Encounter killings, education and drugs are some of the sensitive topics that make headlines these days, and director T.J. Gnanavel’s Vettaiyan deals with all of these.
Vettaiyan opens with Judge Satyadev, played by Amitabh Bachchan giving a lecture at the police training academy on police encounters and human rights. The story then shifts to Kanyakumari where the local SP Athiyan, played by Rajinikanth, kills a history-sheeter in an encounter. While Athiyan believes that justice delayed is justice denied, Satyadev says justice hurried is justice buried.
Vettaiyan revolves around the life and death of a school teacher, Saranya.
Saranya, a teacher in Kanyakumari, brings to light the drug trade happening around the school. She writes a complaint to the local SP, Athiyan aka Vettaiyan (hunter), who is an encounter specialist. Saranya then moves to Chennai where she is killed by an unknown assailant. The movie is a murder mystery, revolving around the teacher's killing.
The movie also shows the struggle of the parents who spend lakhs of money to send their children to coaching centres to prepare for competitive exams and focuses on parents who lose their children because of the burden caused by competitive exams and coaching centres.
If you step into the theatres expecting another experience like Jai Bhim, which was helmed by Gnanavel, you might be disappointed. Neither should you expect a Jailer or Moonru Mugam from Rajinikanth as the actor seemed to lack the swag that he showcased in Moonru Mugam.
The first twenty minutes of the movie is definitely entertaining. Fahadh Faasil, who appears in coloured shirts with a bug in his hand, is a treat to watch. Bachchan too is impactful as Satyadev. Dushara Vijayan as Saranya stands out and she is the central character in this three-hour-long crime drama.
However, the movie focuses on too many things—the menace of drugs, the education system, and greedy corporates and coaching centres, and the nexus between cops and these wrongdoers. Most of the scenes in the second half are predictable. The director also failed to make use of talented actors like Fahadh Faasil and Rana Daggubati.
While a young Rajinikanth could pull off cop characters with much swag, he struggles with the tough cop act at this age, and the close-up shots do not do him any favour. However, it is certainly more entertaining than the actor's previous cop act in Darbar, and the debacle that Annaatthe was. The fans also get a decent punchline after years.
Movie: Vettaiyan
Directed by: T.J. Gnanavel
Starring: Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Fahadh Faasil, Rana Daggubati, Manju Warrier, and Dushara Vijayan
Rating: 2.5/5