It's claimed that Vaazhai is based on actual events. The film opens with a scene revealing that it is a fictionalized retelling of the director's early experiences. Shivanaindhan (Ponvel M), a schoolboy, tells the story of an oppressed group that works as laborers in banana fields. Having to work with his mother and older sister to carry large banana bunches on his head over long distances robs him of his youth. He only gets relief from school. The movie looks at the emotional toll that this tyranny and hard work have on him.

It's an intriguing move by Mari Selvaraj to utilize the transportation of bananas to depict a story of tyranny while setting his film in a banana plantation. There are numerous sequences that contain left-wing imagery and symbols. 

The deceased father of Shivanaindhan is likewise portrayed as a union worker. It is especially heartbreaking when his mother offers the contractor her earrings in return for the cow her son lost. The only solace in such a brutal caste-capitalist society is love and friendship. A few instances of such are Shivanaindhan's arguments with his friend Sekar (Raghul R) on Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan's performance, Shivanaindhan's fun times with his school teacher Poongodi, and the romance between his sister Vembu and Kani.

Guiding us in this journey through various realities is the brilliant music of Santhosh Narayanan. It is almost like the composer reserves his uncompromising music for Mari’s films. What makes this combination truly click is their penchant for silence, and it truly makes us appreciate the music that comes after a bout of nothingness. Another highlight of Vaazhai is Theni Eswar’s visuals. Despite the calming green surrounding their grey lives, the colours never merge; they are almost like concentric circles. The repeated usage of these expansive frames lets us in on the laborious nature of the villagers’ work, and the actors’ calibre comes through in the close-ups that relies on their expressive faces to paint a story where words don’t do justice. Talking about actors, Ponvel and Sekhar are the best thing to happen in Tamil cinema in quite a while. Their innocence is the soul of the Vaazhai, and they are ably supported by a superlative cast that gives it all in a film that needed them to be convincing to the hilt.

At the end of the day, though, when the heartbreaking truths sink in like a ton of bricks, we are reminded that Vaazhai, like other Mari films, isn't obsessed with dehumanizing people. It extends an invitation to have a coffee. It's an invitation to join in a midnight dance. You are invited to a political discussion on a level playing field. It asks you to consider the reason banana sap stains turn dark after they dry up, precisely like blood. Vaazhai provides a window into the stories of the oppressed that go unspoken. It indicates that politics is personal. It narrates the tales of those who were abandoned.

Vaazhai Movie Cast:

Ponvel, Raghul, Nikhila Vimal, Kalaiyarasan, Janaki, Dhivya Duraisamy