Tamil cinema has witnessed modern day adaptations of several mythological tales in the past, notable ones being ace director Maniratnam's adaptation of the Mahabharata's generous Karna who was on the wrong side due to his friendship with Duryodhana, as the Superstar Rajnikanth starrer Thalapathi, the Sathyavan - Savithri tale adapted into the story of a girl fighting against odds to save her husband kidnapped by Kashmir terrorists, from the clutches of death, as Roja, and the same director once again attempting the adaptation of Ravana's life from Ramayana, as the Vikram starrer Ravanan. Irrespective of the results of these flicks, these attempts were giving clear indications to makers looking out for plots that there are a lot of tales in Indian mythology that could be adapted into movies convincingly. The latest interesting entrant into this league of exciting adaptations of folklore, is director duo Pushkar - Gayatri's Vikram Vedha, based on the tales of King Vikramaditya and Betal. 


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As per the folklore, the Betal tells king Vikramaditya tales, with riddles in the end, and correctly answering them will lead to Betal escaping, wrongly answering would result in the Betal remaining captive, and Vikramaditya knowing the answer but not revealing it would lead to his head bursting into pieces. And here, our modern day interpretation by Pushkar - Gayatri has the tough cop, encounter specialist Vikramaditya (Madhavan) pitted against the deadly gangster Vedha (Vijay Sethupathi), who has committed 16 murders and has been escaping arrest for long. And when Vikram decides to finally bring an end to Vedha's atrocities with an encounter operation, Vedha surprises him as he surrenders. But why? Vedha has tales to tell Vikram, as he's the right person to solve the riddles in the stories, and ultimately make "justice" prevail. As Vedha tells 3 stories to Vikram, the principal characters are presented clearly to the audience. 


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Though Vikram projects himself as a tough guy, he's very much an emotional person, who clearly gets distracted when confronted with emotions. Vikram has a strong bonding with colleague Simon, and his death mars his thinking process totally, as he goes all out against Vedha assuming him to be the killer. Vikram has this concern for kids of the goons he kills, and he takes good care of them by joining them in a home. He tells his subordinate Santhanam in a sequence "Oruthan kanna paatha udane theriyanum ivan nallavanaa criminal aa nu" (one must be able to identify if a person is a good guy or a criminal by seeing his eyes itself), and ironically, Vikram fails to identify the evil all around him, and falls prey to their manipulation until Vedha's arrival to resurrect his senses and thought process. Even when Vedha tries to distract him every time he tries to finish him with a story, Vikram, the man totally controlled by emotions falls prey to the involving emotional angle in Vedha's tales, and as he tones down from the strict cop with a killer instinct to a man confused with the sentiments in the tales, let's Vedha escape death again and again till he understands it was Vedha's plan to ultimately make Vikram realize what's dharma (Justice), and which side he had taken so far. As Vedha himself says,  Vikram is a "Kadivalam poatta kudhira" (a bridled horse), who travels in a straight path as directed or influenced by elements around, and fails to look around and identify the path he actually has to travel and unravel the truths, and this is where Vedha comes to his aid, thereby completing his personal revenge, as well as giving Vikram the much needed clarity of what's Dharma. 


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Vedha isn't exactly a do-gooder, but what starts as a way to earn money, becomes an obsession (though his brother Pulli tries to convince him out of the dark life, he fails), and the high given by the power and authority, turns him a gangster who's out to settle wars and establish his dharma, his own way. Vedha isn't someone to be celebrated, but he's a clever guy, who can read the mind of Vikram, understands his emotional weaknesses, and cleverly deploys him in his plan to unearth the men behind the conspiracy that killed his people. A good communicator, Vedha engages in a small talk with Vikram every time he's caught, before slowly captivating his senses, engaging him totally in the story, and escaping when he's stuck deep in thoughts.



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He isn't the kill-all type, as he doesn't kill a good person throughout the runtime, and even though he pits Vikram's wife Priya against him by making her his lawyer, he doesn't use her as a bait to trick Vikram, but uses her as a "Pura" (Pigeon) as Priya herself says, to convey messages. Only that his way of Dharma doesn't gel well with the cops, who don't want everyone to take law in their hands. Vedha is not just a deadly gangster, but is a man of philosophy as well. In the first tale he tells Vikram (Thiruda Thiruda) he tells a guy named Sethu (what a coincidence!) "Nee vidhi vidhinu sollitu iru. Athu vandhu, Sethu, ipdi pannu nu unkita sollaathu, namakku onnu venumna naamathaan pannanum" (You keep speaking of your fate, it'll never come to you and instruct "Sethu, do this". If you need something, you'll have to take the actions). In another, he tells his friend Half Boil "Prachana na Prachana prachana nu yosikatha. Andha prachanaiku enna kaaranam enna nu yosi" (When you face a problem, don't keep thinking of the problem, start thinking of the reason behind it). He comforts the guilty Pulli who feels he's the reason behind the gang war with chetta by saying "Mutta odanjuruchuna, mutta odanjirchi, mutta odanjirchi nu feel pannitruka koodathu. Odachi omelette poattu saaptu poitte irukanum" (If an egg breaks, you must not keep worrying that it has broken. Just make an omelette and eat.



