Under The Spot Light: Vedigundu Passange

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It all started with Vilayattu Passange, which progressed to Vetti Passange, and now it came to Vedigundu Passange and this marks an end to the Passange Trilogy. Produced by Veedu Production, Vedigundu Passange is the final installment in the Passange Series and Dr Vimal Perumal once again directs it. Vedingundu Passange boasts a star studded cast with the names like, Denes Kumar, Sangeetha Krishnasamy, Kuben Mahadevan, Alvin Martin, Vikadakavi Magen, Seelan and many more. The film was released on 26^th July 2018 simultaneously in Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka and London. Boggler Blogger was invited for both Press and Premier Screening of Vedigundu Passange and here is my review of the film.

Story Review

If you have watch the previous two installments of the Passange Series, you would know the series concept has always been light hearted story filled with good comedy and beautiful songs. Vedigundu Passange doesn’t run far away from this framework.

In a nutshell, Vedigundu Passange is about how an Urumi Melam player falls in love with his childhood sweetheart and the process that takes place for him to win her over. The film also touches on a very important social message regarding the community and a key message delivered here was about to always know what kind of circle of company you are hanging out with in order to avoid being with the wrong group of people.

With these two portions being the key theme flowing in the film, it is filled with so many comic relief moment that will make you laugh throughout the film and accompanied by beautiful songs at the right moments.

The comedy in the film is perhaps one of the biggest strength in the film and as much as I was expecting Kuben and Alvin to be the one dominating the humor portion, but it was David Anthony who stood the most for me in those moments. Every time Kuben and Alvin were to do something funny, the counter from David would just top that and make you laugh further.

Another thing I enjoyed about the film is that when the film ends, you could hardly hate any of the characters. There would be one character in the film who seem to be like the bad person or the villain but when it all comes to an end, you would actually feel for that character and I found it as a nice touch.

As much as I enjoyed the film much there were a few things which was a letdown for me. To begin with was how thin the storyline was. The film had a very good theme to it but I didn’t feel the script tap much into it and kept the story very surface level and a lot of things became very predictable. I feel a stronger screenplay and more twist could have made Vedigundu Passange a more exciting film rather than a feel good movie.

Second was that fact the film had more cast than the story demanded. I felt many characters were placed in the film serving the same purpose and that meant the depth and weight of the character had to be split into more cast thus reducing the scope of performance of the actors. Keeping things neater in terms of character and a stronger plot would have made Vedigundu Passange even better than what is it today.

                 Rating: 3.0/5.0

Director Review

Dr Vimala Perumal

In a world where directing 1 film itself is a monumental challenge, I have to congratulate you for releasing your 3^rd film. That is no easy feat and deserves applause for that. Coming to Vedigundu Passange, the biggest compliment I can give to you as the director from the film is that Vedigundu Passange is perhaps technically the cleanest Malaysian film I have watched in cinemas.

From the moment go, I was impressed with the frames and shots in the film. More importantly, the clarity that is shown in each shots was coherent and kept the audience hooked. It felt so good to watch a film, which delivered quality technical work that can be seen on screen.

Another favorite part of the movie was during the “Vadaa Vilayadu” song sequence. Fantastic job from you and your team in going all out to create a Thiruvizha environment. I can only imagine the amount of art work and detailing that goes behind that scene and it was very well done and so beautifully captured. It shows so much watching it on screen.

Speaking about artwork brilliance, I have to credit you on the “#LoveMood” song. I enjoyed the fact that we have a song that is based on creating sets and beautifully capturing it. The song has been a huge hit and it demands beautiful picturization to do justice to the song and you delivered it. I loved the artwork gone into the song and the use of VFX throughout it.

One of the key task a director should get right in a film I believe is casting and you surely do score here well. You got it right with your key character casting but what impressed me the most was the selection of David Anthony. When the movie ended it was he who stood out a lot for me in terms of his humor sense in the film.

As mentioned before, I felt that what wasn’t right was that the fact the film had one too many cast who shared the same purpose. You had a few different smaller tracks going on in the film and fitted in cast in there, which I think could have been avoided to make things sharper and neater.

Another part which disturbed me slightly was that the choice of shoots. It is not a criticism but I felt the film had too many close up frame shots of the cast delivering dialogues. It felt like the character was speaking to me instead of speaking to another character in the film.

I hope you continue to make more films Dr Vimala Perumal. You have shown that you a wonderful director over the course of this 3 films and shown that you have been improving film on film. That is a great sign showing that you are continuously learning and I believe that will bring you far as a director.

                Rating: 3.5/5.0

The Cast

Denes Kumar

Easily one of the most established names in the Malaysian Tamil Film Industry, having Denes on board for this film is surely an added value to the film. Playing the role of an Urumi Melam player from Sekinchan, Denes character is someone who seems to have grown up with the small village area.

Thus he is shown to have a small circle of friends and a very loud character who is equally chilled and laid back throughout the film. That allows his character to have a lot of scope to deliver in terms of comedy and as always Denes delivers up to par.

His on screen chemistry let be with Sangeetha or the father character or with Kuben & Alvin worked on well and goes on to show why Denes was the right pick for this role.

                Rating: 3.3/5.0

Sangeetha Krishnasamy

Hands down one of the most talented actress in the country, I am so pleased to see her do more Tamil film roles. Here Sangeetha play the role of a fashion designer and the childhood love interest of Denes while being a sister to a police officer in Seelan.

The fact that her character knows Denes’s character since childhood makes it more acceptable on how quickly the duo can fall in love as it feels like there was a crush developed during childhood from Denes’s character at least.

However apart from being a lovely cute heroine, her character doesn’t seem to have much more to offer on screen. With that limited scope given, Sangeetha Krishnasamy seemed to have delivered her performance with ease and effortlessly.

                Rating: 3.1/5.0

Kuben Mahadevan & Alvin Martin

This two pair were the comic duo of the film and they definitely will tickle your funny bone throughout the film. Kuben plays the role of Coco while Alvin plays the role of Jing Cha who are both Denes’s childhood friends and members of the Vedigundu Passange Urumi Melam Team. Alvin is also the cousin of Sangeetha in this film.

Watch out the iconic laugh by Kuben in this film. I swear to you it is super cute and that laugh from him itself is enough to make you laugh in the film. The comedy portions were equally balance between this duo, with each other taking turns to throw in some banter over one another or towards Denes throughout the film.

No doubt that one of the biggest strength of the film has the comedy portion of the film and this should be credit much to this wonderful duo and of cause my personal favorite from the film, David Anthony.

                Rating: 3.4/5.0

The Music

Vivek-Mervin

It is so amazing to see that a film of ours were able to sign on of the rising music directors in Kollywood. Personally that shows that the quality in our films are increasing are we are able to win the confidence of overseas talents to be part of our film. That is a great sign of progress.

The musical duo composed 4 tracks in this film and they are equally brilliant in their own way. My personal favourite songs were “Vedigundu Passange Theme Song” which was super peppy and pacy and always gets my energy levels up with the other song being “#LoveMood”. This is a beautiful love song that will easily get you hooked on.

Vivek- Mervin has done a good job throughout the film in terms of background score and their music was definitely another pillar of strength to this film.

                 Rating: 4.3/5.0

Final Verdict: Vedigundu Passange Is Going To Vedikeran The Box Office

Final Rating: 3.4/5.0