Much awaited and long delayed movie of the Tinseltown, Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu (VV) has finally managed to hit the screens. Thanks to the incessant rains on Saturday I got tickets for night show at Prarthana. I got drenched completely in the rain close to an hour to reach the theatre. But I would say it was worth it. Nothing comes close to watching a movie before others.
Coming to movie, It’s not another run-of-the-mill cop-versus-killer cat-and-mouse story. Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu is one movie where the story takes the front seat and the characters play a subtle role. Clearly the credit goes to Gautham Menon, VV is another feather in his cap. Gautham Menon has managed to keep the pace of the story to a great extent. He becomes a serious contender for “Kollywood’s Ram Gopal Verma” title.
Plot
Raghavan is an upright Police officer. He goes to Tirunelveli to find Rani Arokiaraj, daughter of police officer and friend Arokiaraj (Prakash Raj); who went missing mysteriously. Raghavan finds that she has been murdered by slitting her throat. They drop the investigation as no useful clue could be found. In the mean time Arokiaraj moves to US to come out of his daughter’s memories and his family was executed there mysteriously.
Raghavan goes to US to investigate the case jointly with NYPD officer Anderson. In NewYork, Raghavan saves Aaradhana (Jyothika) from the suicide attempt. Raghavan helps her in getting out of the memories of her broken marriage with a NRI.Anderson shows the case details of another missing Indian girl Chandhana. Raghavan finds similarities between Rani’s case and that. Investigation leads to recovery of Chandhana’s corpse and few more all executed by slitting throat. And that is where the story takes a turn from mysterious murders to serial killing by psychopaths. Rest of the story deals with how Raghavan unravels the mystery and nabs the elusive fugitives.
First Half – Racy
Second Half – loses stream a bit and tends to drag.
Pros
- No unbelievable stunts
- Near no sentiments
- No Kamal brand romance scenes
- No villain gangs. It’s not a super-cop story
Fault Lines:
- Film opens like a typical Super Hero movie. Kamal challenges a notorious thug and single handedly manages them. Thankfully screenplay moves fast in to the actual story. Gautham could have done away with that action sequence, which is not at all related to the actual storyline
- Lengthy bike and sumo chase, which makes yawn
- There is no clarity on why Amudhan & Ilamaaran became psychopaths. Director struggles a bit in the climax
- Some unwanted songs kill the pace of the movie
Scene’s I liked
Some of the dialogue deliveries reminded me of Maniratnam's style. (Was that becuase Gautham worked as his assistant?). The scene where Kamal says his love to Kamalini reminded me of Madhavan proposing Shalini in Alaipayuthae.
Kamal scores in the climax, when he teases Amudhan for the Homosexual relation between him and Ilamaaran.
Music
"Karka Karka" sets the tone with a classy introdcution for Kamal. Personally I liked "Paartha Mudhal Naal".
Acting
Kamalhassan
Kamal steels the show with his class act. I couldn't think of anyone else for the role of a 40 year old police officer, who lost his wife becuase of local thugs. No one would have done it better than him.
Jyothika
Don’t expect the usual bubbly type Jyothika. She sports sad look throughout the movie. She has improved a lot in acting. She scores over Kamal with her expressions when Kamal proposes to her in the Airport.
PrakashRaj
Though Prakash Raj appears only for a short period of time, He leaves his mark.
Balaji
Balaji, who dons the Psychopath role has done his part well. At some places his overacting irritates. May be director would have thought, its needed for the role of Psychopath.
Kamalini
Kamalini leaves a mark in “Paartha Mudhal Naalae” song. The song would have come even better had they avoided animation in the first few seconds.
My Ratings:
A For Direction
B+ for Story and Screenplay
A for Ravi Varman's Camera
B for Harris Jayaraj Music
B for Actting
Overall Rating: A
Its worth every paise I paid for the movie. Its definitely a victory for Kamal, Gautham, Producer and the crew, who have gone through a lot of glitches to get it released.
Some of the dialogue deliveries reminded me of Maniratnam's style. (Was that becuase Gautham worked as his assistant?). The scene where Kamal says his love to Kamalini reminded me of Madhavan proposing Shalini in Alaipayuthae.
Kamal scores in the climax, when he teases Amudhan for the Homosexual relation between him and Ilamaaran.
Music
"Karka Karka" sets the tone with a classy introdcution for Kamal. Personally I liked "Paartha Mudhal Naal".
Acting
Kamalhassan
Kamal steels the show with his class act. I couldn't think of anyone else for the role of a 40 year old police officer, who lost his wife becuase of local thugs. No one would have done it better than him.
Jyothika
Don’t expect the usual bubbly type Jyothika. She sports sad look throughout the movie. She has improved a lot in acting. She scores over Kamal with her expressions when Kamal proposes to her in the Airport.
PrakashRaj
Though Prakash Raj appears only for a short period of time, He leaves his mark.
Balaji
Balaji, who dons the Psychopath role has done his part well. At some places his overacting irritates. May be director would have thought, its needed for the role of Psychopath.
Kamalini
Kamalini leaves a mark in “Paartha Mudhal Naalae” song. The song would have come even better had they avoided animation in the first few seconds.
My Ratings:
A For Direction
B+ for Story and Screenplay
A for Ravi Varman's Camera
B for Harris Jayaraj Music
B for Actting
Overall Rating: A
Its worth every paise I paid for the movie. Its definitely a victory for Kamal, Gautham, Producer and the crew, who have gone through a lot of glitches to get it released.
