Vikram Vedha Review
Star Cast : Vijay Sethupathi, Madhavan, Shraddha Srinath, Kathir, Varalakshmi, Hareesh Perady
Director : Pushkar Gayathri
Adapting an ancient story into film with the present world characters is not new to Indian cinema. Mani Ratnam’s Thalapathy, Raavanan and Anurag Kashyap's Dev D are loosely based on Mahabharatham, Ramayana and Devdas respectively.
Following the formula of these films, Pushkar Gayathri duo has made Vikram Vedha loosely based on the Vikramadityan Vetala tale. In the original story, Vetala teaches a moral story to King Vikramadityan in each episode. Similarly gangster Vedha (Vijay Sethupathi) cleverly unmasks the real wrongdoers to the upright cop Vikram (Madhavan).
The film starts with an encounter episode, a fearless team lead by Vikram (Madhavan) and Simon (Prem) murders Vedha's gang. In the encounter, Vikram's team mistakenly kills Vedha's innocent brother Pulli (Kathir). Vedha knows Vikram is honest but the gangster smartly punishes the real criminals through the honest cop himself.
It's a treat to watch two intense performers Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi majestically own the screen together. Icing on the cake is the brilliant actors also got a terrific storyline and ingenious characterizations that we can't take our eyes off from them.
Vikram Vedha is not just yet another offbeat artistic movie with award winning performances alone, here things are executed in such a way to entertain mainstream audiences, especially the highly engaging climax with an unexpected twist and lethal combo of Vijay Sethupathi and Maddy are sure work with the masses.
While Madhavan exhibits subtle method acting, Vijay Sethupathi steals the show with his inimitable energy level and mass screen presence but in the end, we would be rating both their performances equal, which is the film's real strength.
Directors Pushkar Gayathri rightly explains the characteristics of Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi in their intro scenes. Vikram is a chilled out honest cop, he enters into the encounter spot without any pressure but the moment game starts, he gets serious, becomes the real badass. On the other hand, Vedha is clever and calculative, gets into the commissioner office surrounded by hundreds of cops and clearly knows that he can come out without shedding a single drop of blood.
Another novel aspect of Vikram Vedha is that no character is black and white, they have multiple shades just like the real world. Pushkar Gayathri also deserves a special mention for flawlessly handling human emotions. A fellow cop dies, Madhavan wants to tell the wife in person, he goes to their house, stands there with moist eyes, that's it she understands that her husband is no more. There is a dialogue in the film, where Vijay Sethupathi tells Madhavan 'Yes I'm the bad guy and you are cop but emotions remain the same', how true!
For a change, the film also portrayed two real life intelligent women, Shraddha Srinath as the independent new generation lawyer wife is brilliant and Varalakshmi too has got an audacious and innocent role. The supporting cast including Kathir, Hareesh Perady and Rajkumar are fabulous in the film.
Vikram Vedha also stands out for the top notch technicalities, PS Vinod's camera angles perfectly captured the raw North Madras and Sam CS' score is undoubtedly the film's lifeline, his background score enhances each and every scene, particularly in the tense moments.
Overall, Vikram Vedha is a brilliantly written intense crime drama, which shouldn't be missed.
