'Technically Strong': S Shankar Heaps Praise On Mari Selvaraj's Vaazhai

Mari Selvaraj recently released his film Vaazhai, meaning banana in Tamil, on August 23. The film is written, directed and co-produced by Mari Selvaraj and backed by Disney+ Hotstar, Navvi Studios and Farmer’s Master Plan Production. The film is being presented as a semi-autobiography of his life. It shows a young teenage boy who is the best student in the class and is forced to drag bunches of bananas during weekends due to his poverty. He hates this work. Recently, ace director S Shankar saw the film and expressed his opinion about it.

Vaazhai stars debutantes Ponvel M., Raghul R., Kalaiyarasan and Nikhila Vimal in the lead roles, alongside J. Satish Kumar, Dhivya Duraisamy, Janaki, Priyanka Nair and Nivedita Rajappan. Now, famous director Shankar has watched Vaazhai and is all praises for the director. A video of him complimenting the director has also surfaced on the internet. He shared, “Vaazhai is a film that leaves a deep impact. I still haven’t been able to come out of the effect the movie created. The pain of the Tharai children carrying the ‘Vaazhai’ is something you can feel. From now on, whenever I see bananas, I will remember all the actors from the film.”

He further added he saw an “aesthetic aspect” in realistic cinema. He even called the film to be like “literature.” Finally, he congratulated the director and called the film “technically strong” and also praised the cinematography, music, screenplay and editing—everyone has done a great job.

Apart from S Shankar, director Bala also enjoyed the screening of the film. He was quite moved by the story and hugged the director. Actor Soori and other peers from the industry joined in to praise the film which has now created a huge buzz in the industry.

Mari Selvaraj marked his directorial debut with Pariyerum Perumal in 2018, which opened to positive reviews and received many accolades and awards. After his film became a success, he shot to fame and delivered more films like Karnan and Maamannan. He has recently delivered Vaazhai which is a small-budget film.