In the course of the series,a broken-hearted velonie sobs to her strict mother and queries whether being born beautiful was her fault. Such a conversation could scream arrogance in any other situation, but in this one, it comes from a place of heartbreaking honesty. This is the overarching feeling that runs through all eight episodes of the show. However, vadhandhi drifts so far from this feeling that bloatedness sets in and the tight narrative- which is the foundation of any grim crime thriller- begins to unravel.
Vadhandhi opens with a movie shoot in which the dead body discovered at the filming location is mistaken for the actress who has gone missing. But soon we learn that the body discovered one a wind farm is actually that of the titular velonie. This erroneous identity turns out to be the catalyst for a social experiment that consumes velonie and her mother Ruby's lives and even memories ( a brilliant laila ).
Given that the series name is Vadhandhi ( Rumors ), the movie does begin with a number of people speculating about velonie and the circumstances surrounding her horrifying murder. Andrew louis is successful st creating an universe that makes us wonder if velonie is really who she is being described as. Even though velonie is the mian character of the series, she never explicitly tells us anything; instead, what we see on screen is hearsay.
Her friends are the ones who are describing the type of friend she was to us. Her mother is the one who is describing the kind of daughter she was.one of the visitors of the mother-run mansion who provides a very wholesome yet fuzzy image of the holes in velonie's story is writer sebastian ( a constantly effective Nassar ). There's fiance here, a lover there, and a couple illegal love affairs elsewhere. Along with the audience, police officer vivek ( played somewhat subbuedly by SJ Suyah) also makes sense of things in this scene.
Point for the producers for showing consideration for the viewers and given us a slowburn that lets the investigation breathe and doesn't pack it all in. Vivek's mental health suffers greatly as a result of velonie's story, which presents itself in many different ways. Vivek has these emotional upheavals as a result of being compelled fits the same category as well. To keep from getting sidetracked by all the unimportant diversions, We too must navigate.
Vadhandhi's portrayal is unneeded, inconvenient, and a singificant waste of time, Whether it is the thread about five IT personnel who consumed the news of velonie from mainstream media and made judgements about it or the narrative about certain inflential media companies influencing the news.
With the help pf Dop Saravanan Ramasamy, Vadhandhi which is complemented by simon k king's soundtrack and makes the most of its scenic setting, is one the better-looking shows on OTT. However, the novelty doesn't always shine brightly, especially with the casting and the setting. The Anglo-Indian accent is performed with great conviction, but the characters' kanyakumari dialect, which is delicious with the addition of Malayalam, isn't always credible. These sentence were obviously laboriously delivered, which only serves to make the characters seem inorganic. The visual aesthetics, some allusions that verge on the Lolita-ization of velonie, and a scary dream scene that subsequently become something more “ family friendly” all felt problematic, on the other hand.
An almost hurried conclusion feels like a cop-out for a show that is confident in its ability to provide a steady burn. By the time the eighth episode is through and the credits roll, we are just as worn out as he is and want to snuggle up in a secure place, as suryah's vivek brings out in the final episode the depravity of those who engage in rumour mongering.
vadhandhi attempts to be many things and succeeeds in becoming some of them, but what it fails to achieve is something more powerful and a more significant expression of its doubts.
Rating : 3/5
