‘Vettaiyan’ film assessment: A gutsy Rajinikanth powers TJ Gnanavel’s flawed movie on illegal encounter killings

A nonetheless from ‘Vettaiyan’ 
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

Let’s first make this clear: Vettaiyan is a courageous try to do one thing the ethical compasses of Tamil cinema have lengthy been wishing for, and it’s arguably the most effective Rajinikanth movies since Kaala. Jai Bhim-director TJ Gnanavel’s movie, as anticipated, makes an attempt to take a agency step ahead in opposition to faux encounter killings — a criminal offense that has lengthy been glorified on our screens — in addition to the sorry state of our nation’s training system. And he does it with a charismatic Rajinikanth, with the celebrity even prepared to have his supercop protagonist fail. There’s ample leisure, an enticing screenplay, and A-lister actors giving a bang for each buck. And but, there’s a deeper difficulty plaguing the movie.

We start with Sathyadev (Amitabh Bachchan along with his ever-popular magnetism), a retired Bombay Excessive Courtroom Decide on a mission to teach and eradicate the illegal observe of faux encounters. His sermon on the Nationwide Police Academy is intercut with goons scheming a plan to complete off a Superintendent of Police identified for encountering criminals. The whistles start and we get the eponymous ‘thalaivar tharisanam.’ Rajinikanth, solely 73 years younger, enters as SP Athiyan and sends the goons flying, whereas Anirudh Ravichander makes his presence felt. Gnanavel even swaps Rajini’s basic cigarette flip with clip-on glasses, and you might be immediately Rajini-fied.

For a subversion that we are going to witness later, such hero glorification appears obligatory initially; and Athiyan needed to be a carbon copy of the encounter specialist heroes we’re aware of. Additional, in a scientific transfer that flips all of it, Rajinikanth’s supercop makes a mistake. Whereas investigating the mysterious dying of a authorities faculty instructor, Saranya (Dushara Vijayan) — the case that your entire movie centres round — Athiyan makes a blunder with irreparable ramifications. Vettaiyan then follows the makes an attempt of Athiyan — and his workforce, consisting of ‘Battery’ Patrick (Fahadh Faasil), Roopa Kiran (Ritika Singh), and SP Harish Kumar (Kishore) — to rectify the errors of their previous. That is probably the most flawed we’ve got seen a Rajini movie hero in a very long time.

Nevertheless, as many may need feared from the promotional materials, Vettaiyan appears to have encountered a standard danger within the enterprise of creating a movie for a celebrity. As considerate as Gnanavel was about stylising and staging the encounter scenes, he appears to have struggled to discover a pitch for what he actually needed to say. The movie’s conceit rests extra on the way it deceives the audiences’ judgement within the investigation, fairly than organically making a stand in opposition to it and writing impactful dialogues in opposition to these killings. For this reason Sathyadev’s sermon fails to energy by all of the fanfare within the introduction scene. Whereas we’re hungover over the truth that we’re seeing a flawed Rajinikanth, you marvel if it wasn’t potential in any respect to push the boundaries by exhibiting his inside struggles with guilt and remorse.

A nonetheless from ‘Vettaiyan’ 
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

Different points plague Vettaiyan as properly. You marvel if it was smart for the police, with such an skilled SP, to disclose the identify of the informer (Saranya). One can argue that such noble deeds should be appreciated within the public galore however given the stakes, this element does ick for a bit. The larger downside is how Gnanvel writes in regards to the in poor health destiny that awaited Saranya. Sure, she will get killed. Oh, wait, she’s a lady and so she additionally will get… raped. It’s about time filmmakers perceive that seeing such a personality die is sufficient to get the specified emotional response. Rape isn’t an unusual element that must be thrown in as a bonus for shock worth. To additional dampen your sentiments, these pictures even get repeated a number of occasions.

With Vettaiyan, TJ Gnanavel has had fairly a troublesome activity in hand — to make an entertaining Famous person movie with a message. With two veteran superstars within the center, it means we get lesser display time for a number of A-list actors, and Rana Daggubati will get the uncooked finish of the deal. His underdeveloped character, Natraj Subramaniam, additionally paves the way in which for fairly a contrived climax to the movie.

So far as the performances go, Fahadh Faasil is as spectacular as ever. It takes time to grasp that the identical man who performed Rathnavelu in Maamannan performs this meek, happy-go-lucky ‘Battery’. He seems nearly like a shadow to Athiyan, sneaking in with a packet of chips or a cup of Horlicks, and also you solely find yourself wishing for extra of him. After attending to say ‘I’m an enormous fan of your work’ to Kamal Haasan in Vikram, Fahadh now professes his admiration for Rajinikanth with an ‘I really like you too sir’ and an emotional hug.

With a terrific Rajinikanth, Fahadh’s eccentricities, a towering Amitabh, and Gnanavel’s magnificent use of Anirudh’s tracks, Vettaiyan, regardless of the failings, delivers each leisure and engagement. Nevertheless, on the finish of all of it, once you flip a coin between what you keep in mind probably the most — a celebrity cop sending goons flying, or his agency stand in opposition to the encounter killings — does it tilt extra in direction of the latter?

The decision remains to be on, however the aid Vettaiyan leaves you with is that even when it didn’t all come collectively, the movie’s intention to face in opposition to faux encounters is a big leap ahead in an trade that has far glorified encounters because the means to justice. As Sathyadev says, in one of the crucial memorable traces of the movie, “Justice delayed is justice denied, however justice hurried is justice buried.”

Vettaiyan is at the moment working in theatres