Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam

Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam (transl. The Association of Carefree Youths) is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Ponram.^[2][3] Produced by P. Madan under the Escape Artists Motion Pictures banner, it stars Sivakarthikeyan, Sathyaraj, Sri Divya (in her Tamil debut) and Soori in prominent roles. The music for the film is composed by D. Imman, with cinematography handled by Balasubramaniem and editing done by Vivek Harshan. M. Rajesh wrote the dialogues for the film.^[4]

The principal photography which took place in Padalur, Theni, Tiruchi and Chennai, was completed in July 2013.^[5][6] The film was released on 6 September 2013, coinciding with the Ganesh Chathurthi weekend and became a critical and commercial success.^[7] The film was remade in Kannada as Adyaksha and in Telugu as Current Theega. A Tulu remake titled Jai Maruthi Yuvaka Mandala was shot in 2017 but remains unreleased.^[8]

The film begins with police arriving at Sivanandi's house questioning Sivanandi about killing his daughter Lathapandi because Sivanandi's daughter Lathapandi ran away with the guy who Lathapandi loved. Bosepandi and Kodi are best friends who are the leaders of a group called Varuthapadadha Valibar Sangam. One day, Bosepandi falls in love with Kalyani who is a teacher at a school. Bosepandi writes a love letter for Kalyani but he wants someone to go give his love letter to her so that's when Bosepandi finds Lathapandi. Lathapandi gives Bosepandi's love letter to Kalyani and Lathapandi tricks Bosepandi into believing many things.

Sivanandi fixes marriage for Lathapandi but Lathapandi is not willing to marry because Lathapandi is very young and Lathapandi wants to study further. Despite Lathapandi's attempts, nothing stops Lathapandi's marriage. Lathapandi's marriage is posted on a billboard which Bosepandi and Kodi decides to stop Lathapandi's marriage since they want their group billboard on there. Bosepandi and Kodi go to the police station and threaten the police that they will go to the commissioner. The police talks to Sivanandi and makes Sivanandi stop Lathapandi's marriage. One day, Lathapandi reveals Bosepandi that Kalyani is getting married. Bosepandi decides to move on in his life, so Bosepandi arranges for a Dindigul programme to happen in his area. Bosepandi sees Lathapandi in a sari and Bosepandi immediately falls in love with Lathapandi. The same night, the police reveal to Sivanandi that the person who stopped Lathapandi's marriage was Bosepandi.

A day later Bosepandi tells Lathapandi about his love for her but Lathapandi ignores Bosepandi and she says no to him. Bosepandi walks away from Lathapandi, Bosepandi listens to a sad song when a gang comes and bashes Bosepandi. Bosepandi later finds out that it was Sivanandi's gang who hit Bosepandi. So, Bosepandi and Kodi decide to steal what Sivanandi considers his 'soul' and that is Sivanandi's Gun. Bosepandi and Kodi steals Sivanandi's Gun and they both run away and cause a lot of trouble. Bosepandi then tells Lathapandi that he will return the gun if she comes to their friends' marriage and so Bosepandi returns Sivanandi's Gun without anyone knowing. Lathapandi in return goes to that marriage and takes many photos with Bosepandi. Lathapandi's mother Dhanalakshmi warns Lathapandi that this is not correct and Lathapandi should stop it. Sivanandi's cow falls into a well when Sivanandi goes out of town so Bosepandi helps to get Sivanandi's cow out of the well. That night Bosepandi stays with Lathapandi in Sivanandi's house and Bosepandi and Lathapandi see Sivanandi sleepwalking. After that, Bosepandi and Lathapandi wake up in the morning and they see Sivanandi walking again. This time Sivanandi is awake but Bosepandi and Lathapandi thinks Sivanandi is sleepwalking again and so Bosepandi tells Sivanandi about liking Lathapandi. Once Bosepandi finds out that Sivanandi is indeed awake, Bosepandi runs out of Sivanandi's house.

Sivanandi then makes Lathapandi promise that Lathapandi will only marry the guy who Sivanandi tells Lathapandi to marry and so Lathapandi promises Sivanandi. Sivanandi's family fixes marriage for Lathapandi but on the night before Lathapandi's marriage, Lathapandi decides to run away with Bosepandi. When running away at night, they see Sivanandi and Sivanandi tells Bosepandi and Lathapandi to run away from his house and gives them some money so that they never come back. Sivanandi wants Bosepandi and Lathapandi to run away because Sivanandi doesn't want Lathapandi to marry the guy Sivanandi has chosen for Lathapandi and Sivanandi can't stop Lathapandi's marriage because Sivanandi has too much respect in his village. Sivanandi watches Bosepandi and Lathapandi get married and they both settled in a hill area. Sivanandi comes to visit Bosepandi and Lathapandi every day. On Sivanandi's one visit, Bosepandi reveals Sivanandi that Lathapandi is pregnant. Bosepandi and Lathapandi then return to the village because Bosepandi's father had offered him more money than Sivanandi. Then the film ends with everyone laugh on each other.

