Vaagai Sooda Vaa

Vaagai Sooda Vaa
Vaagai Sooda Vaa
Directed by	A. Sarkunam
Produced by	S. Muruganandham N. Puranna
Written by	Sarkunam
Starring	Vimal Iniya Bhagyaraj Ponvannan
Music by	Ghibran
Cinematography	Om Prakash
Edited by	Raja Mohammad
Production company	Village Theatres
Release date	30 September 2011 (2011-09-30)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Vaagai Sooda Vaa (Tamil: வாகை சூட வா; English: Come to crown us) is a 2011 Tamil romantic dramedy film directed by A. Sarkunam, directing his second film after Kalavani. It features Vimal and newcomer Iniya in the lead roles, with Bhagyaraj, Ponvannan and Thambi Ramaiah playing supporting roles. The film is a period piece set in the 1960s in a remote village in Tamil Nadu. The film released on 30 September 2011 to generally positive reviews. Subsequently, the film was honored with the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for 2012.

Veluthambi (Vimal), who is driven by the pride of having gained high education, wants nothing less than a government job. Due to compulsion, he finds himself in a village educating the children of people working in the brick kilns. As Velu reaches the village, he is greeted by innocent faces that fear that he would spoil children who are into work. As time passes by, Veluthambi manages to convince the families to send their children to school. He is revered by the villagers as a godsend to lift them out of their miserable lives. In between, in the same village a girl, Madhi (Iniya) falls in love with him, but he fails to recognize it. The local bigwig JP (Ponvannan) treats the whole village almost like his bonded labourers, and he is irked by the newfound freedom that the villagers and their children seem to enjoy. He tries to threaten them but fails. Fate comes in the form of a government job for Veluthambi. But he feels the pinch of conscience to leave the children and walk away to a comfortable life. He returns to confess his love for the children and Madhi.

Shortly after the release of Kalavani, which emerged a sleeper hit, Sarkunam had informed that he had "a couple of scripts in mind" and was discussing with his team on which they should work next, while stating that it "most probably" will not be set in a village again. He started working on his next project in late 2010, which he had titled as Vaagai Sooda Vaa, roping in Vimal, who played the lead role in Kalavani, for the lead character again. The film was revealed to be a period piece, set in 1966, with Sarkunam describing it as a "romance drama sprinkled with humour", while also stating it would convey a "much-needed" message.Vaagai Sooda Vaa was Sarkunam's first script and his "dream project", which he had wanted to make his directorial debut with, but he had to drop the idea, since no producer was willing to produce a period film with a newcomer in the lead role. He dismissed reports that the film was based on a Hollywood film and clarified that it was based on a scheme introduced by the Government in the sixties.