Hunt... Play...

That is the rough translation of the title of the tamil movie that I got to see on its first day of release this Friday - Vetaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. And luckily, I did. Had I waited for some more time to catch it, I would have definitely got no tickets, and would have missed seeing such a great movie for a long time.

Man... The movie rocks. If you had loved Gautham's last - Kaaka Kaaka, you will love VV. It is sort of a sequel to his previous 'Police Story'. The slogan for the movie says - "Another episode in a Police Officer's life." And if you are someone like me, who loves his share of 'serial killer' movies like - Silence of the Lambs, Seven, The Bone Collector, etc, then you are in for a treat.

This is maybe the first big tamil film to truly benefit from the TN state Government's law to have no entertainment tax for films with a tamil title. And also perhaps one of the few films that did not pose much problems to Kaml Hassan - title-wise. Barring the title, everything else has an international feel about it. Something that we've come to expect of Gautham. If you thought Surya was great in Kaaka Kaaka, check out Kamal Hasan in Vetaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. For the 3 hours of the film's duration, he IS DCP Raghavan. For a man of his age, to look so cool and suave, is an outstanding achievement. His physique and charisma would surely put the 'new' heroes to shame. He simply rocks, big time.

Kamal's intro is cool. The fight scene during the initial credits, with Harris Jeyyaraj's - "Karka Karka..." singing in the background, sets up the tempo and mood for the film. DCP Raghavan comes to Madurai, to investigate the gruesome murder of Rani, daughter of the City Police Commissioner Arogyaraj (Prakash Raj) his close friend and mentor. Rani was brutally raped and body decapitated and her finger hung as a dristi kair along with three green chillies and a lemon, outside her house!

A devastated Arogyaraj and his wife immigrate to New York where they are butchered in their Long Islands house. This sets Tamilnadu police thinking and Raghavan takes up the assignment of tracking down the killer as it was Arogyaraj’s last wish. The rest of the film is how Raghavan with the support of Anderson, a New York police officer and the FBI tracks down the suspects who are serial killers!

There near his hotel room, he saves Aradhana (Jyothika), who tries to commit suicide because of a broken marriage. The two become friends and roam in the aesthetically shot New York city. Kamalinee plays Kamal’s wife who was killed by some Tirunelveli goons in an encounter, in the flashback. She looks lovely, and does good in the tiny role given to her.

New York looks beautiful in Autum, and the night time aerial shots are fantastic. Especially in the "Manjal Veyil..." song. I kept fantasising about when my 'on-site' trip would come. There is a cool joke in the movie - When Jyothika meets Kamal in a restaurant, she asks him as to why he is in New York. "Are you into Software.." she asks. "Enna software-a? Illanga. Naan Hardware. Police" quips Kamal. Jyothika is sufficient in her role of Aradhana, but she hasn't got much to do. Kamal and Jyothika's is a sweet, matured love story, but they lack chemistry. The background score is brilliant.

But what may put-off some people, is the violence by the killers. It has a graphic and gory depiction of the violence against women. Video footage, dim lightings, and the excruciating details of the murders give a chill. Body count is definitely very high in this movie. Remember Balaji, the friend of Surya's in Kaaka Kaaka, who betrays Surya and lets the villain know about his whereabouts, and later shoots himself when he finds his wife dead? Well he plays Amudhan. He and his friend, are the crazy maniacal serial killers. Their reasons for the kills are absolutely bizzare, but I guess that's what serial killers are. They are ok, but maybe a bit of over-acting. The second half lags a bit, but the ending makes up for it. Gautham plays with the audience in the last portion of the film, but sure does make us smile. Crisp dialogues, haunting camera work, and wonderful songs, comparisons with Kaaka Kaaka are inevitable. But Gautham outperforms himself, and has set even higher standards for his next films. This movie was a long time coming, but is absolutely worth the wait.

Gautham Menon and Kamal Hassan... take a bow.