The film's shooting was held in various places of Padalur, Theni, Trichy and Chennai.^[5] Ponram, an erstwhile assistant of director M. Rajesh, returned to direction after a hiatus.^[9] Sri Divya, who worked as a child artist in Hanuman Junction (2000) and Yuvaraaju (2001), made her debut in this film as a lead actress.^[10] The final leg of shooting was completed on 8 July 2013.^[6]

The music is composed by D. Imman, collaborating with Sivakarthikeyan for the second time after Manam Kothi Paravai, and his first collaboration with director Ponram. The soundtrack album features five songs written by Yugabharathi, with a dubstep and three karaoke versions, thus making it to nine tracks in total. Sivakarthikeyan sung the title track "Varuthapadaatha Vaalibar Sangam", along with Anthony Daasan, making his debut in playback singing. The audio launch of the film, took place on 14 July 2013 at Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai. A trailer and two songs from the film were screened at the event.^[11]

The track "Oodha Color Ribbon" received the most consumer response.^[12] S. R. Ashok Kumar from The Hindu, stated that "VVS songs is surely set to lift your mood."^[13]

Track listing

Varuthapadaatha Vaalibar Sangam was released in theatres on 6 September 2013, during the Vinayagar Chathurthi weekend.^[14] The Tamil Nadu theatrical rights were purchased by Gopuram Films,^[15] while the overseas rights were sold to Khafa Exports. The film's television premiere took place on 14 January 2014, coinciding with the Pongal festival on Kalaignar TV, and registered a TRP rating of 12.29.^[16]

Baradwaj Rangan writing for The Hindu stated wrote, "The film has enough silliness to qualify as mild amusement, especially in the scenes with Bosepandi and his friend Kodi (Soori) — but these gags would work just as well as a compilation clip on YouTube. The plotting is too loose to warrant a two-hour-and-forty-minute movie, with sentimental detours and meandering subplots".^[17] The Times of India rated 3 out of 5, stating "What makes this a rather predictable film appealing to an extent is the lighthearted manner in which Ponram tells his story."^[18]

Rediff gave a rating of 2 out of 5 and summarised, "Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam is boring and gets repetitive after a while".^[19] Sify gave a rating of 2.75 out of 5 stating, "Ponram through VVS follows the comedy template set by his guru Rajesh and blends them with his hero Sivakarthikeyan's image. Add D Imman's peppy melodies with a rural touch and you get a mass comedy entertainer"^[20] The New Indian Express wrote, "A promising work by a debutant, the film though not the best of comedies, makes for a fairly pleasant watch" with a rating of 2.5 out of 5.^[21]

Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam had the biggest opening in Sivakarthikeyan's career at the time of its release;^[22] it earned approximately ₹3.55 crore net on its first day.^[23] According to Sify, the film, which released in 343 screens in Tamil Nadu, took ₹ 3.25 Cr in its first three days and had collected ₹ 11.5 Cr after 17 days at the Tamil Nadu box office.^[1] The film collected approximately ₹16.10 crore (US$1.9 million) close to ₹17 crore (US$2.0 million) in Chennai in first week.^[24] The film was considered financially successful.^[1][25] The film completed 50 days of theatrical run in 25 centres across Tamil Nadu.^[26]

8th Vijay Awards^[27]

• Best Comedian - Soori (Nominated)
• Best Debut Actress - Sri Divya (Nominated)
• Best Music Director - D. Imman (Nominated)
• Entertainer of the Year - Sivakarthikeyan
• Favourite Film (Nominated)
• Favourite Song - "Oodha Color Ribbon"

3rd South Indian International Movie Awards^[28]

• Best Debut Actress - Sri Divya
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Sathyaraj (Nominated)
• Best Comedian - Soori
• Best Music Director - D. Imman
• Best Male Playback Singer - Hariharasudan for "Oodha Color Ribbon" (Nominated)
• Best Dance Choreographer - Dinesh for "Oodha Color Ribbon" (Nominated)

61st Filmfare Awards South^[29]

• Best Music Director - D. Imman (Nominated)

The film was remade by Nanda Kishore in Kannada as Adyaksha, starring Sharan in the lead role and was released in 2014.^[30] At the same year, the film's Telugu remake was helmed by G. Nageswara Reddy, starring Manchu Manoj in the lead role and was titled as Current Theega.^[31]

A comic book on this film was published by Navneetha Publications in August 2018, and was made available at the Discovery Book Palace, located at YMCA, Nandanam, Chennai.^[32][33] In a scene from the Tamil film Maan Karate also starring Sivakarthikeyan, Yogi Babu teases Hansika by singing Oodha Colour Ribbon. In the 2016 film Rajinimurugan, also directed by Ponram, Sivakarthikeyan plays the title character and reprised his role of Bosepandi for a cameo at the ending.

• Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam at IMDb