Veyil

The story is told through the protagonist Murugesan (Pasupathy), who recalls his childhood in Virudhunagar town. His father is a butcher who works hard to bring up his four children (two boys and two girls) and have a happy family. Murugesan dotes on his younger brother Kathir, and his weakness, like any other adolescent, is a love for movies (especially MGR films) that are screened in a local theatre. One day, life changes for Murugesan when his father catches him red-handed from the theatre after he bunks school. Murugesan is severely punished and runs away from home, taking money and jewels.

Along the way, Murugesan gets sidetracked from his intended destination of Chennai by an MGR movie poster. He is shown watching several MGR shows, buying a change of clothes, and eating a hearty meal with his ill-gotten money. After spending the night at local temple, he wakes up to find his money and other possessions missing. Murugesan is then taken under the wings of a theatre projectionist in a nearby town. Slowly, the theatre becomes his home.

As an adult, Murugesan falls in love with Thangam (Priyanka), a beautiful girl who lives opposite the theatre, but their love story does not have a happy ending. It ends in Thangam's suicide because her father and his relatives beat up and hang Murugesan as they are trying to kill him due to their dislike of him. At that moment, Thangam shows up with a knife and threatens to kill herself if they do not release Murugesan; as they do not release him, she cuts her throat and dies. Murugesan is heartbroken and is released at that moment after Thangam's death, and he begins to drink a lot. Sometime later, the theatre is demolished, the owner citing loss of business.

Murugesan decides to return home after 20 years. The rest of the film is all about Murugesan's mental turmoil as he is caught between the deep love showered by his younger brother Kathir (Bharath), who runs a successful advertising agency, and his guilt of not being a responsible son or elder brother. There is a parallel love story between Meenakshi (Bhavana), an innocent girl, and Kathir. Then there is Paandi (Sriya Reddy), Murugesan's childhood sweetheart. The rest of the story is about what happens to Murugesan and Kathir.

Soundtrack was composed by debutant G. V. Prakash Kumar, nephew of A. R. Rahman and lyrics for all songs were written by Na. Muthukumar.[1] All the songs including "Veyilodu Vilayadi" and "Urugudhe" were well received.

• It is the first Tamil language film screened at Cannes as part of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival under the 'Tous les Cinemas du Monde’ section.[2]
• Sandhya was supposed to play the female lead but was replaced by Bhavana.
• The first third of Veyil is very loosely based upon the 1988 Italian classic Cinema Paradiso.
• The film grossed $8 million at the box office.
• Alamparai Fort was the location of scenes in the movie.

• Cannes International Film Festival 2007 - Screened under [TOUS LES CINEMAS DU MONDE]
• Shanghai International Film Festival 2007 - Nominee under [Asian New Talent Award]
• Habitat International Film Festival 2007 - Screened
• Pune International Film Festival 2007 - Screened under [INDIAN BIOSCOPE][3]

• National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil - 2006
• Elemec's 3rd Amrita Film Awards — Won Best Other Language Film [4]
• Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film - S. Shankar
• Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Director - Vasantha Balan
• Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film - 2006

Rediff wrote "Director Vasantha Balan has deftly handled the script, making it his own. By maintaining an energetic pace throughout, he ensures the story doesn't become monotonous or conventional, despite the somewhat predictable plot. His characters are distinctly human with myriad personality flaws, so that the audience can identify with them".[5] Behindwoods wrote "Veyil is an emotional epic. A must watch for all especially parents."[6] Indiaglitz wrote "Vasanthabalan's success also lies in smartly setting the mood for his method. The story is part told in the place the story unspools. The ambience gets across the story as much as the characters do."[7] Sify wrote "Once again Shankar has introduced Vasantha Balan a director who understands the nuances of making a realistic film with well-etched out characters and strong screenplay."[8]

• Veyil on IMDb