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Varmaa

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Varmaa
Official release poster
Directed byBala
Based onArjun Reddy
by Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Produced byMukesh R. Mehta
Starring
CinematographyM. Sukumar
Edited bySathish Suriya
Music byRadhan
Production
company
E4 Entertainment
Distributed by
  • The Ally
  • Shreyas ET
  • ShemarooMe
  • Simply South
  • Tentkotta
Release date
  • 6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Varmaa is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Bala and produced by Mukesh Mehta of E4 Entertainment. A remake of the 2017 Telugu film Arjun Reddy, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the film stars Dhruv Vikram and Megha Chowdhury, the latter in her Tamil debut. The film features music composed by Radhan, with M. Sukumar handling the cinematography and Sathish Suriya, taking in-charge of the editing.

Filmed between March and September 2018, its release was initially cancelled after E4 Entertainment was unsatisfied with the output and re-shot the remake in 2019 as Adithya Varma with a largely different cast and crew. Despite E4's initial refusal to release Varmaa, the film was released on 6 October 2020 on over-the-top (OTT) platforms to negative reviews from critics.

Plot

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Varmaa Vasudevan is a rich medical student. Despite being a brilliant student, he has severe anger management problems that earn the wrath of the college dean. Varmaa's aggressive nature also earns him a reputation among his juniors as a college bully. After a brawl alongside his friend Kamal against members of the opposing team during an inter-college football match, the dean asks Varmaa to either apologise or leave the college. Varmaa initially chooses to leave the college but stays back after meeting the first-year student Megha.

Varmaa and his friend Ashok enter a 1st-year classroom and announce that Varmaa is in love with Megha and asserts that she is exclusive to him. Initially afraid, Megha starts adjusting to Varmaa's overbearing attitude. She eventually reciprocates his feelings and they develop an intimate relationship. Varmaa graduates with an MBBS degree and leaves to pursue a Master's degree in orthopaedic surgery. Over the course of 15 days, Varmaa's and Megha's relationship becomes stronger. Days later, Varmaa visits Megha's house, where her father sees them kissing and throws Varmaa out.

Megha's father opposes her and Varmaa's relationship due to Varmaa's brash behaviour and also because they belong to different castes. Varmaa demands Megha decide within six hours otherwise he will end their relationship. Following this incident, Megha's parents seize her phone, preventing her from contacting Varma. By the time she manages to visit Varmaa's house, he is drunk, injects morphine into himself, and becomes unconscious for two days. Megha is then forcibly married to someone from her caste. Varmaa learns about the marriage from Ashok and goes to her house. He is assaulted and gets arrested for making a scene. Varmaa's father throws him out of the family home for ruining his reputation.

With Ashok's help, Varmaa rents a flat and joins a private hospital as a surgeon. To cope with his emotions, he starts taking drugs, attempts one-night stands, buys a pet dog, and names it after Megha and drinks alcohol; all of which are unsuccessful. Within months, he becomes a successful surgeon and a high-functioning alcoholic who is feared by the hospital's staff members, one of the reasons being his high surgery count. Varmaa's self-destructing behaviour and refusal to move on worries Ashok. He persuades one of his patients, Raiza Wilson, a leading film star, to have a no-strings relationship with him, which he ends when she falls in love with him.

On a day off, Varmaa unwillingly agrees to perform life-saving surgery and collapses from dehydration. The hospital staff examines his blood samples, which show traces of alcohol and cocaine. The hospital chief files a case against Varma, who accepts the truth on the grounds of violating his professional ethics during an in-house court hearing, despite Ashok making arrangements to bail him out. Varmaa's medical licence is cancelled for five years and he is evicted from the flat. The next morning, Ashok manages to reach Varmaa to convey his father's death; he and they reconcile. Varmaa gives up his self-destructive habits soon after.

While leaving for a vacation, Varmaa sees a pregnant Megha sitting in a park. Convinced that she is unhappy with her marriage, Varmaa meets her after returning from his vacation. Megha reveals that she left her husband days after their marriage and continued to work in a clinic. She tells Varmaa that he is the child's father, and they reunite.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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In September 2017, it was announced that E4 Entertainment had bought the rights to remake the Telugu film Arjun Reddy (2017) in Tamil and Malayalam languages.[2] The following month, Bala was chosen to direct the yet-untitled Tamil remake.[3] On 10 November 2017, the title was announced as Varma,[4] although it would later be amended to Varmaa. Raju Murugan was chosen to pen the dialogues. M. Sukumar was selected to handle the cinematography[5] and Sathish Suriya was chosen as the film editor, after having earlier worked for Bala's Naachiyaar (2018).[6] Producer Mukesh Mehta said the remake would be 20 minutes shorter than the Telugu original.[7] Actor Vikram's son Dhruv Vikram was cast as the male lead, in what would have been his acting debut. It would have been the debut for the Kolkata-based model Megha, who was chosen to play the female lead.[8] Akash Premkumar was chosen to play the lead character's best friend. Whereas other roles were given to Easwari Rao,[9] Raiza Wilson,[10] Sandra Amy[11] and Mathew Varghese.

