36 Vayathinile (2015)

Cast: Jyothika, Rehman etc

Plot and Summary:

36 Vayathinile is a Tamil comedy drama film directed by Roshan Andrews. it is the remake of malayalam sleeper hit " How old are you?". The main theme of the movie is woman empowerment. Vasanthi tamil selvan ( played by Jyothika) is a 36 year old VD Clerk in a government revenue department, her husband - Tamil Selvan(Played by Rehman) works in All india radio and daughter is 13 year old.  Rehaman desperately tries to quit his job and go to Ireland. The film opens with Vasanthi getting rejected in her Ireland Job because of her age barrier. Jyothika plays a typical Indian hose wife who lives for her family sacrificing all her dreams. She gets criticized by her husband and daughter all the time for not having an ambition in her life. Rehman commits an accident and due to his job search in Ireland he asks Jyothika to take the blame, Finally the accident becomes a police case because Jyothika's licence expires. She gets yelled at be her husband and again she takes it all in and doesn't yell back like a typical Indian housewife.

On the same day she gets a call from the Commissioner's office, She goes alone and finds out that she has been invited by the " president of India" for a question her daughter asked to him during his visit to her school. Now this question is the defining moment of the film. While meeting the president she faints and creates a big embarrassment, all her friends , colleges and relatives make fun of and a big racket goes around in Facebook. In the mean time her husband tells her that he and her daughter will be going to Ireland in a few days and she will have to take care of the family. Jyothika breaks down and refuses. She gets deeply hurt by her husbands comment that " i don't want our daughter to be with you and turn out like you". The scene where Jyothika breaks down to her friend and says " i had lived for my husband and daughter and they say now that they are ashamed of me. I really don't know what i have done for the past 15 year" is  really relating to the general public.

We can see from the flashback scenes when she meets her friend that Jyothika was a very different person in the past, with great courage and ambition but some how she had lost herself. The later part of film is how she turns the situation back and gets gets her self respect redeemed. At the end, Rehman comes to her to take back her to Ireland to manage the situation there, this is where she learns of the question " who decides the expiry date of a woman's dream". She tells him that i will give an answer to the question and i will not come with you now until my Job here is done. The film ends by her meeting with the president once again and not to give appreciation for the question but for a higher cause (that you have see in the film!)

Verdict:

A very modern film in out time. The film explains what clearly is woman empowerment and the present situation of Indian housewifes. Its not about your dressing sense or about the way you speak, it the courage to keep your dream alive. Hats off to the Director and Jyothika to taking on such a subject and presenting it in a very light hearted film. The film ends with the caption " Your dream is your signature" a nice ending to it,

This film marks a comeback of jyothika after a long gap.She essays the role with ease and she is good with the comedy too! With this film me think she will be able to catch on to some very good roles in the days to come