Viduthalai Part 2 Film Review

Writing a film review is not a difficult task. You watch a film, taking in everything the director has created and then assess it. However, I have been struggling to find a way to express my views about Viduthalai 2 – not because of a lack of vocabulary but because of the complexity of the sequel and the unavoidable comparison one makes to Part 1. I have also been struggling to digest what many of the online reviewers had to say about this film.

Superficially, Viduthalai Part 2 is undoubtedly brilliantly made. There are amazing stunts, outstanding cinematography, detailed characterisation, powerful acting performances and a stunning feat from music composer, Illaiyaraja. The film is very wordy – much more than Part 1 – but the script is so well written that one does not mind the wordiness because of the tightness of the screenplay and how the script contributes to character development. This tone is set with the initial clash between a minister (Illavarasu) and an IAS officer (Rajiv Menon) and how the power play ensues.

Part 1 ended with the capturing of the most wanted criminal known as Vaathiyaar (Vijay Sethupathi) by an ordinary but sincere constable (Soori) and Part 2 takes off from there by alternating between Vaathiyaar’s back story and the events that follow after his arrest. The back story examines how an ordinary teacher is transformed into a revolutionary by events around him.

The problem with Viduthalai Part 2 is that it is shamelessly blatant communist propaganda. The rise of communism and revolutionary thought is an important event in Tamil Nadu history, but reducing the complexity of a society to a simplistic struggle of the poor against the rich and powerful shows a blatant disregard for the truth. There is no problem about delving into how people were driven to acts of revolt but a director as intelligent as Vetrimaran should have had a lot more respect for his audience, regardless of his own political views.

Hours after watching the movie, I realised that this one flaw irked me the most. Using cinema as a vehicle to express one’s political views is neither new nor something to be shunned, but there is a major difference between expressing one’s views and trying to brainwash people. Unfortunately, Vetrimaran the ideologist overpowers Vetrimaran the filmmaker in this film.

Vijay Sethupathi delivers yet another flawless and passionate performance, traversing a wide variety of emotions in his role, shining brilliantly in all of them. Soori, relegated to the distant background in the film, still shines and shows a remarkable talent to convey emotions without speaking.

I was not as impressed with Manju Warrier as I expected to be although she is amazing when Perumal (Vijay Sethupathi) is telling her about the possibility of him being killed by the authorities and what should happen thereafter. Gautham Vasudev Menon, Rajiv Menon, Illavarasu, Kishore, Balaji Sakthivel, Anurag Kashyap, Vincent Asokan, Bose Venkat and – in all fairness – everyone with a speaking part deliver outstanding acting performances.

However, special mention needs to be made of Chetan who plays the intrinsically evil OC of E-Company – a brilliant feat when one considers that the character is the direct opposite of Chetan’s personality in real life. It is not just the way the character is written into the story, it is Chetan’s body language, facial expressions and his variation in tone and cadence in his speech that turns this into one of the most remarkable negative roles of recent times.

Velraj’s cinematography has some truly stunning framing, angles and lighting with the forest night scene being a surprising blight on an otherwise brilliant performance.

Anyone who thought that Illaiyaraja had passed his “Best by” date would be astounded by his brilliance in this film. Everyone already knows the impact of the varied songs, but his background score in this film is sheer genius. This is particularly so because the background score is much more subtle than it was in Part 1 but is just as effective, if not more.

For those who have not seen Part 1, it is possible to follow the story just by watching Part 2, but you would be depriving yourself of the sheer brilliance of Part 1.

Viduthalai Part 2, despite its minor shortcoming, is undeniably a brilliant film worthy of multiple awards.

Rating : 9 out of 10