Director Mari Selvaraj is one of those Tamil directors who gives the audience stories which come from his core combined with his beliefs and values. Vaazhai, his latest film, is based on true events from his life and this rural drama combines everything from life, hope, dreams and destiny to the unsavoury reality. (Also Read: Mari Selvaraj denies that Dhruv Vikram’s Bison Kaalamaadan is a biopic; says film revolves around kabaddi ) Vaazhai story Sivanaindhan or Sivanenjam (Ponvel) and his bestie Sekar (Raghul) go to the Karunkalam village government school and it is Sivenenjam’s crush on teacher Poonkodi that gets him into trouble.
When the pink and white handkerchief drops from Poonkodi’s (Nikhila Vimal) hand, Sivanaindhan quickly grabs it and hides it in his pocket. In class, he takes a whiff of the hanky and starts to think of himself as Rajinikanth and his teacher as Radha in Rajathi Radha whom he falls in love with at first glance. Incidentally, Sivenanjam is an ardent Rajini fan while Sekar is a Kamal fan and the two banter about their idols quite a bit.
Living at home with his mother and sister Vembu, Sivenenjam goes for plucking bananas in the plantations with them on the weekends to make ends meet. Sivenenjam hates working on the plantations and will come up with any lie for escaping this arduous chore and in Poonkodi he finds a sympathiser who forgives him his lies rather than punish him. Beyond his own family, the villagers who are engaged in work on the bana.
