TJ Gnanavel’s Vettaiyan wants you to believe that it isn’t a typical supercop film. The Tamil film has loaded lines about police harassment and systemic biases. Gnanavel’s screenplay carries an important message about police encounters, which Tamil filmmakers have glorified for far too long, and a twisted form of vigilantism that fans have lapped up.
You wouldn’t expect anything less from a director who made police brutality the subject of his powerful second film Jai Bhim (2021). However, any form of subversion in Vettaiyan is restricted to pieces of dialogue scattered across a Rajinikanth film that remains an excessive exercise in grandstanding.
Athiyan (Rajinikanth) is a so-called encounter specialist, the antithesis of Suriya’s law-abiding Chandru from Jai Bhim. Athiyan reduces criminals to dust, intrudes in cases that are not his, and bends the law to make his own form of justice.
Aiding Athiyan’s crusade are the police officer Roopa (Ritika Singh) and Battery, a self-indulgent thief (loveably played by Fahadh Faasil). A silent but overarching figure for Athiyan is human rights lawyer Satyadev (Amitabh Bachchan), who fights for a justice that is true and bereft of vigilantism.
A violent crime raises questions not just about the perpetrator but also about the dangers of bending the law. Intriguing portions about the implications of herd mentality and deep-rooted class biases follow as Athiyan reevaluates everything he knows about being a policeman.
These scenes are ever so often cut with exaggerated action sequences. For a film that wants to present an alternate viewpoint on extrajudicial killing, Vettaiyan’s incessant star service comes off as hollow – not so much because a septuagenarian nimbly breaks bones but because the treatment goes completely against what the script fights for.
Vettaiyan advocates for a world where justice is not buried or hurried – a world that understands the complexities of a truth without rushing to oversimplify things. But the 163-minute movie takes unbelievably long to get there.
Anirudh’s score, while catchy, acts as a recurring prompt, coercing us into appreciating Athiyan’s swagger without really feeling anything. The villains are as disposable as they come.
Manju Warrier gets a decorated special appearance with unfortunately nothing much to do. Among the characters who make their presence felt are men who are two sides of the same coin: Sathyadev, an extension of Tamil Nadu’s legal legend Chandru, and Battery, a Horlicks-guzzling sidekick.
TJ Gnanavel’s stamp is invariably felt in scenes where he pushes us to face our own biases. But in Vettaiyan, he seems to be stuck in a sticky spot. A homage to a beloved star locks horns with a social justice film. Vettaiyan leaves us none the wiser about which of these sides wins.
