Beyond being one of the reputed and renowned directors in the Tamil Cinema industry, Mani Ratnam has also been known for the story writing as he has written the stories sometimes for his closest peers Bharathiraja and Sugashini and sometimes for his students and assistants including Subash and Alagamperumal. This time, Mani Ratnam had written such a story along with his disciple Dhana for the movie Vaanam Kottattum, which has been directed by Dhana and filled with veteran and current age actors -Sarathkumar, Raadhika, Vikram Prabhu, Ishwarya Rajesh, Balaji Sakthivel, Shanthanu, and Madonna Sebastian. Whether this battalion lived up to the story on the screens? Let's review...

Sarathkumar gets imprisoned after murdering the person who killed his elder brother Balaji Sakthivel. After he went behind the bars, his wife Raadhika moves to Chennai with the motive of raising their children without having the stain of personal enmity and feud. Their children Vikram Prabhu and Ishwarya Rajesh, who were raised in Chennai, start a new business and when everything goes well, their father Sarath Kumar comes out of the prison after sixteen years of captivity. The rest of the story shows how his family gets impacted through his presence after many years and how the enmity gets unfolded between Sarathkumar and the person from the other side who is trying to take revenge.

The Actors are the greatest attraction of the movie. It has been a long time since the audience witnessed the expected level of acting from the important actors in a single movie. Sarathkumar has magnificently registered his role in his first scene that had arisen the questions of why we can't able to see him on the big screens. Raadhika has efficaciously manifested the emotions of love and shock through her multidimensional acting. She attracts the audience through her inherent acting whereas Vikram Prabhu, after a long time, took up the noticeable role while Ishwarya Rajesh covers the audience through her usual acting. Balaji Sakthivel's acting is a surprise element in the movie as he has played his role effectively and he presented the mixture of reactions - he brings laughter and touches the heart. Although Santhanu, Madonna, and Amitash have limited roles, they have done justice for their roles. 

Raadhika's life in Chennai with her children, the settlements and lives, the corridors of her business had drawn huge attention. Vikram Prabhu's business in the movie is something we haven't come through in common and it has been extensively filmed by pouring more interests. Despite having the important actors, most of the roles have scripted without a deep press that had brought in a great flaw. Although the relations between Sarathkumar - Raadhika, Vikram Prabhu, Ishwarya Rajesh- Balaji Sakthivel, Vikram Prabhu, Ishwarya - Sarathkumar are enough to travel to the depth, the rest of the tracks have seemed to the unnecessary that had, in turn, affected the movie. The movie ends with no major impact as it travels through various issues by weakening the centric point of the story.

Sid Sriram's songs carry new opacity and the newly tested background music from the combination of Sriram and K had tested the patience of the audience and the need for the peace can be sensed at some points and Preetha Jayaraman's cinematography was of high quality. Although the movie has many positive scenes, some of the flawed ones had backtracked the movie. Overall, Vaanam Kottattum ain't a bad experience.