Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu review - loads of style, too little substance

Many of the events leading up to the release of the film made me raise my eye brows. First was this interview of Gautham Menon with Sudhish Kamath from where it was pretty clear that Gautham did not share the perfect co-ordination with Kamal during the making of the film. Then came the audio release function of the film where both Kamal and Gautham spoke more about their future projects than about the movie that they had just completed together. Kamal who goes gaga for each of his projects (I still remember all the interviews he gave in the days leading up to Mumbai Express' release) was unusually silent on this project and all he said in an interview which appeared in the Hindu on the day of the film's release were just 2 words - slick & looks good. Well, all this only told one thing - that the movie hasn’t come out the way he expected it to be. And that pretty much is what we see on-screen too. An ordinary movie with too much gore & unwanted vulgarity.

A movie which starts off in a really interesting way loses its flow right after the second half begins and becomes almost a torture during the last 30-45 mins when the actual hunt is on for the villains. Like many have commented, Gautham Menon could have well called this movie KK -2 since there are so many things common between the 2 movies. I am someone who doesn’t hold Kaakka Kaakka in the highest regard. It was a good movie but not a great movie bcos even the only novel thing in the movie, encounter killing, though new to Tamil cinema, was not entirely new to Indian cinema. So, that being the case, when many feel that this movie ia badly made sequel to KK, you should easily gauge what I felt about this movie. Apart from numerous other drawbacks, to me the biggest let down of the movie was the fact that the actual killers were revealed almost right after the interval, after which the movie completely loses track where we all know that it is a matter of time before Kamal gets to them. Had the suspense been stretched a little more further (say, as in Gupt), it would have been much better.

The best part of the whole movie, to me, was the romance between Kamal and Jyothika. It was very neatly done and Gautham Menon once again proves that he is a master when it comes to subtle romance. But it is really unfortunate that the same romance stands in the way of the flow of the movie in the second half when it takes up much more screen time than the main theme. I also have to agree with the Sify review where it says that the romance scenes had more than a passing resemblance to the romance in the movie Lost in Translation. I also immensely loved the one-line witty dialogues that were superbly interwoven into the screenply.

This movie has everything that die-hard Kamal fans usually make fun of in other actors' movies - an introduction song, fight sequences where stuntmen take turns to hit the hero, a super hero cop whose hunch never goes wrong (it became all too monotonous after a while & calling it the Raghavan instinct was the cherry on the cake) and to top it all, the sticking-like-a-sore-thumb item number.

Coming to performances, it was refreshing to see Kamal act under a director's orders after a long time. He plays the role of the character, as always perfectly. It was also a welcome relief to see him not resort to his old gimmicks like when it comes to crying on losing a dear one. But he could have shed a few extra pounds which show him in bad light in scenes where he has to run. Jyothika somehow brings out her best for Gautham Menon. Kamalini Mukherjee is there for a needless cameo & a song. Prakashraj is as usual adequate in a cameo. I completely disliked the Pandya character in KK. So, it should come as no surprise when I say that the villain was a complete irritation. All the shouting & violence in the second half completely put me off. A role which should have sent chills down our spine only managed to draw laughs of ridicule from me.

Harris Jeyaraj's songs are easily the biggest highlight of the movie. In fact, the biggest applause during the film were not reserved for Kamal, but for the 3 super hit songs - Karkka karkka, Paartha mudhal naale and Vennilave. If there is one good thing that emerged out of the delay in this movie's releases, then it is the increase in the popularity of the songs among the public. The Paartha Mudhal naale song is immensely popular (one proof for the same is that out of 7 caller tunes that I encountered during my India trip, 4 were the Paartha mudhal naale song). Except for a couple of places, the background score was very good & kept up the tempo of the movie.

The songs picturization, except for Karkka Karkka, though left a lot to be desired. Gautham goes back to his Vaseegara days for the Paartha mudhal naale song. Just like how he killed arguably the best song of the century (?!) with a picturization which was more like the news for the hearing impaired, he repeats the same here with the Paartha mudhal naale song. I really can't imagine what should have gone through Kamal's head when this song was picturized. For someone who has made songs like Unna vida, I am sure he should have felt terrible. Like, when the lines go kaalai ezhunthathum en kangaL mudhalil thedi pidippathundhan mugame, Gautham has Kamal getting out of the bed & opening his eyes & seeing Kamalini Mukherjee. It was way too funny. I can't understand the selection of dancers for the Vennilave song, either. I mean, of all the hip-hop dancers that you would find in NYC, Gautham Menon selects this not-so-impressive group of dancers who in turn give us a rather very ordinary effort. In fact, it was the item number, though completely unnecessary, that was picturized the best. The choreography was simply superb.

I would be committing a cardinal sin if I were to forget cameraman Ravi Varman’s cinematography. He is the main reason for the slickness and the high-quality feel of the movie. The sights of the New York city have been presented amazingly well, particularly in the Vennilave song.

Harris Jeyaraj and New York City might help Gautham Menon achieve a hat-trick of hits. And that is a pity when you have someone like Kamal in the movie. But then, that is what is bound to happen when you stretch an 1 hour episode of CSI Miami/ NY to a 2.5 hour long movie.

FDFS experience - I actually wanted to watch this movie after coming to Seattle. And since this movie was releasing just a day before my return flight, I did not have great hopes of getting a ticket during the first day. But it turned out that the black market tickets were available in abundance. I went to Melody to watch Omkaara and on talking to a person over there, he offered me tickets for the First Day First Show at Sathyam. On talking to him further, I got to know that he had tickets available for all the weekend shows at all the theaters in Chennai city. The atmosphere inside the theater was completely contrary to what I expected. I mean I was watching the first day first show of a Kamal movie that was releasing after almost 1.5 years. But the excitement inside the theater was completely missing. There were the usual whistles when Kamal first appeared on-screen but then that was pretty much it. As the movie progressed, it was obvious that people were getting restless. In short, I can confidently say that the excitement level that I saw during Chandramukhi's screening in San Jose was far better than what I saw at Sathyam. It only goes on to prove why it is Ajith & Vijay, after Thalaivar, who are the best as far as opening is concerned.