‘Vettaiyan’ movie review: A gutsy Rajinikanth powers TJ Gnanavel’s flawed film on unlawful encounter killings

A still from ‘Vettaiyan’ 
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Let’s first make this clear: Vettaiyan is a brave attempt to do something the moral compasses of Tamil cinema have long been wishing for, and it’s arguably one of the best Rajinikanth films since Kaala. Jai Bhim-director TJ Gnanavel’s film, as expected, attempts to take a firm step forward against fake encounter killings — a crime that has long been glorified on our screens — as well as the sorry state of our nation’s education system. And he does it with a charismatic Rajinikanth, with the superstar even willing to have his supercop protagonist fail. There is ample entertainment, an engaging screenplay, and A-lister actors giving a bang for every buck. And yet, there’s a deeper issue plaguing the film.

We begin with Sathyadev (Amitabh Bachchan with his ever-popular magnetism), a retired Bombay High Court Judge on a mission to educate and eradicate the unlawful practice of fake encounters. His sermon at the National Police Academy is intercut with goons scheming a plan to finish off a Superintendent of Police known for encountering criminals. The whistles begin and we get the eponymous ‘thalaivar tharisanam.’ Rajinikanth, only 73 years young, enters as SP Athiyan and sends the goons flying, while Anirudh Ravichander makes his presence felt. Gnanavel even swaps Rajini’s classic cigarette flip with clip-on glasses, and you are instantly Rajini-fied.

For a subversion that we will witness later, such hero glorification seems necessary initially; and Athiyan had to be a carbon copy of the encounter specialist heroes we are familiar with. Further, in a clinical move that flips it all, Rajinikanth’s supercop makes a mistake. While investigating the mysterious death of a government school teacher, Saranya (Dushara Vijayan) — the case that the entire film centres around — Athiyan makes a blunder with irreparable ramifications. Vettaiyan then follows the attempts of Athiyan — and his team, consisting of ‘Battery’ Patrick (Fahadh Faasil), Roopa Kiran (Ritika Singh), and SP Harish Kumar (Kishore) — to rectify the mistakes of their past. This is the most flawed we have seen a Rajini film hero in a long time.

However, as many might have feared from the promotional material, Vettaiyan seems to have encountered a common risk in the business of making a film for a superstar. As thoughtful as Gnanavel was about stylising and staging the encounter scenes, he seems to have struggled to find a pitch for what he really had to say. The film’s conceit rests more on how it deceives the audiences’ judgement in the investigation, rather than organically making a stand against it and writing impactful dialogues against these killings. This is why Sathyadev’s sermon fails to power through all the fanfare in the introduction scene. While we are hungover over the fact that we are seeing a flawed Rajinikanth, you wonder if it wasn’t possible at all to push the boundaries by showing his internal struggles with guilt and regret.

A still from ‘Vettaiyan’ 
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Other issues plague Vettaiyan as well. You wonder if it was wise for the police, with such an experienced SP, to reveal the name of the informer (Saranya). One can argue that such noble deeds need to be appreciated in the public galore but given the stakes, this detail does ick for a bit. The bigger problem is how Gnanvel writes about the ill fate that awaited Saranya. Yes, she gets killed. Oh, wait, she’s a woman and so she also gets… raped. It’s about time filmmakers understand that seeing such a character die is enough to get the desired emotional reaction. Rape isn’t an ordinary detail that has to be thrown in as a bonus for shock value. To further dampen your sentiments, these shots even get repeated multiple times.

With Vettaiyan, TJ Gnanavel has had quite a difficult task in hand — to make an entertaining Superstar film with a message. With two veteran superstars in the middle, it means we get lesser screen time for several A-list actors, and Rana Daggubati gets the raw end of the deal. His underdeveloped character, Natraj Subramaniam, also paves the way for quite a contrived climax to the film.

As far as the performances go, Fahadh Faasil is as impressive as ever. It takes time to realise that the same man who played Rathnavelu in Maamannan plays this meek, happy-go-lucky ‘Battery’. He appears almost like a shadow to Athiyan, sneaking in with a packet of chips or a cup of Horlicks, and you only end up wishing for more of him. After getting to say ‘I am a big fan of your work’ to Kamal Haasan in Vikram, Fahadh now professes his admiration for Rajinikanth with an ‘I love you too sir’ and an emotional hug.

With a terrific Rajinikanth, Fahadh’s eccentricities, a towering Amitabh, and Gnanavel’s magnificent use of Anirudh’s tracks, Vettaiyan, despite the flaws, delivers both entertainment and engagement. However, at the end of it all, when you flip a coin between what you remember the most — a superstar cop sending goons flying, or his firm stand against the encounter killings — does it tilt more towards the latter?

The verdict is still on, but the relief Vettaiyan leaves you with is that even when it didn’t all come together, the film’s intention to stand against fake encounters is a giant leap forward in an industry that has far glorified encounters as the means to justice. As Sathyadev says, in one of the most memorable lines of the film, “Justice delayed is justice denied, but justice hurried is justice buried.”

Vettaiyan is currently running in theatres