Tamil blockbuster commercial cinema has no lack of stories surrounding hero worship. A man being the only person who could just arrive and save the day for everyone to rejoice is a recurring trope. “Varisu,” which means “heir,” is a Tamil language family drama that stars Vijay, Sarath Kumar, Prakash Raj, Rashmika Mandanna, Srikanth, Shaam, and Ganesh Venkataraman. It was released on the big screens on 11th January 2023 and is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 23rd February 2023. Directed by Vamshi Paidipally, the film is all about a son’s quest to bring his family back together under circumstances that could turn tragic at any time.
Spoilers Ahead
Sons Of Rajendran Palanisamy And Sudha: Jay, Ajay, And Vijay
Jayaprakash is a ruthless business magnate who has interests in many industries, one of the key businesses being mining. Jayaprakash won’t take a no for an answer when it comes to business deals, and he would want things to go his way or the highway. Jayaprakash, aka JP, is keen on striking a crucial mining deal from another business magnate. The deal is almost done, and he is eager to release the news about it in a few days. But before the news of this mega deal was made public, JP heard from the same media that he was about to approach that this deal had been clinched by the Rajendran Group of companies, run by Rajendran Palanisami, JP’s biggest rival. JP is livid and does not understand why and how this deal went to his rival company. JP is the kind of person who would want to rub in his rival’s face how he got the deal he was planning to secure for years. He did not expect to be double-crossed at this point when he was sure the deal was his. His rival Rajendra, with the help of his sons Jai and Ajay, uses their expertise to make sure the deal comes back to them, and JP loses it this time. JP and Rajendra do not shy away from talking about their very public rivalry. There is no love lost between them as businessmen. Their relationship has always been bitter and ruthless.
Rajendran is asked by the person he just made a deal with about his familial relations and why he is out of touch with his youngest son, Vijay. Rajendran is made visibly uncomfortable by this question, and so is the entire family. They are not keen on talking about this family member and have remained quiet about it. Rajendran is still at cross purposes with his youngest son and has not tried to stay in touch with Vijay ever since he left the family. Rajendran is a typical patriarch who has cut off ties with his son over ideological differences and has ever since made sure no one in the family would talk to him or talk about him. Vijay Rajendran turns out to be a wanderlust who finds solace in traveling and is rounding up funds for his food delivery startup. Vijay never wanted to depend on his father or his father’s business, which irked his father more. He is rebelling against his father’s plan to take over the family business, which makes it easy for Vijay to walk out on his family. Vijay stays in touch with his mother, Sudha, but he does not try to stay in touch with his father, nor does his father try to do the same. Vijay has come to terms with the fact that his father will never accept him for who he is, and that’s the reason why it had become easy for him to do something on his own, which had been his plan all the while. His startup venture is his way of separating from his father’s business conglomerate and starting something new from scratch. Rajendran, on the other hand, has raised two of his elder sons to compete against each other, for he will choose his heir soon. Vijay, who chose to stay out of this hunger game his father had begun, left his father’s home to make something of his own. His brothers, Jay and Ajay, remain behind in the hope their father will choose either of them one day.
‘Varisu’ Ending Explained – Is Vijay Successful In Uniting His Family Before His Father’s Death?
Sudha, Rajendran’s wife, proposes the idea of celebrating Rajendran’s 65th birthday and the day they got married again as a way to renew the promises they made to each other decades ago. Rajendran is initially skeptical of throwing such a big party for himself and his family. Soon, Rajendran learns from his best friend, who is a doctor, that Rajendran is suffering from 4th stage pancreatic cancer and probably has six to eight months to live. Understanding the importance of his life from here on and unwilling to wait for death, Rajendran agrees to celebrate his birthday as per his wife’s wishes. Vijay is invited by his mother to the event. Vijay is reluctant to make an appearance, but his mother makes sure he shows up for her sake. Rajendran was not keen on bringing Vijay but knowing his condition, and on his wife’s insistence, Vijay is called home. He is himself, and nothing has changed in his relationship with his father and brothers; he is a silent spectator to what is happening in the household. His elder brother and his wife hardly speak to each other; the second brother has time only for his wife and kids. Vijay also sees his mother struggling to run this house on her own without any help from any member of the family. Vijay is shocked to see the so-called “joint family” barely have a meal together as a family. This is what made him move away from the toxicity that came from being cloistered forcefully under one roof, pretending to be family.
Vijay meets Divya, who is his elder sister-in-law’s younger sister, and realizes she had a crush on him a long time back. Divya visits her sister to convince her to leave her husband, Jay, for they have not been communicating with each other for the past six years. Divya finds it ridiculous for her to stay in this marriage when her sister would be happier away from all the toxicity. Vijay, to impress Divya, suggests his sister-in-law consider a divorce because there is a trauma in her that she should let go of. This can only be done once she ends her marriage with his brother. Since he has traveled around, convincing his sister-in-law to end it comes easy to him. Divya is impressed by Vijay’s thinking, and they begin their whirlwind romance. Divya is also the kind of woman who would want to be with someone who likes her for who she is. She is impressed not just by his thought process but also by the fact that he is a self-made man when his startup has just become a unicorn.
