Late Kishore Sarja must have really been impressed with the Tamil movie, Sandai Kozhi because he chose to make a duplicate Vaayuputhra, a Kannada movie starring Chiranjeevi and Aindrita Ray.
Except for the music compositions, the director who breathed his last during the making of the film, has faithfully stuck to the original, which is essentially a nativity film that fitted the culture and ambience of the people of Madurai-Theni belt of Tamil Nadu. It had characters who looked original. More than anything else Linguswamy showed that he could also make a good action film against a rustic backdrop where bravery is part of tradition.
Sadly Karnataka does not have a culture of Katta Panchayats where settlements are made by a respected person. And a big business city like Mangalore can not be equated to Tamil Nadu's temple town of Chidambaram where swords and sickles are used to settle fights. Shootouts and pistols have become common sights in Mangalore today.
Having said that, Vaayuputhra has all the ingredients of a Tamil film. The only problem is that it does not gel with the Karnataka audience who are more cosmopolitan than film fans of other southern states.
The story revolves around Balu who goes to his friend's place in Mangalore. There he meets Divya, his friend's sister who is naughty and hilarious. Balu also finds that people in the house are an extremely frightened lot. That is because of a don who terrifies the city. Anyway, while returning to his native place, Balu accidentally meets the don and beats him. The humiliated don wants to settle scores and traces Balu. He tries many times to kill Balu who escapes each time until one day the don attacks Balu's father.
Coming to the plus points of the film, it should be said that newcomer Chiranjeevi makes a grand debut and has shown his prowess in songs and fights. 'Rebel Star' Ambareesh who returns after a long gap shines in his dialogue delivery although the dialogues themselves needed a little more punch. Aindrita is surprisingly competent in her first comical act. Telugu villain Ajay is made to shout too much in the film. Most of the other characters in the film look unreal.
The songs have been stylishly picturised and so are the first fight sequences. Except for the Baa Baare Gopamma song, Hari Krishna's music is uninspiring. Camera work is not exceptional, either.
In a nutshell, Vaayuputhra is just a timepass movie which could have been better.
Rediff Rating: 
