Movie Review – Vikram

Once upon a time, there lived a… oh, enough said!

First of all, it’s a great pleasure to see Kamal on screen. Happy about his unkept promise of not planning to act again. It’d have been a bummer if he had not made films any further. Quite curiously, for a Kamal film, the movie generated a lot of hype, first among me because of lot of coincidence like my name, birthday, friends name etc. but even amongst others, there were people wanting to catch the movie desperately, after the first review was out. Having said all that, I didn’t except such a movie from Kamal, it was a shocker, as cliched as it my sound, it was another truly different movie.

After settling to the FDFS ambience, personalized Kasi theatre engagement, papers flying, bouncers shouting, whistles, videos etc. it was finally time for the film to start. For a full-blown action film, a song like that at the start was needless. Don’t know why it was kept. Yea it was fun to see Kamal enjoying himself but was it apt for the film is the question and the song wasn’t done with full conviction. Like my friend pointed out when the song ended midway, “ipo lam pattu podrathukae bayapadranga” (nowadays, people are afraid to keep songs in the film). And he was right, I felt how Lokesh was in two minds when he wanted to both have a song as well as not have it. From that point to the interval, it was a blast, with only one bad scene where the prostitute tells what Kamal does physically to her. It was emotionally cringe.

The first scene of the film where Kamal dies would have been a shocker for many. Even though we all know its not the end of him, the way the director delays the character entry and keeps us in hooks was something no director had done before. When was a hero, let alone a big budget mass action hero, had appeared only during the interval. That’s what makes Kamal different from others and he must be appreciated for that. For a comeback film he appears only in the interval block. With that, he answers the the complaint about how he never gives chance to other actors, in style. The interval scene seriously is a blast. I was telling how it could have been one of the best first parts of the movie if it had been released separately. It would have had a ‘Kill Bill’ kind of impact with the Tamil audience.

The problem starts with second half. I’d rather not say problem but the film fails to elevate the protagonist like it does for other actors. After a brilliant Fahad Fasil show in the first half with menacing Vijay Sethupathi. The scenes with Narain, Tina and everyone of his aid works big time but for Kamal with a couple of punch dialogues and absolutely needless “Nalavara, Ketavara” dialogue, it was only compulsive applause he was getting. May be just like ‘Jigarthanda’, people loved the first half so much so that they couldn’t hate the second half. They were applauding for the Vikram who was in search in the first half rather than the Kamal on screen. I was in fact shocked that the film became such a huge hit. I thought I’d be writing about how it’s a great film which was again misunderstood by audience but I’m doing the opposite. I was proved wrong by the audience who were able to accept the fact that in spite of Kamal being in the film, it was a Lokesh film in which Kamal has acted.

Action sequences could have been definitely better. His mannerisms of shaking his shoulder were done one touch too many. Probably the only action scene that worked was the Tina transformation. Even though I guessed, it was lovely. Also the names of all the agents were displayed at great junctures. Probably the film shouldn’t have been shown with the title at first, rather should have been shown only when the Agent Vikram’s name gets displayed during the climax.

I know it’s wrong to expect an emotional performance in an action film, but I felt it would have been nice if some more time had been given for him with his grandson, their chemistry was lovely (Remember the dad son scene in ‘Uttama Villain’, can it get any better than that). Especially the crying scene which Lokesh repeatedly points out gave us a glimpse of Don Corleone scene with his grandkids in the field. Maybe it was intentional. Whether it was intentional or not, another inspiration definitely seemed to have come with Nolan’s batman series. The interval close up shot of Kamal, the lights off scene from marriage hall, the restaurant scene where the kid looks for his grandfather etc. But the important thing is everyone of this scene worked. In fact, everything did except elevating Kamal as a mass actor.

The climax could have bene brilliant and explosive as Lokesh intended if only had ‘Kaithi’ not come earlier. As soon as we saw guns and drugs in the first scene, we knew what was going to be the climax and cinematically there was nothing new in the climax blow up. It was underwhelming to be honest. With ‘Kaithi’, we got a terrific feel, the silence after the gunshot there was lovely, here it was just a repeat. Even Kamal bringing the barrel to ground, Fahad Fasil rescuing the kid was all cliched.

People fondly call this a Loki Universe, it is nice to see him get all the love. He too calls it his world. It is good to see him doing a connect with his other movies and be proud about it but hope it doesn’t become a template and he yields to a compulsion to connect every movie of his after this.

