Vikram Vedha

Director duo Pushkar and Gayathri’s Vikram Vedha is an extremely engaging action thriller that traverses in to the perceptions and depths of its main characters. With a debate going on in the film’s entire narrative, there isn’t a single moment in the film where you will distract. The mould of a typical Tamil film might have caused minor errors, but the overall output is quite an exciting one.

Vikram is part of the special task force that has been assigned to put an end to a particular gang war happening in the city. The main guy behind all the mess is a man named Vedha who rose to power over a decade’s time.  The plot takes an interesting turn when Vedha surrenders and starts to open up to Vikram about his past. How that conversation becomes a sound debate about them being the same and how it changes a lot of components in the equation are what Vikram Vedha all about.

During the last fight in the film when the so called encounter specialist shooters where continuously missing the aim, the guy who sat behind me was questioning the logic of that. Well what I am trying to say is that Vikram Vedha has such drawbacks which I would like to look as minimal flaws as a bigger mind game is the actual focus here. We get an intro about Vedha through the verbal narratives of the police officers and Pushkar & Gayathri establishes a venomous image for him. But soon after we get to see him, the perspective shifts. It is almost like a more entertaining version of Badlapur where we saw revenge ultimately swapping the protagonist and antagonist.  The story and question format of the Vikramadithya and Betaal stories is the foundation of the narrative and to construct those stories the directors used the past of Vedha.

It is the intrigue they have built around the whole investigation as a mind game puzzle that captivates you to the narrative. Even the very first moment in the movie has a prime importance in revealing a lot of the mysteries. The three stories Vedha narrates to Vikram have three different agendas. And through each story he makes Vikram realize how similar they are and that thought is puzzling Vikram who always thought what he was doing was the right thing. Even when the story gets dominated by Vedha, the interesting side about Vikram is this shift from one pole to another. The dialogues are quite intriguing and less theatrical. Cinematography was quite effective and the cuts were also in rhythm. The abundance of background score is a slight drawback, but I must say that at some areas it really is a pulsating score.

Madhavan is definitely the perfect choice as he can portray the vulnerabilities and rude shades of a character effectively. Looking at the end product I can surely say that he has managed to give an identity to the character in this fight won by Vedha on a scale of charisma. Vijay Sethupathi is undeniably the star of the show here. The versatile actor once again takes up a challenging character that goes through a lot of phases. From an emotional brother to a cunning criminal he shifts the gears so smoothly. The attitude he gives to the character is impeccable and we all had a good laugh seeing him during that climax gun fire. The ladies in the film may not have fully fledged parts, but the makers have made sure that Shraddha Srinath and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar aren’t mere props here.  Kathir, Prem, Hareesh Peradi and a few more are there in the star cast.

Vikram Vedha is almost and two and a half hour long film but it won’t feel that long. With the narrative maintaining its ability to keep us guessing about the possibilities, this Pushkar & Gayathri thriller is an exciting noir film. It would have been interesting if they made it as a web series with more stories from Vedha.

Rating: 3.5/5