Vettaiyan – My Flash Review!

As the film’s title card appears, there is an animation of a speeding bullet. The film’s credits further roll where we are shown the mechanics of a bullet leaving the gun when triggered—enough to raise our suspicion that this is another Tamil film with guns, bombs and gore galore. Thankfully a set of montage shots of how the Indian education system evolved (mostly sourced from WhatsApp forwards) follow, setting the context to the film. Vettaiyan (Hunter) is a film that tries to highlight quite a few social causes with Rajinikanth as its vehicle and emerges fairly successful at it.

Director T.J. Gnanavel whose previous outing was a very successful Jai Bhim, wears his politics on his sleeve. Therefore, he uses the canvas of the film to talk about his beliefs whether it is encounter killings, social disparity, the education system or the familiar Tamil cinema trope of corporate conspiracy. But unlike Pa.Ranjith who couldn’t deftly marry the aura of Rajinikanth into his politics in Kabali and Kaala, Gnanavel accomplishes it far better.

Rajinikanth is an honest cop who as per the Director’s definition falls in the category of being efficient and steadfast in his beliefs, the foremost being delivering quick justice through brutal encounter killings rather than long-drawn judicial processes. Therefore, the film is largely about the shape his character arc takes as he goes about his job of delivering justice. The other part of the story is the conflict between “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” and “Justice hurried is Justice buried”!

First up, Rajinikanth must be commended for wanting to get out of his “Superstar” image trap and agreeing to be part of “non-formulaic” films. But the irony is, his directors still continue to live in the times of Annamalai, Baasha and Padayappa and are caught in a web of Maass, Sambhavam and Thalaivar moments. In a hat-tip scene to Annamalai, the villain is seen going up and later down in a see-through elevator in a game of one-upmanship between him and Rajini. In Vettaiyan, Gnanavel too falls into the fan-boy syndrome though thankfully limited way. The result is a slew of High-speed Slo-mo shots, ‘Manasalayo’ type dance routines, age-defying action sequences, and ‘Kuri vecha era vizhanum’ type banal punch dialogues that don’t land.

These trappings apart, Gnanavel navigates an issue-based film fairly well aided by an able cast. Amitabh as usual lights up his scenes with his sheer presence in a role that is tailor-made for him. In a court scene, one could notice all the actors including Rajinikanth organically watching him with awe as he delivers his monologue with such effect. Notwithstanding issues with lip sync, Bachchan proves once again that he is a powerhouse performer even at this age. Fahadh Fazil is another inspired cast. He runs away with some of the best lines in the film, which he delivers with utmost ease and alacrity. The female cast comprising Dushara Vijayan, Manju Warrier, and Ritika Singh all pack a punch. Rajini, of course, carries forward his Jailer demeanour and is, as usual, energetic and sharp with his dialogue delivery getting better.
Aniruddh continues with his now time-tested formula of BGM with “Super staruda”, “Goose Bumps sure da” and “Hunter vantaar choodu da” catchphrases popping up repeatedly. That fixation notwithstanding, his BGM in this film is a certain plus that lifts the mass quotient of many scenes. In Jailer, Nelson made Rajinikanth’s character more brain and less brawn. Here, we are back to brawn with stunt sequences that belie any logic. Frankly speaking, Action directors Anbariv could have been done away with in this film. The only thing I found interesting with the stunt sequences was when in a fight, Rajinikanth is not shown at all so as to not strain his health and the sequences shown from the angle of the steady cam operator himself doing the action.
In Tamil cinema, many of the filmmakers suffer from what I call the “Shankar” condition – which is to forget the art of subtlety and exaggerate everything under the garb of whipping up emotion. Gnanavel joins this line of directors and what we saw in Jai Bhim was not an exception. There are ways of showing subtly a woman getting violated. You don’t need to show rape scenes repeatedly sans any subtlety to whip up emotions. Similarly, there are many other scenes that are exaggerated to the point of banality. From mafia to drugs to falling standards of education to NEET conspiracy to violence on women to Corporate/Capitalism conspiracy to fight for Human rights to Encounter Killings, the film is heavy on messaging. One can see that the film tries its best to toe the Tamil Nadu government’s line on the NEET exam with specious arguments that do not hold water. Yet, the film is watchable thanks to its fast pace and the performances of its cast.
Among the recent films of Rajinikanth, Jailer turned out to be a good film that did well at the box office also. In my opinion, Gnanavel emulates Nelson in making a “Star film” in many ways and has made a better film than Jailer. He could have done with much less fan service, though. If the film does well, it will be a clear signal to makers that the audience too has moved beyond Padayappas and Baashas.
Vettaiyan now showing in theatres is a “Good Watch”, even if you are not a Rajini fan!