Filming

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Principal photography began in early March 2018 at Kathmandu, Nepal,[12] and a week later, after completing the first schedule there, the crew shifted to Chennai for the second schedule.[13] However, shooting of the film was briefly stalled due to the Tamil Film Producers Council strike, but resumed in April after the strike ended.[14] The final schedule of the film took place in August 2018, for which the team had shifted to Tiruvannamalai.[15] It was completed in September 2018, thus principal photography of the film has wrapped.[16]

Shelving

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On 7 February 2019, E4 issued a press statement stating that they would go for a complete reshoot as they were not satisfied with the final cut provided by Bala.[17] Bala's version of the film contained deviations from Arjun Reddy, which resulted in the conflict.[18] Changes included the absence of many characters from Arjun Reddy, including the male lead's grandmother. Varmaa was also two hours long while the original was three.[19] In their press statement, E4 added that the film would be relaunched with a completely new cast and crew while retaining Dhruv.[17] In a separate press statement, Bala decried E4's comments, saying it was his own decision to quit the film "in order to safeguard creative freedom" because he was asked to make changes.[20] This became the first such incident in Tamil cinema that the producer of the film refuses to release the film due to unsatisfactory final cut despite the completion of the film.[21] The new version, directed by Gireesaaya, was titled Adithya Varma,[22] and did not retain any scene shot by Bala for Varmaa.[23]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack for the film was composed by Radhan who signed the project in July 2018.[24] The song "Vaanodum Mannodum", written by Vairamuthu and sung by Vignesh G., was released on 27 December 2018 as a single,[25] but was not included on Adithya Varma.[26]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Vaanodum Mannodum"VairamuthuVignesh G.03:40
2."Enthan Kannile"  04:09
3."Mudhal Nodi"  03:27
4."Mazhai Illai Megham Illai"  03:26
5."Sumanasa Vanditha Sundari" Bombay Jayashree02:37
6."Poguthe Kaalame"  01:30
7."Adai Mazhai Thuli"  03:16

Marketing

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The teaser for Varmaa was released on 23 September 2018. It was widely ridiculed and criticised on social media,[27] while a critic from The New Indian Express called it "a failed attempt to remake the original".[28] The teaser received five million views within fifty hours of release.[29] The trailer was released on 9 January 2019.[30]

Release

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When Varmaa was scheduled for a theatrical release in January 2019, Shakthi Film Factory acquired the Tamil Nadu distribution rights.[31] Despite E4's initial refusal to release it,[21] after more than a year of deadlock, the film was released on 6 October 2020 on over-the-top (OTT) platforms. It was released on Simply South and Tentkotta internationally, and within India on The Ally, Shreyas ET and ShemarooMe.[32] The decision to release an alternate version of a film was compared to the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League, a director's cut of Justice League (2017).[33]

Reception

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Varmaa received generally negative reviews from critics, many of whom compared it unfavourably to Adithya Varma.[34][35] M. Suganth of The Times of India rated the film 2 stars out of 5, saying, "Instead of feeling new age-y, Varmaa comes across as old-fashioned and even crass at times. It gets Arjun Reddy all wrong." Suganth also felt many of the actors like Chowdhury were miscast and criticised the lack of onscreen chemistry between her and Dhruv. He concluded that Dhruv looks "sure-footed in some scenes and like a novice in some".[36] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote, "Not a single frame is distinctive, or shows that a major filmmaker is behind the camera. You get the feeling Bala was forced to direct this with his hands tied."[37] Ranjani Krishnakumar of Firstpost wrote, "Varmaa is not rooted anywhere. The milieu does nothing for the film. Varma’s pain, which is what made Arjun Reddy intense, is heavily diluted. In fact, for the most part, he is just your average alcoholic, only too pampered."[38]

Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express wrote, "After watching Varmaa, I could see why the producer thought it was not a good idea to release it in theaters. Bala's interpretation of Sandeep Vanga's material strips the larger-than-life aura around the self-indulgent, inconsiderate, alcoholic and self-destructive protagonist." However, he concluded that the film "is a unique, honest and bold interpretation of a character that we all love despite the breathtaking level of faultiness."[39] Srivatsan S. of The Hindu wrote that "the Bala Cut, as it would come to be known, is surprisingly cold and lifeless — even by the standards set by Adithya Varma — and edits out the dramatic bits of the Telugu original, only limiting to its plot points" and felt that the film was a "reinterpretation" of the director's 1999 film Sethu.[40] Sudhir Srinivasan of Cinema Express gave the film a rating of one-and-a-half out of five stars and noted that "What would the Bala of today change about/add to this story that’s been told so many times now that you can predict its every beat? Well, it turns out that he hasn’t. He has settled to giving us a jaded, curtailed version instead".[41]

