SJ Vybari

SJ Vybari

After making a grown-up man and a young boy switch bodies and giving form to a person's thoughts, S.J.Suryah breaks down another science fiction barrier in Tamil cinema by tackling the issue of cloning. Badly done as they are, the sci-fi aspects are the least of the film's problems. Suryah's irritating performance combined with lack of logic, abundant sleaze and artificial, misplaced sentiments make Vyaabaari a truly dreadful motion picture. Several people are opposed to cloning and this movie has made me their ally since without cloning, Vyaabaari wouldn't have been made!

Suryaprakash(S.J.Suryah), a businessman owning more than 350 businesses, neglects even his family as he singlemindedly pursues his goals of becoming the most successful businessman in India and earning 1 Rupee more than Bill Gates' wealth. Savitri(Tamanna), a college girl, loves him because of his dedication and work ethic and wants to marry him. Surya does marry her but with different ideas - she is a great cook and he launches a restaurant line with her as the head chef. As it becomes impossible to juggle family and business life, Surya clones himself with the help of a scientist. So he is now free to pursue his business while his clone takes care of his family but the clone has different ideas.

The movie actually sets up an understandable situation for Suryah to resort to cloning. It gives us a businessman for whom work takes preference over family (though, as usual, it exaggerates his work ethic) and it gives him a family that misses him. The others in his family are given short shrift but if we manage to put aside Suryah's overacting and irritating style, Tamanna's situation manages to raise our sympathy. She is quite dumb too(after all, she declares that she is in love with Suryah after just reading about him and agrees to wed him even after seeing how money-minded he is) but she manages to make us feel for her as she yearns for her husband's love and affection.

The disdain with which the movie treats the topic of cloning is almost unbelievable. Sure, this is a masala entertainer and not a serious film about the repercussions of cloning but is it wrong to expect just a little bit of logic, coherence and general adherence to the principles of science even in an entertainer? The clone for some reason walks like a robot(he even does a slo-mo walk - in a urinal, of all places - after delivering a punchline, making it the funniest slo-mo scene I've seen in awhile in Tamil cinema) but seems capable of doing everything else. He seems to hang around in the same vicinity as his original, with no one noticing them(or getting confused if they do notice them). Compared to Vyaabaari, New and even A Aa seem like airtight science fiction classics!

With S.J.Suryah as hero, the abundance of sleaze doesn't come as a surprise (though the extent of sleaze in some scenes is still a surprise). Malavika's inclusion in a throwaway role is obvious as a tactic to increase the glamor quotient and Namitha keeps her reputation intact after her arrival. But its in the attempts to wed sleaze and sentiments that the movie fails miserably. Atleast in New, the 'mother sentiment' didn't rear its head noticeably until the end. But here it coexists with the vulgarity and that makes the movie seem curiously distasteful. As the clone talks tearfully about family after a raunchy sequence with Namitha, the whole thing becomes surreal and disorienting.

Abandoning all the possibilities that could be explored in a movie about cloning, the movie resorts to the old 'mistaken identity' ruse to get laughs but goes about it so clumsily that it elicits groans instead of laughs. Each sequence where the original and the clone switch places(unintentionally or voluntarily) is poorly thought out and executed in even worse fashion. The director's failure in comedy is evident from the fact that he is unable to get laughs from Vadivelu being in a Spider-man costume - a gag that should have made us laugh the moment we laid eyes on it.

This might be the first movie where the same actor could be accused of both overacting and underperforming! S.J.Suryah is his usual self - overacting, overexpressive, loud and irritating as the businessman. He utters every line like it was a punchline(which takes on a new meaning since everytime he utters a line, we want to punch him!). The clone role really exposes his acting limitations. Supposed to be a character who is innocent and gradually learns about everything, Suryah plays him like a mentally retarded person given to wild mood swings! Tamanna looks good and also makes an impression inspite of the chaos around her. Malavika and Namitha do what they were brought on for - lessen the costume budget and make suggestive overtures at Suryah as they flirt with him.

Suryah's personal motto - and punchline - in the film is 100% Vyaabaari. The film itself is 100% torture!