Vaa Arugil Vaa

Vaa Arugil Vaa (transl. Come closer, come) is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language supernatural horror film starring Ramya Krishnan, Raja and Vaishnavi. The film was loosely inspired by the American film Child's Play (1988).[1][2][3][4] It was remade in Kannada in 1992 as Aathma Bandhana and in Odia in 1997 as Kandhei Akhire Luha.

Vaa Arugil Vaa
DVD cover
Tamilவா அருகில் வா
Directed byKalaivanan Kannadasan
Produced byA. Manavazhagan
Written byKalaivanan Kannadasan
Kanmani Subbu (dialogues)
StarringRamya Krishnan
Raja
Vaishnavi
Music byChanakya
CinematographyT.Kaviyarasu (alias) T. Anandha Kumar
Edited byK. R. Ramalingam
Production
company
Chozha Cine Arts
Release date
  • 11 January 1991 (1991-01-11)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

A young woman (Vaishnavi) was married off to a man (Raja) thinking that she comes from a wealthy family. Her in-laws later found out that her family had fallen from grace and is now financially deprived. The devious in-laws then plotted a scheme to abuse her till she runs away from home so they could find a real rich bride for their son. One of their most devious schemes involved setting up the unfortunate bride with a manservant to look like she was being unfaithful to her husband. Her oblivious husband believed this ploy and is disgraced by her. Heartbroken and betrayed: the young woman was ostracised and overheard her in laws discussing their next scheme to drive her away from home. Out of a fit of rage – she threatened to tell her husband and ran away from the house only to be caught by her uncle in-law. They imprisoned her and beat her up. She almost made a successful escape when her father in-law broke a bottle and stabbed her with it. Bloodied and weak, she managed to get to her favourite doll and had her soul transferred in the doll upon dying. Her in-laws covered the murder by burning her in the Hindu ceremonial fire (stashing her cadaver under stacks of wood), lit by her own husband unbeknownst to him.

The groom married another bride (Ramya Krishnan) and she is a very lovely person. Her husband is still mourning the death of his first wife – whom he had loved dearly – hence was emotionally distant to his new wife. Meanwhile, the soul of his deceased first wife had been residing in the said doll, waiting for her vengeance. The ghost of his first wife managed to kill her in laws one by one in gruesome ways, often taunting before she finishes them off. She then became a little too angry and plans to kill her husband for being oblivious to the mistreatment of her in-laws and the new wife who took her place. The new wife suspected that something was wrong with the doll in the storeroom and tried to explain to her new husband but was brushed off. When the doll finally made her move to kill the new wife, she pleaded not to kill her and her husband but was cut off by the ghost doll, lamenting how she was unjustly treated and wants her justice. The new wife explained that although her anger was rational, her vengeance against her and the husband was unfounded. The ghost doll challenged the new wife for a game of cat and mouse and eventually, the new wife wins after killing the ghost doll with Amman's trident.

This film was filmed in the village of Valivalam in Thiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is inspired from an Hollywood movie called Child's Play (1988 film).

Cast
  • Raja as Ramu (a) Ramakrishnan
  • Vaishnavi as Lakshmi, Ramu's First Wife
  • Ramya Krishnan as Chandra, Ramu's Second Wife
  • Radha Ravi as Nalla Thambi
  • S. S. Chandran as Muthu Manickam's Accountant
  • K. K. Soundar as Arunagiri, Lakshmi's Father
  • Vijya Chandrika as Vadivu, Raja's Mother
  • Nandhakumar
  • Karate Thyagarajan as Muthu Manickam
  • Veera Raghavan as Advocate Varadharajan
  • Sudha
  • T. S. Krishnamoorthi
  • Thedir Kannaiah
  • Mohan
  • J. Gopalsaamy
  • Master Rajkumar as Kannan

Soundtrack
Vaa Arugil Vaa
Soundtrack album by
Chanakya
Released1991
Recorded1991
LanguageTamil

Music was by Chanakya and lyrics were by Kanmani Subbu, Kalavanan Kannadasan, Uma Kannadasan, Panju Akiladasan, Aravindhan and Kavingnar Muthudasanaar. The playback singers consist of K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki and Rajan Chakravarthy (Debut).

No.SongSingersLength(m:s)
1"Mana Madhurayil Paarthen"K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki04:36
2"Ponnumani Poochaarame"Rajan Chakravarthi, S. Janaki03:07
3"Enna Vedhanai Enna Sodhanai"S. Janaki04:18
4"Thaaye Enakku Kaaval"S. Janaki05:09

Reception

The Indian Express wrote, "The director is aided with fine efforts by fine dialogues from [..] Kanmani Subbu, as well as music from Chanakya and neat performances from Vaishnavi, Raja, Vijayachandrika, Radha Ravi and Ramya Krishnan et al".[5]

References
  1. "'Pathimoonam Number Veedu' and other 90s' horror flicks: Low budget, scary as hell". The News Minute. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  2. "சுட்ட படம்". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 22 July 2016. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  3. "'Vaa Arugil Vaa': The 1991 horror film that made us scared of our own dolls". The News Minute. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. Venugopal, Varsha (30 October 2020). "O, dreaded one, come tomorrow". Business Line. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  5. Krishnaswamy, N. (15 February 1991). "Vaa Arugil Vaa". The Indian Express. p. 7.
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