Vandhaan Vendraan

Vanthaan Vendraan (transl. He Came, He Conquered) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by R. Kannan. The film stars Jiiva, Nandaa and Taapsee in the lead roles, while Rahman and Santhanam play supporting roles. The music was composed by Thaman S with cinematography by P. G. Muthiah and editing by V. T. Vijayan. The film was released on 16 September 2011.^[2]

The film opens to a school in a village, where a boy recites the national anthem before all the staff and students of the school. Another boy is seen running to school as he is late. His teacher punishes him while comparing him to the boy who recited earlier, who is revealed to be his younger half-brother. An enmity grows in the older brother as he is always compared to his younger brother. The younger brother burns the photo of the older brother's father as he was the reason for his defeat in the school's kabbadi match. In retaliation, the older brother throws the younger brother into a well. Watching him drown in the well, the older brother runs away from the village.

The film then opens to Mumbai, just a few years after the incident. The older brother grows up to become Ramana, who is an underworld don doing smuggling business with the help of the local police and political support. He tries to kill Govardhan, who is a rival to him, but fails. Arjun tries to see him for many days but is not able to. Finally, with the help of Ramana's cook Delhi, he manages to see him and tells him about his life story. Arjun is a boxer and accidentally meets Anjana while going to a boxing selection match. He could not attend the match because he spoils the miniature that Anjana was carrying for her interview the same day.

He helps her out, and in turn, Anjana travels to Kerala to meet the person in charge of the boxing selection match so that Arjun can get a second chance. However, it turns out that Arjun has come with her to Kerala to express his love for her, which she does not reciprocate. Finally, she agrees on the condition, if her father agrees. When Arjun meets Anjana's father, he rejects Arjun's marriage proposal to his daughter before being accidentally shot and killed by Ramana when he tries to kill Govardhan. Anjana proposes a deal to Arjun that if he makes Ramana surrender to the police, she will marry him, which he accepts. Arjun has come to Ramana to make him surrender, but Ramana and his gang thrash Arjun and throw him out.

Anjana pesters Arjun, as he is taking a long time to make Ramana surrender. In order to speed things up, Arjun demolishes Ramana's smuggling business and leaks about him to the press. Ramana's business is sealed by the police, and they plan to kill him in an encounter. Since all this happened because of Arjun, a fight ensues between both of them where Arjun is stabbed fatally by Ramana at the end. Delhi comes in and reveals to Ramana that Arjun is the latter's younger brother whom he threw in the well in their childhood. It is also revealed that what he told him about Anjana and her revenge for her father's death was all a fake and imaginative story so that Ramana will have compassion for their love, as Ramana's love was a failure. Arjun has thought Ramana would succumb to Arjun's plea and surrender to the police so that he would escape from the police's encounter and he can return to their family.

Ramana realizes himself and surrenders to the police, but not before admitting Arjun to a hospital, saving his life. Arjun goes back to his home and reunites with his family. Ramana writes to his family in a letter, while he is in jail, promising them that he will come back and will be more responsible for now. His parents were touched by this. Ramana's parents plan his marriage to a girl Minnal. In the end, a girl identical to Arjun's imaginary, fake girlfriend, Anjana, meets Arjun, similar to their meeting in his story. The film ends with the note that "The love in his imagination becomes true".

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The soundtrack was composed by Thaman S.^[10] The album launch was held on 21 July 2011.^[11]

Sify rated the film as "average" citing that "the key problem with the film is its script and narration", whilst describing Thaman's music as the "major plus point".^[12] N. Venkateswaran of The Times of India wrote, "If somebody conquers with this movie, it is only Thaman — the rest of the cast and technicians fail due to the poor screenplay".^[13] Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com wrote that "the screenplay falls apart spectacularly. The mildly engaging first half, with the antics of Santhanam, works slightly, but in the second half with its supposed cat-and-mouse games, silly plot twists and melodramatic climax, you can do little but sigh with disappointment".^[14] Supriya Kalidoss of The Hindu wrote, "The major highlight of the film is its picturesque location", adding, "It is a good movie with all those basic ingredients of a wholesome entertainer. It is a technically rich film".^[15] The New Indian Express wrote, "He came, but didn’t conquer!" and called the film a "cocktail gone awry".^[16]

• Vandhaan Vendraan at IMDb 
• Vandhaan Vendraan at Rotten Tomatoes