The story revolves around two friends Radha (Vijay Sethupathi) and Chella Durai (Kreshna) who have been friends from the phase of kiddos. When the elder brother (Madhusudhan Rao) of Vadhana (Sunaina) gets to know about her relationship with Chella, he warns him and accidently during the combat loses his life when Radha tries to save his friend. How far will their friendship traverse without any hurdles and complications of time ahead is the rest of this film all about.

 Performance

 Vijay Sethupathi performs well in his role and sticks to the emotional quotient from beginning till end. He never overreacts anywhere and that stands out as his plus. Kreshna hasn’t got much to perform here and all the time, we see him so much kissing and embracing Sunaina. Madhusudhan Rao, the actor who shot to fame with Goli Soda doesn’t get a proper scope here. Anjali Rao  and Sri Ranjini don’t get a substantive role.

 PLUS

 The basic theme of this film is good of how friendship can pass through turmoil and the final message we see during the final credits on forgiveness. Vijay Sethupathi explores a new dimension in his performance with emotional portions.

 Minus

 Completely boring!!! With a stretch of 2 hours 40 minutes, who really lose their patience. How could a filmmaker or his creative ability be so weak and flimsy? You’re so much tested and kept on curiosity on something engaging would happen. But till the climax, you’ve nothing other than disappointments. Thamman always follows the same pattern of letting his singers and instrumentalists play through the funnel and such is the effect. Background score has nothing to make its best. Jai Krishna fails to hold a strong plot and proper justification. Although something serious is happening in the script, we don’t tend to get involved. Sunaina is an absolute mismatch and Kreshna has to develop a lot on his performance.

 Overall, Vanmam is a disappointing tale that has nothing to impress the audience. To make it simple, the hard work of Vijay Sethupathi goes in vain. If friendship is the basic theme, the director should have added few more justifications to get it stronger. But only a murder and trying to hide it for the sake of friendship doesn’t turn the script best.

Verdict : Mind-numbing drama.

Stars : 2/5