Vairam is M A Nishad's best film till date. Having shaken off the amateurishness that had marred his earlier attempts, Nishad comes up with a more compelling drama this time, and does manage to capture our attention on several occasions.
Annie Jacob (Samvrutha), a journalist with India Times is intrigued by the Jose murder case, after the accused Shivarajan (Pasupathy) is attacked by goons on the court premises. As she works her way into the former bank manager's past to unravel the mysteries behind the heinous crime, she stumbles across another murder, that of his daughter Vairamani (Dhanya), that had remained buried for a long time.
Vairam cannot afford to have any suspense, as it becomes quite evident as to what actually transpired, in no time. If you are hoping for a twist in the climax, it isn't there, probably because it claims that it has been inspired from a real life tale.
When Shivarajan is called in to identify his daughter's dead body, he breaks down in immense grief. Pasupathy is a gifted actor indeed, and Vairam provides him with ample scope to work on his potentials. The aforementioned scene is one such, when the actor totally lets himself loose. Later on when he grabs the weapon to hack Jose to death, we get to see what an amazing actor this man is. Vairam is worth a watch, to simply see this actor in action.
Perhaps the weakest link in this whole film would be Adv. Ravi Verma (Suresh Gopi). There is nothing about this lawyer that's worthy of an actor as Suresh Gopi. The romance that gradually builds up in the course of the film between Annie and Verma is funny, if not anything else. Gopi does get to display his fist in action in a 'lady saviour scene' though.
On the contrary, Crime Branch SP Thomas Eerali (Mukesh) scores, and how! With a distinct South Kerala accent, this officer goes about his affairs with such casualness, that he brightens up the screen for the brief time that he's there.
Kalpakavadi's script is compact in several places. Especially in the flashback scenes, there are very few loose ends. But when it comes to the investigation bit, things start loosening up a bit. All the investigative journalism doesn't create much of an impact. And when Shivarajan starts seeing his daughter in Annie, the danger alarm for the sentimental pothole lying ahead goes off.
Vairam is not an edge of the seat whodunit. Rather it's a fight for justice, as Annie's cover story rightly points out. The truth is clearly there for all to see; we just need to stop turning our eyes away from it.