Vaanavil Vaazhkai

Vaanavil Vaazhkai is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language coming-of-age musical film written and directed by James Vasanthan in his directorial debut. He also worked as music composer. The film stars predominantly newcomers who also sing the songs picturised on their characters. It was released on 13 March 2015.

Plot
Rival bands come together to compete in a national inter-university competition.

Cast

 * Jithin Raj as Jack
 * Sai Shankar as Arvind
 * Jose Selvaraj as Fayaz
 * Jonathan Devadoss as Pramod
 * Pavithran as Saravanan
 * Shilvi Sharon as Ankita
 * Radhika George as Harini
 * Maya S. Krishnan as Shweta
 * Janani Rajan as Preethi
 * Cassandra Rachel as Vinita
 * Gaana Siva as Gaana Raja
 * Santhosh Cherian as GL Judge
 * Josh Mark Raj as GL Judge
 * Ilayaraja as Team Folk Singer
 * Dr. Joseph Selvaraj as Dr. Parthasarathy
 * Aarthi Murali as Prof. Gurupriya
 * Prof. Saravanan as Prof. Selvaraj
 * Rashna Adhiraj as Jack's mother
 * Malic Ibrahim as Jack's mother
 * S. Sowmya as Preethi's mother
 * Sundaresan as Preethi's fother
 * Richwin Roy as Harini's brother
 * Prof. Karthik as Loyola College Professor
 * Aparna as Vinita's friend
 * Prajitha as Vinita's friend

Production
Vaanavil Vaazhkai is the directorial debut of music director James Vasanthan, who wrote the script in six months. For the film's cast, he decided to take newcomers, primarily college students and those from college bands. Among the newcomers were vocalist/guitarist Jithin Raj, Carnatic music-trained Janani Rajan, percussionists Jose Selvaraj and Radhika George, singer Cassandra Rachel, Carnatic singer S. Sowmya, and Maya S. Krishnan. It took nearly two years to finalise the lead artistes. James Vasanthan did not learn the basics of filmmaking or work as an assistant director before directing this film, saying "I’m just making a film that I would like to see on screen." He likened it to a "Broadway musical", and said the film would feature the actors singing the songs, as opposed to using playback singers. The film was produced by Oceanaa AJR Cine Arts, and had cinematography by R. K. Prathap.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by James Vasanthan. It features 17 songs, all performed by the actors themselves.

Release and reception
Vaanavil Vaazhkai was released on 13 March 2015. M. Suganth of The Times of India rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars, saying, "The film is so devoid of excitement that even the final portions, involving the university championship, do not get our pulses racing." Vishal Menon of The Hindu panned the film, saying, "The idea to make a musical is creditable, but VV is a wasted effort. I only wish James had co-directed the film with someone more capable of handling the technical aspects."