics written by Pa. Vijay.
Release
Promotion
The cast members
RJ Balaji
Balaji Patturaj (born 20 June 1985), popularly known as RJ Balaji, is an Indian actor, radio jockey, television presenter, comedian and film director in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is best known as the host of the 92.7 Big FM shows ''The Night Sho ...
and
Aparna Balamurali
Aparna Balamurali (born 11 September 1995) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Malayalam films along with a few Tamil films. She is known for her roles in ''Maheshinte Prathikaaram'' (2016), '' Sunday Holiday'' (2017) and '' Soorarai P ...
appeared as a guests in the
Zee Tamil
Zee Tamil is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel started broadcasting on 2008 and is available internationally. The channel broadcasts from Guindy, Chennai, ...
series ''
Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal
''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' () is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Rahman (credited as Raghu) and Geetha, with Sowcar Janaki, Jayachitra, Janagaraj and Sithara in support ...
'' for promoting the film.
Theatrical
The film was released in theaters 17 June 2022.
Home media
The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were bought by
ZEE5
ZEE5 is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on Web, Andro ...
and the satellite rights by Zee Tamil and
Zee Thirai
Zee Thirai is an Indian Tamil-language pay television channel which broadcasts Tamil movies 24x7. Launched on 19 January 2020 and owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL). Zee Thirai offering Latest Blockbuster Kollywood Premiere Movies.No ...
. The film began streaming on ZEE5 from 15 July 2022.
Reception
Critical response
Bhuvanesh Chandar 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 ...
'' said, "Beyond comparisons with the original, ''Veetla Vishesham'' manages to stand on its own as a well-written drama that takes its theme seriously and as an entertainer that leaves the audience in splits during regular intervals". 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 ...
'' who gave 3.5 stars out of 5 stars after reviewing the film stated that "Remakes are tricky, especially when the original happens to be a National Award-winning film with a subject that can be touchy for many in the audience. But with ''Veetla Vishesham'', RJ Balaji and NJ Saravanan have managed to capture the spirit of Badhaai Ho and come up with an entertaining film that makes us laugh out loud and get emotional in equal measure". Haricharan Pudipeddi of ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...
'' said, "The Tamil remake of ''Badhaai Ho'' is a well-made entertaining film that manages to not just be good on its own but even stands up to the National Award-winning original".
Sudhir Srinivasan of ''
Cinema Express'' who gave 3 stars out of 5 stars after reviewing the film stated that "When a film shows heart, you can excuse a loss of finesse, I think". Soundarya Athimuthu of ''
The Quint
''The Quint'' is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism A ...
'' who gave 3.5 stars out of 5 stars after reviewing the film stated that "Veetla Vishesham works both as an improvised remake if you already saw the Hindi original, and as a stand-alone film when watched with a pair of fresh eyes". ''
Maalai Malar
''Maalai Malar'' is a daily evening Tamil newspaper. It is owned by Daily Thanti group. It was founded by S. P. Adithanar in 1977 at Coimbatore. Maalai Malar has twelve editions published from Chennai, Vellore, Dindigul, Thanjavur, Tirun ...
'' gave 3.75 rating out of 5 and noted that Balaji, who is playing the lead role in the film, has given a comedy and sarcasm performance in his own style. Especially in the film, he has attracted more attention in the sentimental scenes. However, ''
Nakkheeran
''Nakkheeran'' is a Tamil language biweekly magazine published in Chennai. Nakkheeran Gopal is the founder and editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material use ...
'' stated that if people who have not seen Hindi films watch this film, it will be an enjoyable film with a good concept. ''
Dinamalar'' gave 3.25 rating out of 5.
Box office
Overall, the film has collected approximately Rs 13 crore at the box office.
References
External links
*{{IMDb title
2020s Tamil-language films
2022 comedy-drama films
2022 films
Indian comedy-drama films
Indian pregnancy films
Tamil remakes of Hindi films