2023, Tamil, IMDB 8.8/10, Directed by Vetrimaaran
Viduthalai Part 1 Review -The ‘period’ premise of the armed revolution of the coerced tribes, who strive to live in harmony with nature- tutors the audience to internalize the ‘distorted history’ (‘Negationism’). The narrative pattern interestingly adheres to limiting its technicalities to the 80’s, leaving the audience reminisce the films of that decade and the ‘mystical music’ of Raja, makes the transition seamless.Vetrimaaran intends to demonstrate a tutorial to the unresolved tribal arguments and conflicts, the complexity in judicial system, the horrific reality of torture of the captives that results in revenge killings on both sides. Audience are walked through the maze, by the lead character Kumaresan, a constable, played by the fantastically convincing Soori. The Director makes Kumaresan, our eyes and ears, to surface the truth, that might be different from the news that we hear and read about, that might be different from the factual history, that might become the footing for our next gen’s cyclic disputes.
The opening credit, titling Vijay Sethupathi, as ‘Mentor’, abstracts the story for those who are not familiar with the Jeyamohan’s short story, ‘Thunaivan’, on which the film is based. Though the perspective that of the commoner, is what drives the initial narration, the viewers are prepped for the tables to turn anytime.
The radio announcement of a blast in the train, the drone camera work that visualises the radio news, the beautiful shot compositions and prompt shot divisions that transpires the agony of the injured mass and the hardship of the rescuers- the inclusive opening sequence, echoes the audience’s anger on the force behind the merciless act. The peculiar realism in the composition, makes you relive the incident during the given period. It’s a striking contrast to the making of a similar ‘VFX overloaded sequence’ in the highest grossing film of last year. The team authentically remain true to the venture and tries to reproduce visuals, mimicking the 80’s ‘film stock’ quality. It fondly reminds us of those magnetic recording tapes of the 70’s and 80’s Tamil cinemas.
Actor Soori’s character demands strong conviction with abundant innocence and naivety. The actor’s natural flair in expressing the character’s traits, pleasantly surprises and as the intensity builds towards the second half, the actor is spot-on with his metered performance. His character is one that you initially sympathize with and be proud of his integrity and righteousness. But as the character’s arc surges to become the ‘one’ that you look up to, in saving the women in custodial torture and to nab the rebellion head- the determined actor is ever so convincing with his restless body language, his focused mindset and emotion-driven haste.
One might be constantly distracted in finding parallels of story lines and cinematography, say, from the vigilante film, ‘Malaiyoor Mombattiyan’ to the recent, ‘Taanakkaran’ and even the ‘Ela Veezha Poonchira’, for their story telling and landscape attributes. But, the native terrain, the 80’s narrative style, the dialogues, the political implications- remains true to the land, that the stroy is about.
An effective casting, guarantees to add layers to the story, through unspoken ’emotional deliveries’ of the trained artists. Bhavani Sre’s lost yet dreamy eyes, Rajiv Menon’s civility, hawk-eyed Gautham Menon’s congruence to the tribal customs to gain their confidence, Chethan’s alter ego in punishing Kumaresan, each character etches the story uniquely. The pace slows down, in spite of the anticipations built by the ‘voice-overs’ of Soori. But with the revelation of the Vijay Sethupathi’s character, the narration gains back its momentum.
The audience are left to chew their perspectives until the final part is released, so they could play jury, after heeding to the other side. Illayaraja’s numbers wrapped in its timeless ‘pixie dust’, duly swoons us, as it did for decades, supplementing onscreen emotional quotients.
The cinematographer R. Velraj’s lenses speak the language of Director Vetrimaaran’s, the one that the audience fondly relate to, from the duo’s ‘Aadukalam’ days.
The realism that we see in majority of the Malayalam films, are often matchless. Vetirmaaran’s compositions strives to achieve on those lines, but there seems a void in certain sequences which try hard to convince the ‘already convinced audience’. For instance, the sequence where Soori runs from pillar to post, to stall the torment caused to his love interest, the background song in Illayaraja’s base voice, felt totally unwarranted for, as the significance of the performing artist, seemed lost in the midst of the musical chords.
Vijay Sethupathi’s meaty role is yet to be unveiled to its full glory and even in the fewer scopes that he has in this part, he fails to create the expected stir, except for the rebellion sequence with his fire spewing wide eyes and curly hair make over. But the actor renders samplers in the preview of the subsequent part, leaving the audience intrigued by ‘Vaathiyar’s preachy texts and the challenging visuals to match his powerful dialogues.
The end credit titled ‘Company Artists’, nostalgically scrolls down, drawing one closer to decades of movie going memories.