Vikram Vedha [2017 : Tamil : 2h30 : Crime [Mystry, Suspense, Gangster, Drama]
Written and Directed by Gayathri-Pushkar
Starring: Shraddha Srinath, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar , Madavan, Vijay Sethupathi, Kathir, Vivek Prasanna, Rajkumar, Gangsters and Policemen.
Dark is not Evil
"What is a nightmare?" Vikram wondered loudly, "And what is a worst nightmare?"
Vikram felt a warm breath hitting his neck. He listened to the evil laugh, and then, to the whisper beside his left ear, "Allow me to tell you a story", wounded Vedha announced.
"There was a wolf, brimming with pride when it pulled the prey to its pack. All night long it treasured the praising howls of the pack."
The Nightmare
Vikram enjoyed what he does. He's got the official badge to clean the street free from criminals, as well as, he pops them cold blooded along with a special unit assisting him. He sleeps well during the night, until one day, the legendary Vedha disturbs his sleep creeping as a nightmare. None have seen Vedha, but the myth surrounding the villain states that he is Evil's dearest pet, a demon unleashed on earth, and for some reason he had gone underground, but for no reason he had surfaced again. Vedha surrenders to Vikram who wants to suck his blood dry with his pistol. System of words, called the codes, sets him free. Vedha slips between Vikram's fingers, while Vikram wishes to end his nightmare. Before slithering away, Vedha asks Vikram:
"How can you wake a wolf that is not sleeping, but walking with its eyes shut?"
The Worst Nightmare
While Vikram is finding it difficult to decode all the messages left behind for him by criminal Vedha, the law enforcement agent stumbles upon the biggest crime scene. He investigates the murder of his colleague who was shot point blank by a lady in an abandoned factory. Vikram could not make the connections - the association of the victim with the murderer; the murder weapon; what was his friend doing in an abandoned factory; who had he come to meet and the reason being...
Confused, Vikram reaches the dead officer’s house. The look on the faces of the family members - the wife and the sick kid - makes Vikram realise the worst nightmare.
"Is the wolf guarding the pack ? Or is it the pack needing the protection of the wolf?"
Vedha's life story, which floats on treacherous waters, rings inside Vikram. A gangster surrounded by a gang, but none can be trusted. Vedha deals with traitors and attains the throne of the underworld that is polished by back-stabbers. An incident urges him to meet Vikram and Vedha wants the meeting to be official. He surrenders himself to Vikram.
"The wolf, Vikram, can it survive without the pack? Or shall the pack let the wolf, their meat winner, to just walk away from them?"
Vikram realised that the worst nightmare is a nightmare within a nightmare. At the same time, the voice that he kept hearing at the back of his head rose higher above him. The burden that he carried on his back strangled him. While being choked, Vikram thought, "Is there a bigger nightmare than the worst nightmare".
Vedha climbed behind Vikram's neck, throttling him with the chains of the handcuff.
Vikram Vedha directed by Gayathri-Pushkar is a fantastic film. I found the film portraying the duality in an elegant manner. The director(s) have treated the dualism like mirror images. After Thalapathi (Mani Ratnam's 1992 Tamil Movie), Vikram Vedha has the most number of wonderful 2S (two shot) and reaction shots. Vikram and Vedha are often seen starring at each other, like looking into the mirror.
[The costumes and accesories play an important role in these two picture (and throughout the film - it operates the shift). White shirt and dark tops for Vikram and Vedha when they meet for the first time. Darker tops for both of them when they meet for the last time, plus, Vedha no more wears the dark sunglasses under which he had been seeing Vikram (the world); also the folded shirt cuffs over Vedha's arms have turned white].
When they are not together inside the same frame, their line of sight matches to the position of the opponent. Even when they are carrying an object, the subjects are positioned in such a way that they receiving the same reaction from the out focused opposite.
The director(s) also create a symmetrical alliance between the two principal characters - one side is the narration of the story about death and treason running parallel and on the other side are the visuals balancing the personality and trying to bridge Vikram and Vedha with similar objects: Vikram and Vedha are dressed with bandages to their wounds. The psychology of the characters is made to stimulate the thought process of two men rowing the same boat over the river of uncertainty.
Hats off Gayathri-Pushkar.
The film carries one of best anti-hero intro scene in Tamil Cinema. The shot is cliché - a low-angled one, but how the scene is constructed is just fabulous. Vedha is a legend in his own right. He has not only committed cruel crimes, but has done them in cruel ways. None have seen Vedha, as he has shifted underground. There, the heart starts to beating to the single thought in the mind, "Who is Vedha?" (a usual build-up too). Vikram and team prepare to hunt down Vedha following an informant's clue. While they arm themselves and discuss protocols, the soft breeze turns into short bursts of high speed wind. Dust float in the air as though the ground is shaken. Dry leave fly quickly, trying to escape from falling into the crack on the floor. Police dogs let out sharp short barks and announce the rise of the Demon from Underground. A heavy foot falls before the screen and a square shouldered man walks out from the audience (read 'Makkal Selvan') and moves forward on the screen towards the entrance of the building.
Everything in that scene is perfect - the sounds that they included, the back ground score, the walking Vedha whom the camera (the audience) follow, the gloomy windy setup, and last but not least Gayathri-Pushkar's excellent translation of words onto the screen.
I like mirrors and reflections. It’s a complicated but a quick way to narrate minimum three stories (the subject, the image, their togetherness) inside a single frame. With few editorial technics, a logical series could be built making the scenes visually interesting without any dialogues. And then, there is the reference to the Eye (I think I could not have asked for more):
(can also be viewed as a garland)
contd ... (as restriction to add more than 10 pictures)
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