Vai Raja Vai

Plot

Karthik (Gautham Karthik) is a middle-class boy who works at an IT company, gifted with an extrasensory perception. He has a girlfriend, Priya (Priya Anand). During school days, he scores good in the exams using his power, so his father asks him suppress this power and forget its existence. Then, he meets Pandian aka Panda (Vivek) at his office and befriends with him. Panda, who is a gambler, gets to know about Karthik's power and asks him to play cricket gambling by using his power. Rande (Daniel Balaji) is in charge of the cricket gambling under an unknown man known as Kumar. Karthik wins 1 crore in the gambling and uses 10 lakhs for his elder sister Gayathri's (Gayathri Raguram) marriage. Panda, Karthik and Sathish (Sathish) go on a vacation to Goa to spend the gambling money. There Rande threatens Karthik to play Roulette in the Casino Royale ship. Initially Karthik hesitates but Rande threatens him by kidnapping Priya. Karthik accepts to play. By this incident Priya comes to know about Karthik's power.To train Karthik, Shreya (Taapsee Pannu) comes to help. Karthik plays the game and tricks Rande to take his place in gambling . The officials of the casino suspect Rande and arrest him . Karthik, with his money won in the gambling with Panda, Sathish and Priya, escape and go back home. Shreya helps Rande to escape from guards by the saying of Kumar. Rande traces Karthik and takes him to his place. There Karthik using his power to fight Rande's sidekicks and threatens Rande with his own gun. At that time a Rolls-Royce Phantom comes and is revealed that the unknown man Kumar is Kokki Kumar(Dhanush) and ask Karthik to play for him in Politics.

Cast

Casting

Initially, director Aishwarya's choice for the lead actor was Atharvaa, but due to schedule conflicts he was unable to work on the project, therefore, Gautham Karthik was signed to play the male lead. It was later announced that Priya Anand was going to be the female lead opposite Gautham in the film. Velraj was confirmed as cinematographer for the film.

Director Vasanth was cast as Gautham's father to make his acting debut, while choreographer "Calcium" Gayu was signed to play Gautham's sister, making her return as an actress after a ten-year hiatus. Taapsee Pannu and Daniel Balaji were chosen to perform guest appearances in the film. Taapsee's role would be a surprise element in the film as for the first time she plays a character with a negative shade. She later stated that she was not playing the villain in the film but "an aloof girl who is a regular at casinos". In November 2014, Dhanush also shot a for a cameo role, reprising his role he played in the film Pudhupettai, Kokki Kumar.

Filming

The film was mostly shot in Chennai, with major portions being shot at Pacifica Tech Park, OMR. The climax scenes were filmed in a cruise liner as the ship sailed a seven-night itinerary across Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In December 2013, the crew filmed a song in Osaka, Japan. Gayathri Raguram, besides acting in the film, choreographed the love duet. A few scenes and songs were also canned in Goa.

Soundtrack

Aishwarya Dhanush, whose first film had a successful soundtrack by Anirudh Ravichander, collaborated with Yuvan Shankar Raja for Vai Raja Vai's music. The background music of the film was one of the best in Yuvan's career. The soundtrack album featuring five tracks was released on 10 December 2014 in Chennai. Four months earlier, a single from the album, "Move Your Body", a song in the trap-and-bass genre, which was written by Aishwarya's husband, actor Dhanush and sung by Yuvan Shankar Raja's father and composer Ilaiyaraaja, was released on YouTube. Besides Dhanush, Madhan Karky wrote two songs, while Gana Bala and Hiphop Tamizha wrote and performed each a song. The soundtrack received highly positive reviews upon release.

Release

A first-look teaser of 70 seconds was released on 18 April 2014 which received a good response. The trailer was released alongside the soundtrack on 10 December 2014. The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay.

Critical reception

The New Indian Express stated the film was "compact, breezy, stylish and a pleasant watch". Sify called the film "a perfect recipe of a full-on entertainer without even a dash of obscenity or violence...the film is smartly packaged as an exciting and stylish entertainer". The Times of India gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "The film isn't perfect, far from it, it has a few weak spots that could have been disastrous but the confidence with which Aishwaryaa manages to narrate this story helps us tide over its issues".

The Hindu wrote that "her second film too suffers from bipolar disorder". Indo-Asian News Service gave 2 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Vai Raja Vai is a good effort gone completely awry", noting that "the first half is incredible fun" but that the film "goes haywire post interval". Rediff gave the same rating and wrote, "Despite a good storyline, young enthusiastic cast and an impressive technical crew, the film barely manages to hold your attention", calling the film a "let down".