Movie Review: Vettaiyan

Rajini is not yet finished!

Its been 5 days since the movie released and all reports indicate the movie is still going strong. I've already watched the movie twice. On the opening night and during the weekend and on both days, the show was more than 75% full. 

After the success of Jailer in 2023, expectations for Vettaiyan were not very much with the makers of the movie keeping the hype and expectations low, but with the release of the movie and the positive word of mouth feedback, the movie is on track to become yet another massive hit for Thalaivar. 

Straight up, the movie is a T.J.Gnanavel movie with the mass moments built in for the hardcore Rajini fans. The story in the movie is completely different to what I and many others expected it to be after watching the prevue and trailer. In my opinion, there is like 3 different messages inside this story that TJGn has delivered to the audience. The screenplay keeps you thinking whats happening with very few moments where you can guess, oh this is what's going to happen. Watching it for the 2nd time, you see a lot of breadcrumbs that the director has left throughout the movie to guide us and sometimes put us off which I thought was clever.. Well done to TJ Gnanavel for proving that he can too make a big star film with a strong message to give out. Looking forward to his next work.

The film has a big star cast. Rajini, Big B, Fahadh Fasil, Rana, Manju Warriar, Ritika Singh, Dushara, Rohini and Abhirami and the film feels like everyone had just the right amount of screen time in the movie and a reason for them being in the movie. Every character served a purpose on the story unlike many films where the female characters are only for the sake of having one. 

Rajini at 73 is still commanding the screen. The stunt directors and the movie directors have done the best they could with him and it looks great. Big B at 82 just takes it over. There is a scene where he walks into a room and everyone stands up and you feel like you also have to stand up at the theater. Such is his presence on screen. And Big B fit the character so well, I really cant think of anyone else who could have played that character with Rajini. 

Fahadh Fasil, the darling of the movie, the one who keeps us grounded at most time with his witty comedy, the looks and the emotions. He made such an impact on screen. So much so that you can see and hear the audience audibly and visibly go "oh" when a particular scene happens towards the end of the movie. 

The ladies also were superb. Manju opening with the Manasilayo song coming in at regular intervals. That one scene again, towards the end, tells me that there is a big backstory for her. I hope T.J.Gnanavel makes a prequel movie with Manju as the lead to tell her backstory. Dushera's role is the key to the movie. Her performance does justice to the role. As an actor, she's quickly coming up as a star. And then Ritika, another role who travels throughout the movie. Again, T.J.Gnanavel can do a sequel to Vettaiyan with Ritika as the lead. I liked how they got Ritika to do an action sequence with Fahadh watching from the sides. We need more of these. 

The thing I liked the most in this movie, in terms of technical aspects is the cinematography and the editing. Kathir with the camera work and Philomin with trim job have done amazingly well.. Over the years, Ive become a fan of Philomin's work that I now sometimes watch movies because of his involvement. Kathir has also done some amazing camera work. The framing of shots were very unusual and adding to the mass elements of the top actors. 

Anirudh once again shows us that he gives his best work for Thalaivar Rajini. I strongly believed that Hunter Vantar song was going to be a credits song but the way he had used it throughout the movie, including as BGM was great. His BGM just elevated the movie even more. The two songs that were not pre-released, Uchathila (sung by Sean Roldan) and Vaazh Veesum (sung by Ani himself) made those scene of those songs even more emotional. Uchathila was a really hard hitting one. (The full album has now been released when I started writing this review)

Overall, the movie is quite good. If you are a Rajini fan, its going to be a feast. 

My Rating: 3.8/5