Sunday, August 27, 2006

Vettaiyadu Velaiyadu - A Fan's Review

It has been a long wait for Vettaiyadu to be released and the wait was worth every damn minute as Kamal Hassan shows us all, yet again, why he is India's finest actor. Directed by Gautam, the movie is the second in what is to be a trilogy of cop movies. The movie starts with a disappointing fight sequence - but all is forgiven as we soon realise that the sequence was just set up for the FANTASTIC opening number karka Karka. The start of the movie shows a DCP's daughter going missing and Kamal (Raghavan) being called in. After some fine detective work (I cannot believe I am finally using these words in a Tamil Movie), the butchered body is dug up. The DCP and his wife leave to NY where they are executed. Here starts the hunt. The first half is set in New York with Raghavan collaborating with the NYPD and FBI to try find the killers. The detective work and forensics shown are fantastic and are a welcome change from the usual gang killings shown. The identity of the killers is revealed towards the interval and only a stray sentance suggests that we are dealing with a psychopathic duo. The second half is set in India with an edge of the seat manhunt that culminates with the elimination of the killers. It is refreshing that both the policeman and the killers are actually credited with brains as well. The kind of traps set for the killers is a treat for those even remotely acquainted with criminology. While I have absolutely no need whatsoever to talk of Kamal's histrionic ability, Daniel Balaji as the psychopathic doctor is the surprise package. Fantastic performance. Jyothika impresses with her dignified portrayal as Aradhana. The romance is well handled as is in a Kamal movie. Gautam's touch is evident, and if the movie is a tad remniscent of Kaakha Kaakha, well, it is an open secret that Raghavan is just a more mature and older version of Anbuselvan. The psychology is rivetting and the manhunt has you rivetted to your seats till the last minute. Scenes such as when kamal tells Jo to cancel the tickets, when he calls the killers homosexuals, and when he calmly breaks Ila's neck and simply throws out is arms will stay in one's mind for a long time. Some of the explicit scenes such as the naked body are quite disturbing, though censored partially. The Paartha Mudhal song is absolutely wonderful and is a visual treat. Ravivarman's camera work is AMAZING. Background music by Harris Jeyaraj impeccable as usual. It is only unfortunate that they could not have got into the minds of the killers a bit more deeply and that the homosexual card was not played up to full effect. The final verdict - while this is not an Anbe Sivam or a Hey Ram, the movie is most certainly a fantastic commercial flick. For those people who keep bemoaning the state of the Tamil Film Industry - GO SEE THIS MOVIE. It is the responsible filmgoer's DUTY to ensure these kinds of movies are hits. What happpens otherwise? Nothing much. Just the usual plethora of Thambi's and Gilli's. On a personal note am extremely happy that my last Kamal movie I would be seeing in India is of the calibre of Vettaiyadu.

- Hari

4 comments:

Rangz said...

amazing degree of deatil dude....how many times did u watch the film?Im sorry Im gonna copy a few of ur lines:):)aniwais I beleive it's already a box office hit....

Anonymous said...

hey good review... just a slight correction to your animadversion about the nudity .... the girl which u saw nude was only a DOLL( a bommai)... so its just the way we see it.... otherwise yours was a great review...

Anonymous said...

if u r a frequent user of orkut... kindly join the dr.kamal haasan community...

Falstaff2006 said...

already am a member. thx