Vettaiyan - Movie review

The much anticipated Vettaiyan feat. Superstar Rajinikanth and Bollywood thespian Amitabh Bachchan released worldwide on 10 October. The cop story has a regular plot but with a twist. 

And when two top stars of the country come together, it is sure to be a blockbuster in the making. 

Athiyan (Rajinikanth) is a Superintendent of Police posted in Nagercoil district. His past reveals that the cop is a seasoned encounter specialist. 

In the first few scenes, we see a very formulaic encounter of sorts which we have seen dime a dozen times in Indian cinema. That was for starters. 

Saranya (Dushara Vijayan) is a teacher at a Government school and helps Athiyan nab drug peddlers. She is named among the Best Teachers in the State and gets a transfer to be posted in Chennai city as per long term wish. 

Athiyan’s wife is Thara (Manju Warrier) who supports the cop in his duties while running a social media channel “Galatta Kitchen” along with their nephew. 

Saranya is brutally raped and murdered inside her school campus, even as a neighbourhood Hindu temple festival is underway at the time and the locals are immersed in the fervour of the occasion. 

The Director shows his desperation of not being able to show a mosque or a church festival while she gets murdered, for reasons best known to him. 

But that’s for another blog, how Hindu festivals always feature in films in the background, when criminal activities occur. 

Harish Kumar (Kishore) Superintendent of Police and his team ASP Ram (Ananth Nag) and ASP Roopa Kiran (Ritika Singh) begin the investigation and almost nab a young man with material evidence.

Athiyan comes to Chennai to end the case and shoots the culprit in the encounter in a midsea drama. 

That is when Justice Sathyadev Brahmadutt Pande (Amitabh Bachchan), National Human Rights Commission says that encounter deaths at the hands of a select police officers are due to a hurried investigation and to please the popular causes of media attention and public outcry. 

And that it targets mostly people from the marginal class. 

Soon, Athiyan discovers that the boy whom he shot dead was actually framed and was not the real criminal while the investigation is reopened.

Enter Natraj Shanmugham (Rana Daggubati) who runs an online coaching academy which enrols children from mediocre backgrounds, especially those from Government schools with a promise of their getting a medical or engineering seat. 

But is Saranya’s death linked with NAT Academy? Why would a corporate company, which has raised billions of dollars go behind a school teacher, after all? 

This forms the qualitative 60 mins of the film’s second half. 

Superstar Rajinikanth, as usual appears in 95% of the film’s reel, making it a delight of sorts to his ardent fans. I wonder, if any other actor of par would have suited this role. 

Big B has clearly been underutilised by the Director. Nizhalgal Ravi would have been as apt for the role, due to the context of the Judge’s appearances and limited scope for the character. 

Given the language and cost constraints, perhaps this was the best the Production house “Lyca” and Director TJ Gnanavel could offer, for a multi-starrer such as this. 

Patrick alias Battery (Fahad Faasil) has travelled quite well with Athiyan initially and later on with cop Rupa. 

Actresses Abirami and Rohini have done well in their brief appearances.

Music Director Rockstar Anirudh continues to remain an eternal fanboy of the Superstar and doesn’t falter anywhere, though the BGM lacks the desired punch unlike in Petta.

Kudos to the Director for not forcing songs, especially a melody or a romantic number for the sake of it. Fans and audiences understand the compulsions of not having full songs to fill the reels. 

Vettaiyan is a treat to Superstar’s fans, an eye

opening narrative to the Indian middle class at large and a below par subject for ardent critics of Actor Rajinikanth. 

The film is running full house during the Ayudha Puja weekend and is expected to get filled with family audiences from next week onwards, due to the intense subject. 

Given that Film Exhibitors are at loggerheads with Directors & Producers about the ongoing 4-week cool off period for OTT releases, expect the movie to go Live on Amazon Prime OTT not before 29 November (when the actual 7-week window for OTT release begins).