Vikram Vedha

Vikram Vedha (2017): Adapting an ancient story into film with the present world characters is not new to Indian cinema. Mani Ratnam's Thalapathy, Raavanan and Anurag Kashyap's Dev D are loosely based on Mahabharatham, Ramayana and Devdas respectively.Following the formula of these films, Pushkar Gayathri duo has made Vikram Vedha loosely based on the Vikramadityan-Bethala tale. In the original story, Bethala teaches a moral story to King Vikramadityan in each episode whenever he gets caught. Similarly gangster Vedha (Vijay Sethupathi) cleverly unmasks the real wrongdoers to the upright cop Vikram (Madhavan).

Plot: A team lead by Vikram (R Madhavan), a ruthless, no-nonsense encounter cop, is on the hunt to capture/kill a dreaded gangster Vedha (Vijay Sethupathi). In this battle of good versus evil, as audiences we are left to pick a side but everything you see is not what you believe. There's always another side to everything in life and Vikram Vedha, in the most entertaining fashion, makes its viewers understand this philosophy.

My Review: You know the story. We have all grown up with these characters. But how you present the same story is the question. We've had filmmakers who have tried several forms of storytelling. But re-telling a story with the same effect is perhaps the reason why Vikram Vedha stands out. Pushkar-Gayatri's version of Vikram Vedha is one such smartly-written thriller, which has a texture, well-developed character arcs and filmmaking gimmickry.

Vikram Vedha is not just an ordinary adaptation but a perfect portrayal of morality conflicts.The film keeps pushing us to judge its characters, judge someone by their actions, judge someone by their upbringing and in the process proves how wrong we could be in our assumptions. The confrontation scenes between Madhavan and Vijay are easily the film's best moments as they end in fireworks.

It's highly difficult not to love Vedha's character, thanks to his wisdom and never-say-die attitude.Vedha is one of the most fascinating characters written in Tamil cinema. He's smart, intelligent and extremely funny. While Vikram is naive and sort of represents the general public that easily judges one's character without knowing the entire story.Madhavan and Vijay have competed with each other in delivering intense and convincing performances but it is Vijay Sethupathi who deserves a award for sure.

Cinematography by P.S.Vinod gave the movie a neo-noir look and BGM by Sam C.S. is terrific.

So,Vikram Vedha is one of the best movies of 2017 with mind blowing performances and direction.A Must Watch.

My rating 9/10