Vidaamuyarchi Review - Perseverance Not Always Triumphs!

 Ashwin Ram

Vidaamuyarchi is an action thriller starring Ajithkumar, Trisha and Arjun in the lead roles. The big-scale flick is made by Lyca Productions, directed by Magizh Thirumeni and the music is composed by Anirudh.

Premise:

After a broken marriage, Trisha decides to move to her parent's place, Ajith is keen on dropping her off so that the road trip could be their last memory together. Unexpectedly, Trisha gets kidnapped by a notorious gang and the hero saving her is the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction:

The initial portions establish the love life of the lead pair and why they are parting ways, happening over multiple timelines and leading to confusion due to the non-linear narrative pattern. Soon after, the film gets into this road thriller zone, screenplay is the key for such a genre but sadly it’s on the weaker side here. The play with the villains is underwhelming due to the predictable flow. The audiences know for a fact that Arjun, Aarav, etc are the bad guys, sadly to reveal that the film takes almost an hour. There is a decent plot point at the interval block, what makes it non-viable is the bunch of dummy twists presented just before the big one. Out of all, the only character with a convincing purpose is Regina Cassandra as she had a backstory with an unique medical condition, also there is an interesting scene in the second half in which she tries to manipulate the heroine against her husband. The only cheerful space for the fans is the high-octane car fight scene and it promises to uplift the momentum, unfortunately the josh ends right there. Even the interval bang which the big star flicks try to cash on is missing here. No intelligence in writing especially when there is a scope to it in the final forty minutes, the mood shifts to blunt action without enough drama. The staging for the house interior stunt sequence is poor and the old lady idea landing as a joke worsens the situation further. Nothing impressive in the climax too except for the hero buildup with the ‘Pathikichu’ track. The core emotion doesn’t work out due to the absence of spark between the lead pair. Guess director Magizh Thirumeni took the feedback of previous Ajith movies very seriously, instead of praising the hero, the villains are bashing and scolding him in almost every scene here. One gutsy thing to appreciate the filmmaker is for maintaining the nativity since the story is happening in Azerbaijan, the dialogues have heavy usage of Azerb and English languages rather than opting for Tamil dubbing.

Performances:

Due to the situations in the script, Ajithkumar does not have much space for fan service. He has delivered what is required perfectly with respect to stunts, an innocent yet stubborn attitude, etc. More than the style in his presence, his foreign language speaking skills are admirable. He also gets a likeable quality on how he treats his wife after she opts for a divorce. Vital role for Trisha that takes the film forward and she looked gorgeous in every single frame. The film fails to utilize the deadly Mankatha duo joining hands again, as Arjun’s villain role is weakly sketched. On the other hand, Regina Cassandra does well in a psycho role and the efforts to dub in her own voice worked in her favour too. Aarav is a huge letdown for the flick as his body language and dialogue delivery was annoying from the very beginning.

Technicalities:

For the grand wedding setup, ‘Sawadeeka’ felt like a replica of ‘Aathangara Orathil’ from Yaan. Rockstar’s stamp is thankfully present in the other two songs, especially the hero elevation ‘Pathikichu’ track was a blast. Splendid background score by Anirudh, he has efficiently driven many average scenes with his engrossing music. Remarkable work by DOP Om Prakash, many thoughtful incorporations with respect to the situations and he has captured both the terrain and toughness beautifully. The 150 minutes runtime is apt for a star vehicle on paper, but the laziness in screenwriting didn’t make it a comfortable watch, many badly edited portions too, the monotonous initial stretch to be specific. Nothing exceptional in terms of stunts except for the challenging sequence that takes place inside a moving vehicle. Disappointing final fight and the pre-climax was lame as well. Rich production values are evident with the exotic locations the film has been shot, there is absolutely no compromise on quality.

Bottomline

Outstanding music and cinematography are the pillars of strength. Wafer thin subject that demanded an intriguing screenplay and it’s lacking here. A few decent stretches exist, but not sufficient enough to hold the tension nor impact emotionally.

Rating - 2.5/ 5