Movie Review – Master

A Great Vijay Film which ends up inches short of being Greatest Vijay Film

Just like how ‘Petta’ was for Rajni, ‘Master’ was for Vijay. It was carefully made in such a way that it’d satisfying the big screen viewers. That too coming at a time where going to theatres has become a luxury. My bad that I missed both the films in theatres. ‘Master’ had a great storyline, a pure original, and the way it was carefully molded into a commercial film deservers an applause. Lokesh seemed to have mastered the art of it. May be because ‘Maanagaram’ didn’t have any expectations and he was in no pressure to give importance to specific actors and screen space between them, it still remains his best film but with ‘Master’ he had bettered ‘Kaithi’ by at least an inch. Just couldn’t wait for ‘Vikram’…

Loved the way the film started, with the way villain being introduced, it was like a proper man vs man type of thriller. May be Lokesh needn’t have let Vijay Sethupathi dub for a younger Bhavani (a terrific Mahendran), it could have given more curiosity for the viewers to know whether it was going to be the hero or the villain. Or maybe he thought the villain entry was more powerful than the hero’s so didn’t want to disappoint audience by being compared. The jail, fist punch, and for a change, a man’s physique also worked towards building the character. It was like proper Bane type of pure evil entry.

Vijay on the other hand gets a forced action entry. The action sequence of which was nothing interesting. In fact the action sequences of the entire film was a bummer. Except for that one shot where the camera rotates in the climax fight between JD and Bhavani, there was not a single innovative action sequence. It would have been a lot better if he had been introduced with the “Vaathi Coming” theme. It would have given authenticity to the character. May be even the film could have been titled ‘Vaathi’, that would’ve packed a punch.  May be Lokesh would have even written film to start Vijay’s character with this theme and may be forced to do an action sequence prior to that because in the theme, we don’t see Vijay’s face for a while. It’s pointless to shoot it like that when we had already seen his face. This looked like a blunder from a man who had made one of the terrific mass opening scenes in Tamil cinema with ‘Kaithi’.

Post the introduction scenes of both the leads, Vijay tremendously grows into the character. It was like watching a man on form. He was prolific throughout the movie. On the other hand Vijay Sethupathi was the same old lethargic man. I guess they wanted someone who could elevate a mediocre villain character so they put him. But it’s not a solid character which would work with just anyone. Also the lathery and dialogue delivery has become monotonous. The whole hero vs villain setup was like a repeat of ‘Petta’. Don’t know what’s with college masters and wardens all of a sudden, they’ve become heroic.

Other characters are barely there. It was pretty useless to have a heroine. Lokesh could have very well done without it and could’ve got a brownie point for it. Andrea as an archer was a joke, the entire lorry fight was a joke. The dialogues in the end didn’t appeal at all. In fact the whole move got tamed after Vijay becomes a good boy (read as trimming his beard). In spite of very little screen space Mahendran as a young Bhavni and Ciby Bhuvana Chandran as Sri appealed.

It was one of the films where the villain’s physique would have worked wonders. Bhavani gets introduced with a bulging biceps but later appears as someone who has absolutely no idea how to exercise his muscles. His punches were a near joke which just escaped because of Vijay Sethupathi. If anyone else had delivered those single punch killer moves, they’d have been trolled to death.

The juvenile concept was a great original and wish a lot more could have been shown in that area rather than just being a tool between hero and villain. But it was refreshing to see an alcoholic Vijay without any strong flashback. Wish even Nasser had not told about that in those few words. His flashback stories told by himself were terrific. And I guess this is the best looking Vijay in his entire film career.

There were few Vijay gimmicks like “I’m waiting”, kabbadi fight etc. The idea was well placed but the execution could have been better. Like how “Kannula Thimiru” could have been shot better, kabbadi fight too could have been better choreographed. No matter what, Anirudh scores with his massy background scores. When we were all thinking that the faceoff between hero and villain would happen only in the climax, there is a pre climax scene where JD holds Bhavani with a pen and ridicules his name. That was nicely done, both, naming the villain in this manner as well as ridiculing it.

The culmination of both the characters for one major fight towards the end didn’t really appeal. It looked forced and felt like the only way to end the movie. The few bad boys in the juvenile home giving JD the info of Bhavani too was too farfetched. First of all why would Bhavani want to escape, he wasn’t troubled to the limits by JD yet. So it all was quite un-organic and forced. Even if not a modern day great film, with better treatment it could have been a modern day great Vijay film. But it fails to pack the punch like ‘Kaththi’ did which was a near perfect film in this genre. So may be if I had to rate between ‘Petta’ and ‘Master’ on which properly glorified a mass hero, I would rate ‘Petta’ better. And whoa, I missed watching movies for a year.