Vivegam

The movie ends like this - (this is not a spoiler, please) - AK kills Aryan, his old friend, in a one on one fist fight, previously moments into the fight AK had revealed to us his sculpted muscles with six packs et al., and earlier, just about the start of the stunt Yazhini, AK's pregnant wife whom Aryan had abducted and held in one of those underground caves of Slovenia, starts her high octane Veriyera vidhimaara song to welcome this man, and tell the world, tell us, 'He is the ultimate star'. It is easy to notice the climax checking all the boxes of a Kollywood hero vehicle - family sentiment (including a deep father-foetus sentiment), man as the protector of woman, a charged up grand finale song, exotic locale, a message: never back stab, and above all - a star talking to his fans. 

In the preceding two+ hours - well, the movie starts with the single man army extinguishing a 100-member armed syndicate with 3-4 levels of security transacting business in the interiors of an eastern European country, and topping off the action with the now famous never give up punchline. It is enjoyable for a while. Minutes into the movie, you get a feel of watching one of those Tamil-dubbed English action films in KTV; and you hope things will be okay soon. You get used it gradually. But the movie also provides us a peep into the other extreme of the spectrum of visual media. Whenever (&wherever) the couple interact, you are transported to the more familiar neighbourhood world of Tamil mega serials, like Theivam thandha veedu, Chithi, etc. In that sense the movie is a roller coaster ride of emotions and action. On one hand the hero is dealing with the most deadly counter terror agencies of the world (like Interpol, FBI, CIA, Mossad (?), ATS, NOC, SMS, MMS, etc.) and on the other hand, the man is like an affable child helping out his music teacher wife with her restaurant (yes, she is multi, multifaceted) and makes her emotional with his very, very tender dialogues that are too powerful, but sadly are too common to try and recollect. In between, you have a sound track that is just awesome (but perhaps made for some other film) and extended visuals of a counter terror unit's control room, that resembles a cross between Avatar, Minority Report and Unnai pol oruvan (yes, three of them). 

The stunts have been made well though not necessarily in a creative way; DOP, Vetri shines throughout. But one man who could be singled out for maximum contribution to the film is - Karunakaran, comedian, who makes us laugh in spite of our predicament; but more importantly he is the only one who gives us a feel of watching a Tamil film. Alas, he has only a small role. Akshara Hassan too has a minor role, though it is made out as a critical part. Editor Ruben excels in stunts, but reminds us of Anthony's Vettai..Vilayadu in the initial technique he had deployed to present various episodes from AK's commando life. Anirudh has given us another rave album; Man, he is talented! 

The fault line is in the pedestrian writing (mechanical, auto-pilot screenplay and the obvious lack of any story line. Don't ask me, since when you started expecting a story in AK's films?) matched by poor acting. Vivek Oberoi (Aryan) has a strong presence, but with his improper lip-sync and gestures that remind us of the glorious 80s, he is so plastic. (If Dhanush could cast Kajol, why can't thala use Oberoi? Btw, Thalapthy's Amrish Puri was extraordinary.) So are many supporting actors in the unit's control room; they are confused, angry, surprised, or frenzied; and when they don't have anything else to do, they resume staring at the CCTV footage and tracking GPS coordinates and thermal images trying to match human face patterns with visuospatial data scattered across the mafia networks of the world while simultaneously synchronising their (I stop there). The frequent mobile talk between AK and Aryan, sometime shown together in split screen (like in Yennai arindhaal), is smart at places, but mostly boring. But yes, the writing acquires intelligence towards the final showdown, the episode where AK and Aryan plan their moves and counter-moves. It is interesting, though not new.

A special mention about the English subtitles team. Right from the title translation, Vivegam = Prudence, you guys rock! In fact, in many scenes, the subtitles are much better and nuanced than what is spoken on screen.

During the end credits, the making footage is shown. It is absolutely enthralling! You realise the guys have actually taken up the project seriously, and the star too has endured a lot of pain. The Vivegam team has braved risky locations, fought back merciless weather, and thala too has strained - a lot, a lot. Thoroughly enjoyed these clips.