Vettaiyadu Vilayaadu: A slick game

I finally watched a movie after a really long while. And since it has also been a while since I wrote anything but winded-tales on my blog, perhaps it is time for a movie review, without spoilers! Just for a change. :)

I have very strong reservations about the movie, but I also believe that it is the slickest, stylised action flick Tamil cinema has ever seen. O yeah, it has beaten Khaaka Khaaka hollow, Gautam Menon has come a long way since then.

So the good, first, or the bad? Hmmmmmm... Toss! The good.

The best part of the movie is its stylised presentation, very slick production values. The cinematographer has excelled: whether it is a scene in New York or Tirunelveli... However, there are times when Gautam tries a lot of trick shots, like an upside down chase scene, and several fast cuts. While it may add to the pace of the movie, my dear mr.Menon should spare a thought for people who have just about managed seats on the seventh row from the screen!

But this just only about beats Kamal Hassan, seen in what is probably his best-ever understated performance. Anbe Sivam? That required some serious acting, which of course Ulaga Nayagan Kamal will not have a problem with. Sometimes you think they don't just let him underplay. Which Gautam Menon has done, with great difficulty I'm told, but that's another tale. He has exercised remarkable control in resisting putting on his "peter act," and his English is not so accented as it is when he speaks normally! That takes some!

Such a pity that Jyothika has decided to quit just as she was greasing some maturity into her act. Aradhana is certainly a success at characterisation and here, you see a Jo who is not chirpy and jumpy, but rather on the other side of the spectrum: sad, thoughtful, even grim at times.

Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu is indeed a well-curved movie, the editing is good, it's left the right amount of flesh at the right places. The suspense is there, the thrill, the expectation and the romance. Almost perfect. And yet not so perfect.

This is where my quarrel with the movie happens. I do not agree with the depiction of extreme violence. This is where the issue of responsible film-making is key: Is it justified to show extreme violence in order to negate it? And I'm sure you'll agree with me that watching a man's head split in two, another's neck twisted out of place, a person buried alive, rather crude rape scenes and listening to abusive dialogue constantly is not worthy of a censor's U/A certification. It is certainly not a movie you'd want your kids to see.

Which is such a pity actually, because, like I already said, it has taken movie making to another level in Kollywood.