References

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  1. ^ CR, Sharanya (8 January 2019). "I don't want to be typecast: Sandra". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  2. ^ "E4 Entertainment snaps Arjun Reddy remake rights". Sify. 16 September 2017. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Bala to direct Arjun Reddy remake". The New Indian Express. 9 October 2017. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  4. ^ Shah, Aashna (10 November 2017). "Arjun Reddy's Tamil Remake Will Be Called Varma". NDTV. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Varma, Tamil remake of Arjun Reddy, to feature debutante Megha Choudhary opposite Dhruv Vikram". Firstpost. 7 July 2018. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  6. ^ Sathish Suriya [@editorsuriya] (23 September 2018). "#Varma my second film with the legend #bala sir. Enjoyed working on Varma. #E4Entertainment and Happy Birthday #DhruvVikram" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Pillai, Sreedhar (9 August 2018). "It's raining remakes in Kollywood". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Model Megha to debut opposite Dhruv in 'Varma'". The Times of India. 4 July 2018. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  9. ^ Rajendran, Gopinath (5 June 2018). "Easwari Rao: I thought I was called to play Rajini sir's mother". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  10. ^ "Bala's Varma gets a heroine". Cinema Express. 4 July 2018. Archived from the original on 6 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  11. ^ "The luck factor". Deccan Chronicle. 22 November 2018. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  12. ^ Pudipeddi, Haricharan (3 March 2018). "Varma, Arjun Reddy Tamil remake, starts rolling". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  13. ^ "'Arjun Reddy' Tamil remake: Makers of 'Varma' complete first schedule in Nepal". The News Minute. 9 March 2018. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  14. ^ "Director Bala resumes 'Varma' shoot". Sify. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  15. ^ Balaji, Gautham (8 August 2018). "City boy makes it big with Bala's next". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Dhruv Vikram wraps up 'Varma'". The Times of India. 17 September 2018. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  17. ^ a b "E4 Entertainment not happy with Bala's Varmaa; to re-shoot the Arjun Reddy remake with a new team". Cinema Express. 7 February 2019. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Varmaa actress Megha Chowdhury: I am completely unaware of new Arjun Reddy film". India Today. 8 February 2019. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  19. ^ Menon, Vishal (7 March 2020). "I Should Have Remade The Tamil Version Of Arjun Reddy With Vijay Deverakonda: Producer Mukesh Mehta". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  20. ^ "Varmaa controversy: Director Bala says he stepped down after he was asked to make changes to the Dhruv Vikram-starrer". Cinema Express. 9 February 2019. Archived from the original on 10 February 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  21. ^ a b Sekar, Raja (7 February 2019). "Varmaa: Tamil remake of cult Telugu film Arjun Reddy dropped; producers and director Bala at loggerheads". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  22. ^ "Arjun Reddy's Tamil remake now titled Adithya Varma, new poster out". Hindustan Times. 19 February 2019. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  23. ^ "Rift widens as Bala sends show cause notice to vikram for Varmaa". DT Next. 22 May 2019. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  24. ^ "Music director Radhan roped in for Bala's 'Varma'". The Times of India. 24 July 2018. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  25. ^ "Vaanodum Mannodum (From "Varmaa") – Single". Apple Music. 27 December 2018. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  26. ^ "வானோடும் மண்ணோடும்... பாலாவின் 'வர்மா' பட பாடல் ரிலீஸ் - வீடியோ". News18 (in Tamil). 27 December 2018. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  27. ^ "Dhruv Vikram contributes first remuneration for rebuilding Kerala". Mathrubhumi. 25 September 2018. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  28. ^ "Director Bala fails to bring charm of 'Arjun Reddy' in 'Varma' trailer". The New Indian Express. 23 September 2018. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  29. ^ "This is when Dhruv Vikram's debut film Varmaa will release". India Today. 16 December 2018. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  30. ^ "Varmaa trailer: Dhruv Vikram film looks intense". The Indian Express. 10 January 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  31. ^ "'Varma': Actor Suriya launches the trailer of Bala's next". The Times of India. 9 January 2019. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  32. ^ "Bala's 'Varmaa' out on TamilRockers piracy site hours after release". The News Minute. 6 October 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  33. ^ "Varmaa: Original Cut of Dhruv Vikram's Arjun Reddy Remake, Directed by Bala, To Release on OTT!". ZEE5. 1 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  34. ^ "Varmaa Movie Review: Bala's Directorial Starring Dhruv Vikram Leaves Critics Disappointed". ZEE5. 6 October 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  35. ^ "Netizens trash 'Varmaa', lauds Vikram's decision to reshoot!". Sify. 6 October 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  36. ^ Suganth, M (6 October 2020). "Movie Review : Bala's Varmaa gets Arjun Reddy all wrong". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  37. ^ Rangan, Baradwaj (6 October 2020). "Varmaa Movie Review: Dhruv Vikram Stars In Bala's Completely Uninvolving Remake Of Arjun Reddy". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  38. ^ Krishnakumar, Ranjani (7 October 2020). "Varmaa movie review: The insipid ghost of Arjun Reddy". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  39. ^ Kumar R, Manoj (6 October 2020). "Varmaa movie review: Bala's bold interpretation of Arjun Reddy". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  40. ^ S, Srivatsan (6 October 2020). "'Varmaa' movie review: Bala's version is shorter and an insipid remake". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  41. ^ Srinivasan, Sudhir (6 October 2020). "Varmaa Movie Review: A listless, lifeless remake of Arjun Reddy". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
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