Veetla Vishesham HD Released

 Remakes are tricky, especially when the original happens to be a National Award-winning film with a subject that can be touchy for many in the audience. But with Veetla Vishesham, RJ Balaji and NJ Saravanan have managed to capture the spirit of Badhaai Ho and come up with an entertaining film that makes us laugh out loud and get emotional in equal measure.

The plot revolves around an ordinary middle-class family: Unnikrishnan (Sathyaraj), a railways employee, his home maker wife Krishnaveni (Urvashi), their two sons — Ilango (RJ Balaji), a 20-something biology teacher, and Anirudh (Visvesh), who is in high school, and his elderly mother Ammulu (KPAC Lalitha). Despite their modest means, Unni and Krishnaveni are a loving couple, and following one intimate night, realise that the latter has gotten pregnant. Krishnaveni decides to have the baby, however, they are more about how the society around them is going to react to this news, especially their two sons. Will Ilango and Anirudh be able to come to terms with this fact and embrace their parents' decision?

Given that Badhaai Ho was backed by strong writing, RJ Balaji and team here stay close to the original, making only minor changes to the material that add a local flavour to this universal story. Some of the changes, like making Ilango's profession work. That a seemingly progressive biology teacher, who is keen to on his students getting sex education, isn't able to cope with the fact that his parents might be having an active sex life, puts across the irony of his situation and the double-standards in the society better. Even the addition of an angle about women having the right to choose between a normal and a cesarean delivery seems well-intentioned, though the makers here choose a somewhat over-the-top humourous tone (over a heartfelt moment) to deliver this 'message'. The film also wins us over with its genuine progressive outlook.