On the day of Rajendran’s birthday, havoc breaks out when Jay’s girlfriend shows up at the function, which makes Jay’s wife leave him and his family for good. On the other hand, the person who had lent Ajay money, Mukesh, shows up, claiming their son owes him a large sum of money, and Ajay leaks the tender details to Mukesh so that the mining deal goes straight back to JP. Rajendran is shocked to see the status of his sons and the mess they have made of his business. He was sure he would choose either one of them to be his heir, but now, with the way they have handled their personal and professional lives, Rajendran is rethinking his decisions. He would want someone reliable who would carry his legacy forward. He asks Vijay to take over his business, but he outright refuses because he cannot be brought in as damage control. He was asked to leave the family, a request he was happy to oblige. He found happiness outside beyond living under the roof he grew up on. Vijay refuses because he knows his father will turn to him as a last resort. He refuses to live by his father’s rules anymore because he has a life of his own and a business he set up with his hard work and vigor. He cannot go back on his principles just because his father asked him to.
Vijay exits, but he comes back home the same day from the airport. It is implied that the doctor revealed the health condition of his father to Vijay. Vijay is now aware of the fact that his father is suffering from pancreatic cancer and might not live long. Rajendran reveals that death is staring at him like a friend, and he cannot let go of life before handing over the business to Vijay, who he now knows has the acumen to salvage it, and when he is gone, he can take care of his mother too. Rajendran is not afraid of death anymore, but he is afraid of not making things right with this family before he passes away. Vijay takes the mantle because, despite all the issues he and his father had, it would be morally wrong to leave him picking up the pieces of the mess made by his brothers. Vijay is ready to be there for his father during the last few months of life, amending the ties they lost all these years.
Rajendran announces Vijay to be the heir of his company, much to Jay, Ajay, and JP’s shock. His brothers take the news quite personally and decide to fight the decision. Jay and Ajay are angry because they never thought Vijay was in the race for the coveted seat in the company, and that their father had made up his mind a long time ago to choose between his two eldest sons. Rajendran changing his mind has repercussions when Jay stalls Vijay’s work but makes the men working at the port go against him. Vijay proves he is the boss, and he gets the workers at the port to finally come to his side. Ajay tries to remove him as chairman, but the board of directors chooses him over Vijay. Vijay unearths all the dirt he has against the board of directors, some sort of blackmail to make sure all of them take his side and vote for him. Vijay knew he would not make any dirty moves against his brothers, so he sought only legal recourses to make sure he remained the chairman of the company.
To further destabilize Vijay and their father, they close the mines using Ajay’s authority because he is still the managing director of the company. The mines would only reopen after another round of bidding. Jay and Ajay join Mukesh and JP. They use the rivals’ power to bring Vijay down. Unaware to them, JP is using them to get back at Rajendran, for they have been rivals for a long time. The bidding goes as per the plan set in motion by JP, Jay, Ajay, and Mukesh, as they bring in a new person who would financially help them. Though the bid goes to Jay and Ajay as per the plan, the investor turns out to be in cahoots with Vijay. He deliberately shows up late so that the bid will go to the second highest bidder, which is Vijay and his father. Vijay played it safe in the long run by bringing in a man he knew his brothers would approach. Vijay was ten steps ahead to make sure the tender would fall right into his lap without harming his brothers. Here, Vijay again took the legal route to defeat his brothers. Vijay, though, ends up helping Jay when his daughter is kidnapped by a human trafficking racket. He unites his brother and wife and makes sure Jay comes back to the family while he apologizes to his father, mother, and wife. Jay comes back knowing Vijay risked his life to save his only daughter, even though he didn’t have to. Ajay, though, is hell-bent on not coming back even after the family is made aware of Rajendran’s cancer, which is spreading across his body. Ajay refuses to be by his family’s side because he thinks they have humiliated him. He soon realizes JP and Mukesh are duping him just to get the better of Rajendran and Ajay’s entire family. Ajay is financially trapped but is saved by Jay and Vijay. Ajay realizes Vijay and Jay care for him enough to have come all the way to rescue him. They help Ajay resolve the money matter, as the only condition is to bring Ajay back home because their father might pass away at any time now. Ajay finally agrees to go home with his family. They all reunite in the dying days of their father, who finally succumbs to cancer. Vijay realizes that his family is far from perfect, but the fight they all fought to stay together is worth all the misunderstandings they faced before. Vijay now understands the need for him to stay back and be with all of them to carry the legacy forward.
Final Thoughts
“Varisu” makes a decent attempt at adding a certain level of believability to the narrative and adds humor to make sure all the heavy lifting is not done by the blockbuster commercial element. There are plenty of pop culture references to Vijay and Prakash Raj’s older films that bring back a pinch of nostalgia for all Tamil film lovers. The humor in the film is self-aware, where the leads talk about delivering whistle-worthy punch lines and clap-worthy punch lines and adding background score to all the dialogues after the villain is put on the back foot. It is interesting to notice superstars like Vijay and Prakash Raj being a part of films and writing humor based on their films as a way to make the audience understand that they can laugh at themselves. Certain subplots had issues, though. The wife who leaves Vijay’s brother Jay for being unfaithful to her ends up coming back home and forgiving her husband. If only the film had used this medium to make it clear that infidelity would not be tolerated, and the wife should have gone ahead with the divorce. This is again a clear-cut case of men writing female characters. Performance-wise, this film delivers because all the leads are on their A-game. Suit-wearing, luxury car-driving, suave businessmen but delivering believable performances. Vijay is hilarious when he must be, and Prakash Raj seems to be having a good time playing the villain. This film is nothing but an over-the-top blockbuster commercial with some good humor here and there. Something you can watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
“Varisu” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video with subtitles.