Rajinikanth once again plays a cop, a stylish goggles-wearing salt-and-pepper haired cop, after the celebrated Jailer. He is an encounter specialist based out of Kanyakumari who believes one’s conscious triumphs over judicial justice. He believes in an instant 10-minute justice delivering system. On the other hand, we have Amitabh Bachchan who believes in scepticism and advocates human rights for everyone, including alleged criminals. He believes in both “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” as well as “Justice Hurried is Justice Buried”. Vettaiyan is all about these conflicting ideas and ideals crafted into a police procedural thriller.
A police procedural thriller need not involve itself in the social commentary. The basic expectation of a thriller is, well, the thrill. But, T.J. Gnanavel touches the subjects which are more personal to the state of Tamil Nadu, and India in general. Corruption in bureaucracy, the nexus of Ed-Tech with governments, exploitative coaching business, extra judicial killings and the media circus around it are a few themes he touches upon in Vettaiyan.
T.J. Gnanavel very cleverly mocked the audience with his intelligent trailer cut. If you see the trailer once again, you can notice the ‘glorification’ of extra judicial killings. Just the way we have been celebrating rouge-cops since the immemorial of mass cinema. There have been articles published in the media calling-out the ‘hypocrisy’ of the filmmaker who stood up for advocating constitutional values in his sophomore feature, Jai Bhim.
Once we enter the world of Amitabh Bachchan and Rajni, you realise that Gnanavel’s Vettaiyan is a beautiful recipe of ideas and ideals thrown into a vessel. And, Rajni is just a mass-topping to this serious social drama. We might have been lured into this belief that Vettaiyan is a glorified extra judicial killer drama, through trailers just to make us self-question our own prejudices. This play is continued in the screenplay as well, making it an intriguing thriller of ideas rather than being merely a whodunnit crime thriller.
After Pa. Ranjith’s successful Kabali and not-so-very-successful Kaala, T.J. Gnanavel’s Vettaiyan follows the troupe of Rajini-fing the director’s vision and politics. It is good to see the Super Star of Indian cinema being a part of social dramas where he isn’t the one who ‘preaches’ through speeches. Rajini is placed into the story that has the social depth maintaining the consistency. Otherwise, the standard stereotype is that a big thing happens and the hero changes forever. Here, this nuance is supported with the bureaucratic hurriedness and prejudices that follow the simplified thinking coming too quickly to the answers.
Fahad Fassil has–as usually– nailed his role as Battery. He just steals the frame through his antics and easy-going humour. Ritika Singh as solo lady cop and Dushara Vijayan as a government teacher who can’t stand the injustice did a good job. Manju Warrier’s graceful smile and dance added the energy we needed for an intro song of Rajinikanth through foot-tapping ‘Manasilaayo’. However, she being the sharp-shooter suddenly came off as the odd thing done especially for the whistles. However, a few whistle-podu moments doesn’t do any harm.
Anirudh Ravichander’s background music hits the right chords at the Rajini-moments. The best thing about Vettaiyan is not having too many songs. The narrative is not halted by neither masala songs nor sentimental sob-songs. So, that’s why Gnanavel shines through Vettaiyan for bringing the discourse on constitutional values packed in a commercial Rajini padam.
Telugu Funda Rating: 3.5/5
Follow Telugu Funda on trending Social Media Platforms for more Cinema, OTT, Political, And Sports updates
