‘Vikram Vedha’ movie review: The Tamil re-production

Vikram VedhaDir Gayatri PushkarCast Hrithik Roshan Saif Ali KhanRating 25The difference between pure villain and the antihero I guess is that the latter comes with a backstorymotive attached making it hard to hate them unconditionallyAlso the reason heroes have forever played antiheroes on screen revelling in darkest shades of greymdashand this is way before Shah Rukh Khan in Baazigar 1993 Just look at Dev Anandrsquos noirthrillers with the slightly twisted but stylish hero justifying means towards a certain endVikram Vedha is in that sense about antiheroesmdashfor both the lead characters that the film is named after Before that though this is what lay audiences call a performance drivenoriented picture As in the sort of muscular movie people queue up for to gawk at their favourite stars topping the charts with their look armour gaze and the general swag of it allOn that point it hardly ever gets better than two of the best Bollywood staractors on screenmdashHrithik Roshan Saif Ali Khan Both have primed themselves up for the cinemas Roshan in a scruffy longish beard droopy eyes menacing gait unmatchable screen presence walking the talk in a PurviUP accentAlso Read Shruti Haasan Have been a Neil Gaiman fan since teenage daysGiven the level to which Roshan prepares for parts it might be interesting to figure how his acquired twang is nuanced differently from the Bihari one for Super 30 2019 He plays a mass murderer of sorts which is different from serialkillers who I suppose are meant to be dementedKhan likewise bodily pumped up for the role shows up as a triggerhappy cop in tight white shirts revolver tucked in and the Gshock Casio watch on his wrist Speaking of accents Khanrsquos ldquoama yaarrdquo sounded somewhat Bhopali to meEither way a dhamaal for a mass entertainer is hence set in motion Frankly this kind of characterisation followed by sorted action sequences should be enough for junta to label this picture lsquopaisa vasoolrsquo and move in or move on No quibbles there whatsoeverGenerous enough to appear in twostarrer movies where hersquos inevitably the second star Khan himself has delivered a few theatrical hits with movies that the more discerning viewers might give a twostar rating tomdashTanhaji 2020 being the most recent exampleAnd that came out right before the 2020 pandemic which as we speak has perhaps changed the way we receive theatrical entertainment even if itrsquos only a phaseThis is to place in context how mainstream films simultaneously released from the South Telugu Tamil Kannada with their original cast only dubbed in Hindi has been equally lapped by North Indian crowds Thatrsquos such a unifying trend Also practically everyone has access to movies from everywhere thanks to the Internet accessed further during lockdownIrsquom guessing if not almost sure this Hindi remake of the Tamil Vikram Vedha 2017 mustrsquove been greenlit by Roshan in particular since he does such few films before the pandemicOnly that this isnrsquot so much a remakemdashwhich is supposed to be a reinterpretationadaptationmdashas it is altogether a reproduction with the same directors Gayatri Pushkar and the cast replaced and some highgrade memorable moneyshots in placeWhat are we looking at here The massmurderer Vedha who voluntarily surrenders himself to the encountercop Vikram The coprsquos lawyer wife Radhika Apte strange casting in turn swiftly secures the gangsterrsquos bail which might be impossible in current circumstances The debate is over crimes and intent And that the gangster has stories to patiently explain his reasons for taking up the gunWersquove been through this interplay between the superhero and the supervillain in detachedly grand mythologised settings such as the Joker and Batman This is realistically set in presentday Uttar Pradesh between Lucknow and Kanpur both of which donrsquot look like livedin experiences in the film Still you canrsquot situate a script in a current location and divorce it from its inherent politicsBearing that in mind and all that we consume in the newsmdashfor Godrsquos sake the policemen conducting fake encounterkillings is plain illegalwrong period Wherersquos the shade of grey here Let alone contrasted with the gangster whose killings can only be justified if the state has been wholly corrupted and lost its monopoly over violenceThat said when you step in for this stylish actioner do make sure yoursquore fresh as a daisylilytomato As against exhausted after a long day at work as I was For what follows are simply the two leads with guns in their hand but they must talk and talk instead of simply shoot and scootThe loud constant background score lsquoNanananananarsquo drills a minor hole in your head When Vedha is four stories down finally in the end he asks Vikram once again ldquoNow should I tell you a romantic storyrdquo On cue I hear myself go ldquoNo Oh nordquoAlso Read INSIDE PICS Richa Chadha and Ali Fazals cocktail party and reception