Movie: Vikram
Rating: 2.25/5
Banner: Raaj Kamal Films International
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil, Narain and others
Music: Anirudh Ravichander
Director of Photography: Girish Gangadharan
Editor: Philomin Raj
Producer: Kamal Haasan, R Mahendran
Written and directed by: Lokesh Kanagaraj
Release Date: June 03, 2022
This is the film that pulled the attention of the audience with its trailer. Kamal Haasan promoted the film so passionately, boasting about the pride of South Cinema that's going in the standards of pan world.
Let us see what's in this.
Story:
The family of a former agent (Kamal Hasan) becomes the victim of a drug cartel don Santhanam (Vijay Sethupathi). It's a revenge drama but the protagonist says that he has a social bent in going hard against the drugs and the peddlers.
Amar (Fahad Faasil) appears as a sleeper cell who assists the top cops in the crime investigation.
The entire theme revolves around these main characters while the personal and family drama of each gets blended in the right proportion.
Finally, who ends who and in which manner forms the climax.
Artistes’ Performances:
Kamal Haasan shocks with his agility at this age. He played the role that suits his age but still looks tough and strong. Major part of his character runs on action scenes.
Vijay Sethupathi did his best as usual. He brought a unique body language for the character of Santhanam and his man next door look with confident performance added value to the narrative.
Fahad Faasil as Amar stole the show. He has multiple shades in his performance- as a mercenary, as a lover, as the one who faces betrayal and as a loyal yes-man.
Other than the above three characters none of the others could make any impact.
Technical Excellence:
The technical values are rich enough throughout the film. The major contribution comes from the action department as the large part of the film runs only on that.
Music by Anirudh is loud and consumes a lot of energy to get engaged. This runs on the talkie and action part and no importance is given to songs at all.
Cinematography is good and a unique tone is maintained throughout.
Quality of dubbing is flawless but not so impactful.
Highlights:
Action sequences
Rich visuals
Drawback:
Confusing storyline
Ambiguous narrative
Lack of emotional thrust
Analysis:
This film looks like an inspiration on the lines of KGF. While the backdrop of KGF is Gold Mines, here it is the drug mafia. While Adheera is a badass there, Santhanam stands in similar shoes here. The sentimental personal stories of the protagonists stand similar here and there. The firing with a heavy gun in a scene leaves a striking resemblance to the famous scene from KGF2.
In spite of all this, Vikram cannot be equalled or compared to KGF in terms of offering the adrenaline boost. The build up of emotion lacks the punch. The erratic screenplay and the ambiguity in the narration taxes the minds of the audience to connect the dots.
All said and done, the action-show by Kamal Kaasan at this age deserves the words of high praise. This simple revenge story is loaded with too many elements and characters where it becomes difficult to assimilate.
The sudden unveiling of certain characters look like a twist for the moment but what made them live in disguise for a private job leaves no clue. As the backstory of Kamal Hasan with his own son (or adopted) is not clearly handled and so that leads to the emotional disconnect.
At the fag end of the film, when we assume everything is done, the character of Suriya is introduced and a scene runs for almost 10 minutes. Instead of pumping in enthusiasm, this adds to the testing of patience levels.
The 'who is who' factor and 'what is what' element miss the target of hitting on the hearts and minds of the audiences. The soul has lost its identity in the mixture of heavy action dose.
All in all, this may hook the audience who like to watch the reasonless action scenes but not those who wish for an engaging narrative.
Bottom line: Action swallows the sense