Vikram is back. That should be enough, but there’s a lot more in this interesting crime drama, even if it doesn’t always succeed. The rest of this review may contain spoilers.
Many of us have been waiting for that one solo Vikram starrer that deserves to have an actor like Vikram in it. The long wait comes to an end with SU Arun Kumar’s Veera Dheera Sooran – Part 2. Firstly, the man is fantastically fit, and his look is awesome. The sides of his head are closely cropped, leaving him with a mound of top hair. And there’s a long beard to match. The effect is of elongating the actor’s face. More than all the makeup and prosthetic work we have seen Vikram go through over the years, this simple – yet different enough – appearance makes us feel we are seeing a new version of a familiar presence. Vikram plays Kaali, who runs a small provisions store in a small town in Madurai. He is married to Kalai (an effective Dushara Vijayan), and they have two children.
Right from the start, we see that that Vikram is on fire. I’ll give you a scene that happens on the terrace of Kaali’s home. A local big shot, appropriately called Periyavar (Prudhvi Raj), has come to ask a favour. This is one of those stories about a man who had a violent past and now just wants to live a peaceful life with his family, but Periyavar needs Kaali to return to his violent ways. Kalai knows that this man is trouble, and she wants Kaali to say no. Vikram is fantastic to watch in this long scene in a film filled with long scenes. With Periyavar, his eyes are saying: “I owe you, I know. But please please don’t put me in this position.” When he turns to Kalai, his eyes are saying: “Trust me. Nothing is more important than our family. I will deal with this situation, but for now, please stop nagging me.”
Watching this scene play out, I realised just how much I had missed this side of Vikram, this ability to use his eyes and face and body to add subtext to the text being spoken as dialogue. Full marks, too, to the actor for choosing to embark on this experiment with the director of Chithha. Arun Kumar has made one terrific masala movie with Sethupathi. But post-Chittha, he appears to have become a more serious filmmaker, a more ambitious filmmaker. Veera Dheera Sooran is essentially an attempt to find an answer to this query: “Can you make a realistic, densely plotted, rooted mass movie?” This very question, at first, might appear nonsensical. The grammar of the mass movie is anything but real. These films are situated in fantasy universes where stars walk in slow motion and are introduced feet first, until – a few shots later – we get the face reveal that’s set to two separate soundtracks: the one in the movie, and the whistles from the fans.
But here, Kaali is introduced while riding on his moped. The title – VEERA DHEERA SOORAN – suggests a superman. The hero seems to be a very real man. GV Prakash Kumar gives a seven-note brass riff that celebrates Kaali, and there’s a throwback to one of Vikram’s most iconic moments from Dhool, but Kaali does not seem to deserve that treatment. He is a former henchman, subservient to both Periyavar and to the SP named Arunagiri. (SJ Suryah is simply superb in this cunning role that is part policeman, part politician.) We have heard of love triangles. Veera Dheera Sooran gives us a crime triangle, with the constantly changing equations between Kaali, Arunagiri, and Periyavar. At one point, Periyavar is pleading with Arunagiri: that is, the cop has the upper hand. But elsewhere, Periyavar’s hotheaded son Kannan seems to have Arunagiri under his thumb. (Suraj Venjaramoodu plays Kannan with the requisite nastiness, but the relative generic-ness of the part leaves him a bit stranded.)
In terms of story, mass movies are simple. There is a very clear cause-and-effect relationship in every situation. This helps us to instantly align our emotions. But here, it’s more complicated. We know Periyavar has helped Kaali in some way, but we are not shown how. We know Kaali is angry over the death of a man named Dilip, but we are not really told who this Dilip is in the larger scheme of things. So for a while, it is interesting to be set adrift on an adventure that has many unknown elements. If we don’t get the required emotional connect (except in the case of Kaali and Kalai), there are compensations in the form of densely written (and very meaningful) sequences, beautifully shot by Theni Eswar in long takes. Take the example of how Kaali is introduced to us, before we see him. Periyavar’s panicky wife asks him to call Kaali for help, but the man replies that the situation isn’t that bad, yet. “Kaththi innum kazhuththu kitta varala.” This is more than just the hero-praising lines we get in mass movies. This is a line that gives us a hint that Kaali is not someone you want back in your life unless… you really need Kaali back in your life.
There is a lot to applaud in Veera Dheera Sooran, especially the action set pieces. But two things prevent this experiment from truly succeeding. The first is the length. The screenplay is way too long for a film whose only USP is the detailing, and the concealment of vital information. After a while, as the plot mechanism becomes predictable, the film becomes tiresome. But the bigger problem is the decision to detail what was earlier just called “Sudhakar sambavam”. At first, when this incident is just alluded to, it becomes another of those mysteries that the characters know about but the audiences don’t. We know this incident is something horrible because Kalai tells Kaali that their daughter is still traumatised by it. But then, this incident is explained in detail, with a comical interval point that is tonally off given the grimy intensity of the rest of the movie. And suddenly, this incident doesn’t seem that big a deal. It just looks like… a mass scene.
If they were going to “massify” this story, I would have preferred an explanation of how Kalai and Kaali met, given the unusual circumstances of their wedding. Theirs is a refreshingly lusty relationship, and the scene where Kaali casually writes down Kalai’s blouse measurements for a tailor is the very definition of a rooted and realistic mass moment. One of the film’s best long-scenes is the one where Kalai follows Kaali around after Periyavar’s visit, and keeps asking him what he is going to do. But even though he is in sheer torture, Kaali doesn’t shout back at Kalai, and neither does he try to silence her with violence. This is a truly equal relationship, something you’d never find in a mass movie. Veera Dheera Sooran is a sincere, honourable work, an experiment like I said. The mix of tonalities doesn’t always succeed, but there’s lots and lots to admire.
