VETTAI MOVIE REVIEW

Linguswamy is back with another commercial cocktail with two cool dudes and two gorgeous gals as the lead characters. Lingu is known for his fast, swift and hard-hitting action screenplay which is coated with good technical aspects and wonderful songs. The coming back of Madhavan with Lingu is much awaited as their last film "Run" was a huge hit in those days and can be considered a cult classic for action films. Here they anticipation is further pulled upwards with the inclusion of Arya as well and Lingu's last, "Paiyaa" was a big hit. Are there chances for Linguswamy manage to pull of back-to-back hits, as the trailer of "Vettai" was promising?

One positive aspect of the film is the strong characterization of the lead artistes roles. First of all, Madhavan must be applauded for accepting a role which portrays him as a coward and that too with a upcoming hot star with him! He got his comic timing checked in, with cute expressions and his trademark smile as well. Besides that, he carried the changeover from the first half to the second half very well, and there were no hesitations on his side. Its good to see him play lighthearted roles in multi-starrers once again, but he has to keep his weight and physique in check. He is not really in shape and it actually contradicts the energy and vigor projected by him for his character in the second half. Other than that, he is good as usual. The real scene stealer is Arya. Though the trailer projected him as a loud and noisy character, in actual fact its the opposite in the film. He plays a chilled-out, relaxed and cool dude. He has very good screen presence and his action hero image helps him to convincingly play the role. He too, scores in comedy portions with subtle and restrained dialogue delivery. Sameera Reddy has a good role to play as the bold, brave, talkative, fiery but dumb girl. Her lip sync was not bad which needed her to utter long dialogues in fast manner and Chinmayi's dubbing for her worked well again. Amala Paul was cute and lovely in her limited scenes as Arya's pair and Savitha's dubbing for her complements her looks. Ashutosh Rana was good as well and had good screen presence and expressions, especially during close-up shots, though he struggled a bit with the dialogue delivery which was little bit out of sync with 'Thalaivasal' Vijay's dubbing for him. Nasser was a scream in few scenes which he appears once in a while and his dialogue delivery with fantastic comedy timing proves the veteran is a class actor. Sreejith Ravi was fine with Akash giving him the voice in dubbing. Thambi Ramaiah too delivers in comedy sequences with his funny dialogues and his clean delivery of it. Raju Sundaram and Linguswamy too makes surprising cameo appearances in the film.

One major asset of "Vettai" is cinematographer Nirav Shah. He had a fun time shooting this film and it was evident with the brilliant shots displayed in the film. His low angles and close-ups gives the right mood and feel for the film, especially during the tense sequences. The lighting done in the warehouse fight sequence was very well done, and the fight sequence shot in the rain, was class as well. Through this film, Nirav proves that he can cope very well with any sort of scripts and the bright color tones used, like red, orange, yellow and brown throughout the film really complements the script very well. Anthony's razor cuts keeps momentum of the film very well and the first fight sequence was very well edited. Rajeevan's props were very lifelike and all the interiors of the house, police station, warehouse and etc were natural and also went along with the script. Deepali Noor's costumes were very much apt for each character (Madhavan's conservative dressing, Arya's stylish and soft colored dressing and the heroines half-sarees) and it really complements the attitude of each character very well. Besides that, special kudos to her for Amala Paul's costumes in the "Kattipidi" song. Stunts are the real highlights of Linguswamy's films and this time he has opted for stunt director Silva. The action scenes are very well choreographed and composed which gives the adrenalin-pumping feel, though it is a mildly out of logic. Logic is of course something which is not bothered of when it comes to 'masala' commercials.

"Paiyaa" was musically a huge, huge hit and expectations were sky high once again for the trio of Linguswamy, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Na.Muthukumar. Sadly the expectations were not met as the songs were not as good as their previous film. "Dham Dham" was touted to be something on the line of "Theradi Veedhiyil" song from "Run" but sadly it was way behind that chart-busting song. The picturization was cool with slow motions used at good length and many half-saree clad girls were used to bring back the feel of "Theradi Veedhiyil". "Damma Damma" is a celebratory song picturized on all four lead artistes. It was well shot inside the old Karaikudi houses, which gives it a beautiful old-school feel. "Kattipdi Enna" was picturized among swanky new buildings and Nirav's cool color tone gives the song a different feel from the other one's in the film. The low angles and camera movement was creative. "Pappappa" is just another fast-numbered folk song and was picturized in a regular way with dancers dressed in fanciful costumes. Besides that, Amala Paul gets to show her glamorous side through this song. "Thaiya Thakka" was shot on both Sameera and Amala clad in half-sarees throughout, with wonderful rural landscape used in the background. Yuvan's background score too was not up to the mark, with the loud trumpet noises used throughout, bringing in a deja-vu feel.

Linguswamy's script are always taut, racy, pulsating and simple in manner but what adds additional strength is Brinda Sarathy's dialogues. Brinda's words are simple and stylish at the same time, which enhances the action mood of the script very well. Though the script has a very thin story-line, Linguswamy manages to keep the attention of audiences with interesting knots in the screenplay for instance the kidnapping scene and the child rescue scene. Also, he incorporates cute and humorous scenes which are light in manner. Example is the 'Thank You' scene which evokes laughter from all. Not to forget some good action scenes, Arya's encounter with the villains during a blood donation camp scene and Madhavan's "shutter" scene was racy and engaging. The film threads on the same line as Linguswamy's previous Vishal starrer "Sandaikozhi" with traditional Karaikudi houses, many shots taken in bright day time, the earthy and warm color tone throughout and a simple storyline. Although having simple story-lines is a welcomed move, the ending should not be too simple, as it was a little abrupt with this film and during post-ending credits, we are shown several scenes which should have been incorporated earlier to have a smoother ending.

In conclusion, "Vettai" is a simple, neat and lighthearted commercial action film which is a good time-pass film, especially during the festive holiday periods.


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL