'Vaathi' movie review: What's good, what's bad; find it out from viewers' response

Dhanush has collaborated with Telugu filmmaker Venky Atluri for his latest Tamil movie 'Vaathi' which has been released on Friday.

The movie has Samyuktha, P Saikumar, Tanikella Bharani, Samuthirakani, Aadukalam Naren, Rajendran and others in the cast. 'Vaathi' has GV Prakash's music, J Yuvaraj's cinematography and Naveen Nooli's editing.

Story:
The title 'Vaathi' reminds the viewers of 'Vaathi Coming' song from Vijay's 'Master'. However, the movie has no links with Thalapathy's film rather it has similarities with Bollywood flick Hrithik Roshan's 'Super 30'.

The action drama is about how an assistant maths teacher takes on privatisation of education. How Bala (Dhanush) changes the lives of underprivileged students through education at an abandoned government school forms the crux of the storyline.

The movie raises important question on why education should not be commercialised and has important message to convey to the public and government. The movie highlights the importance of education and equality.

Notably, it is not preachy rather the message is blended into the story line without compromising on entertainment quotient. The movie has some solid one-liners mouthed by Dhanush. The GV Prakash's music is a major attraction. Check out what netizens say about the movie on Twitter:

Richard Mahesh: #Vaathi - Despite having ace actor like #Dhanush, & good one-liner, film fails to engross us due to weak screenwriting. #GVPrakash BGM is good. Major portions look like Telugu movie. Dhanush's intention to choose content is good, but direction is not convincing. Below Average

Ramesh Bala: #Vaathi [3.25/5] : A movie that talks about the need to make quality education accessible to everyone..
@dhanushkraja's acting is the major highlight.. He is the lifeline of the movie.. 👏
@iamsamyuktha_ has a good role.. She has performed well
@thondankani neat performance
@gvprakash songs are already chartbusters..
He has given the best BGM..
DnGV combo's success continues..
Dir #VenkyAtluri has taken up a message that will resonate with everyone..
An actor like @dhanushkraja has effectively Conveyed the message..
Education.. Entertainment.. Emotional..
Do watch it in Theatres.. 👍

Rajasekar: #Vaathi - 3.25 out of 5, a meaningful entertainer from #VenkyAtluri on power of education and how one shouldn't commercialise it. The first half is quite entertaining, the second half is more emotional and talks about the core subject + pay it forward concept. Good one 🙌
#Vaathi first half - Entertaining, informative and hard-hitting. Director #VenkyAtluri has delivered a solid entertainer with much-needed messages like importance of education and equality.
@dhanushkraja excels as usual. So far quite good 👌👌
Scenes where @dhanushkraja ensures students stay united forgetting their caste differences and return back to schools are my personal favourites 👌 Dialogues are very impressive in these portions!

Siddarth Srinivas: Big thumbs up to
@gvprakash for his scintillating work with the background score. His combination with
@dhanushkraja works again, and GVP proves his worth through the emotional themes and elevates the mass moments too. Vaa Vaathi is the icing on the cake!
Venky Atluri is not able to brush off the Telugu flavor in the film but he does come up with some superb dialogues, an emotional connect to 'Bala sir' while also providing some wonderful feel good moments. The pacifying climax is a different and brave writing choice!
An engaging entertainer that casts strong viewpoints on the education system.
@dhanushkraja fits into the role very well and carries the film on his shoulders, there are quite a few emotionally loaded moments that make it worth a watch. Pretty good stuff.
Interval: What a surprise. Completely engaging film so far packed with inspirational and clap worthy moments. #VenkyAtluri has managed to pack a what-next feeling into this social drama, staying away from any preachy elements. And @dhanushkraja is simply superb!

Prashanth Rangaswamy: #Vaathi - 75/100 . Education and the emotion behind it connects well with you and makes this movie enjoyable . ⁦
@dhanushkraja ⁩ - the master of knowing the pulse of audience !

Saloon Kada Shanmugam: #VAATHI Review
A Socio Commercial Film⭐1st Half- Neat👏🏾2nd Half- Gud✌🏾Dhanush Pakka😃Content - Dialogues - Song & Emotional Connect r Big+👌🏾2nd Half Slight Lag But Holds Well in Emotion🤝🏾Will Give a Dream Run🤙🏾Perfect Bilingual Film💥All Clear.! WINNER..!!
Saloon Rating: 4/5

Haricharan Pudipeddi: #Vaathi - Highly engaging film that highlights the importance of right to education in a crowd-pleasing fashion. Second half makes it so wholesome. Thankfully, never gets preachy. A very good pick by @dhanushkraja with which he's definitely going to make a strong Telugu debut.
#Vaathi at interval. Completely focused on D taking charge as vaathi and bringing about a difference through his ways of teaching. Strong emphasis on privatisation of education. @dhanushkraja👌

sridevi sreedhar: #Vaathi 3/5 a film on the importance & privatisation of education system set in 90's .. Dir #VenkyAtluri seems to be inspired from many films in the past but works to a large extent due to the charming screen presence of @dhanushkraja 👍🙌 @iamsamyuktha_ is good @7screenstudio

Venky Reviews: #Vaathi Overall A Decent Commercial Drama!
Though the first half could've been better and some parts are over the top, the core emotion works in the film and the 2nd half is crisp with some good blocks. Dhanush gives a good performance in this one. #SIRMovie
Rating: 2.75-3/5
Venky Atluri comes out of his typical rom-com zone and tries to tell a honest story of a teacher in a commercial way. Movie had shades of 'Super 30' but Atluri does an alright job of packaging it commercially although it had more potential. BGM is a major asset #Vaathi #SIRMovie