Vettai Tamil Movie
Gurumurthy (Arya) has just stepped in to save his brother, Thirumurthy (Madhavan) from a bully. Their father,a cop, arrives on the scene and belts him accusing him of picking a fight. Gurumurthy quietly bites the bullet and explains his philosophy in life "Never hesitate to get into a fight, especially out of fear." I flinched realizing that this message was going to reach the impressionable Tamilian.
Fast forwarded to over a decade, we now have Guru and Thiru told that their father has been transferred elsewhere. It appears that the relationship they share with their father remains the same. The uneventful years are interrupted by their father's death. Gurumurthy feels obliged to join the police force. Their family has a history of cops and he doesn't want the legacy to end. But that responsibility is to be shouldered by brother Thirumurthy because he's the one with a clean record.
Thirumurthy is a real world character; he has the primal fear of death. Gurumurthy is a reel world character; he puts his fight-unto-death philosophy to practice. Even as the pressure to curb crime counts, Thirumurthy gets cozy in his khaki uniform which earns him unequalled respect. What does he do? He sends his brother to get his hands dirty. "Rowdy aal vechu adikarthe, Police aal vechu adikakudatha?" The façade lasts long but you want it to last longer.
The real-world, reel world distinction extends to the other characters in the film's world- the cops, fearing for their lives and the villains, with nothing to lose other than to gain. The viewers laugh at the real world characters and root for the reel world characters. That's all right. I just hope they don't pay too much heed to what the movie has to say, which it does heavy-handedly with a scene that reminded me of a cage match. Ugh.
Madhavan plays comic foil to Arya for over half his screen time. You laugh at him and Arya's character is the one you approve of. But when Thirumurthy toes the line with Gurumurthy, Madhavan is electrifying and you want to see more of him because at the back of your mind you know that most of the movie is over. Both actresses are enchanting and do a fine job of complementing the actors while Ashutosh Rana as the unyielding villain certainly means business.
Vettai is an action-comedy-entertainer. There's hardly a speck of originality or realism here but that doesn't stop this fare from being the enjoyable entertainer that it is. Lingusamy doesn't think low of his viewers either. Sure he knows what they want but he also knows what they can process. There's no 'gotcha' twist that brings you face to face with the notion that after all, seeing isn't believing. This is regular Kollywood stuff superiorly packaged and with insurmountable energy.
Quibbles-
1) The predictable final act is taken from Ghajini.
2) Scenes from Ko and Mankatha are inserted into the movie just to get the audience pumped up.
