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Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu
Crowds lined up for tickets early on Saturday morning (August 26, 2006) to watch
Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu at the Clearview Theatre (Movie City) in Edison, New Jersey
Reviewer's Summary - Disappointing
Language: Tamil
Year: August 2006
Actors: Kamal Haasan, Jyothika, Kamalini Mukherjee, Prakash Raj, Balajee
Director: Gautham Menon
Producer: Manikam Narayanan
Lyrics: Thamarai
Music: Harris Jeyaraj
Screenplay & Story: Gautham Menon
Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu is a bitter pill to swallow for eager fans of Tamil superstar Kamal Haasan and director Gautam Menon.
Much awaited owing to the presence of popular favorites Kamal Haasan and Jyothika, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu starts off on a brisk note but quickly stumbles. And stumbles so badly that it just drags on and never manages to recover its footing.
Like Gautham Menon's previous movie Kaakha Kaakha (2003), Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu is also a cop story. Another episode in the life of a cop, as director Gautham Menon puts it at the beginning of Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu.
Unlike Kaakha Kaakha, however, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu is a mediocre cop story at best.
Thanks to a well developed plot, excellent chemistry between the lead pair and fine music, the fast-paced Kaakha Kaakha starring Surya and Jyothika got a big thumbs-up from the audience and was a phenomenal success.
Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu's principal weakness is a shaky script that goes careening all over the place. The movie's strongest point is its fine music.
Raghavan (Kamal Haasan) is a sincere police officer investigating the disappearance of his colleague Arogya Raj's (Prakash Raj) daughter. Soon the body of the brutally assaulted girl is recovered. Arogya Raj and his wife head for New York to get over their daughter's horrid end. But they too meet the same gruesome fate there giving Deputy Commissioner of Police Raghavan an opportunity to head for the Big Apple as part of his investigations.
Thanks to Raghavan's assistance, the NYPD cops soon realize that they have a serial killer (actually not one but two) in their midst.
In his spare moments in the Big Apple, Raghavan also saves Aradhana (Jyothika) while she is attempting to commit suicide after her marriage falls apart. Soon, he's in love with her but the young lady says she is not ready to jump into a new relationship yet.
Although extremely intelligent - after all, they've committed several murders without getting caught - the serial killers Amutha (Balajee) and Ilamaran are stereotyped in typical Tamil film fashion as weird looking, crude characters.
One of India's gifted actors, Kamal Haasan never really gives us a glimpse of his vaunted acting capabilities in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu leaving us very disappointed. Perhaps, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu's weak script never gave him a chance to demonstrate the range and depth of his histrionic skills.
Jyothika's acting is so listless that it doesn't do the young lass any credit.
Raghavan's wife Kaayalveli (Kamalini Mukerjee) is quickly disposed off but she does all right in the limited time given to her.
Despite the opportunity of shooting in the Big Apple and elsewhere, Ravi Varman's camera work is pedestrian and breaks no new ground. A bunch of banal aerial shots of New York City does nothing to enhance Ravi Varman's reputation.
The music is great. Harris Jeyaraj has once again done a superb job. Every single song delighted us. Although it's very hard to pick a favorite, if pressed, we'd say our favorite songs were Karka karka and vennilave.
While Gautam Menon deservedly got the credit for the success of Kaakha Kaakha, he also deserves the censure for failing to deliver the goods in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu.
N.B. - Watching Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu at the Clearview Theater in Edison, New Jersey was an unpleasant experience with the sound going off twice and the theater management not rewinding the film despite promising to do so.- Copyright Rekha Inc.
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