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Here Vedha indicates that one must not remain worried for mistakes committed or unfortunate events that happened in life, and must move on). Even in the final meet with the puzzled Vikram with numerous questions, he enlightens him saying "Enga oorula oruthan porula inga tholachutu, anga theditrundhaan. Inga tholachatha anga yenda thedranu kaetta anga thaan velicham irukunu solraan. Nee enga tholachiyo anga thedu sir. Apothaan kedaikum"(There was a guy in our place who lost something and was searching it in a place where he didn't lose it. When questioned, he said he searched there as it was bright over there. Don't search where you have a light, search where you actually lost it!). Despite all this, Vedha like Vikram, isn't totally intelligent as well. He's heavily impacted by emotions, and it's his emotional bonding with his dearest Pulli is what invites the wrath of Chetta, just like Vikram's bonding with Simon ("Aana Emotion onnu thaane Sir!!" says Vedha), and his inability to identify the bad ones around him, just like Vikram (There's a point when Vedha says "Epdi paathalum neeyum naanum onnu thaana sir").


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As the cop Vikram with a heart who projects himself tough outside, Maddy excels, and he displays the sadness when he loses Simon, the anger seeing Priya in his opposite side, and the anger seeing so many black sheeps around him, effectively with his eyes. In "Yaanji" we get to see the good old romantic Maddy, and his chemistry with Shraddha Srinath makes it a visual treat. Vijay Sethupathi as Vedha effortlessly creates the impact and the mass, without much fuss, as the actor is just being himself throughout, and with his typical dialogue delivery and natural charm makes the audience love Vedha. In a movie totally belonging to the 2 men, Shraddha Srinath makes the best out of the little screen time she gets, as the loving wife Priya caught between her profession and personal life, but is able to differentiate them, taking a firm stand without fear. The pretty actress emotes well, and is a great talent to look out for. Varalakshmi as Chandra and Kathir as Pulli are apt, though the former is totally underutilized, considering her potential. Prem as Simon and Achyuth Kumar are adequate. 
With razor sharp dialogues by Manigandan (who has also acted as Santhanam), Vikram Vedha shines. P.S.Vinod's cinematography captures the bloody visuals effectively, in sync with the dark mood of the flick. To say Sam.C.S has breathed life into Vikram Vedha would be an understatement, as the composer has not just  delivered good numbers like "Yaanji","Tassaku","Nee Pogaathe", but also enhances the impact created by the sequences and the characters with his terrific BGM, be it the deadly theme bit for elevating Vedha or the emotional music that highlights the pain of Maddy when conveying Simon's end to his family and when he visualizes his end. A promising talent (His debut "Puriyadha Puthir" starring Vijay Sethupathi is yet to release).

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After their unique, commercially unsuccessful attempts in Oram Po and and Va Quarter Cutting, the director duo Pushkar - Gayatri have returned with this crime drama, which has perfectly hit the bullseye, thanks to the perfect packaging and apt casting. On the outset, this could have been your typical good vs evil cliche, but this is where the makers have clearly infused the concept of Betal telling stories to King Vikramaditya into their screenplay, thereby making both the characters strong their own way. Post Thani Oruvan, this is the best commercial flick where the protagonist and the antagonist get to shine equally with moments for both of them to get massy. The screenplay is engaging with the powerful performances keeping the audience glued to the screen (Though the directors could have done away with the insignificant "Tassaku" number which is a definite speedbreaker and dialogues like "Ammanama Irukuravan mela kobapada mudiyathu" could have been avoided, as the dialogue wasn't required to show the intimacy of Pulli and chandra).



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Vikram Vedha could also be interpreted as Pushkar - Gayatri's own version of Kuruthipunal with the only difference being Badri replaced by a contrasting Vedha who actually helps Vikram, unlike how Badri troubles Aadhi Narayanan, and is a version of what if Aadhi (replaced by Vikram) found out about Chinnaswamyji and eliminated all the black sheeps in the department by himself, even though he loses Abbas (Simon here). Kudos to Y Not productions Shashikant for his willingness to invest in this venture. All said, Vikram Vedha is a terrific must watch for the powerhouse performances and charisma of the men in form - Vijay Sethupathi - Madhavan, the director duo Pushkar - Gayatri's timely attainment of form, with this perfect commercial entertainer sans glitches, and some good music by Sam.C.S. 


Credits : Bhuvanesh

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30/07/2017 05:38 AM