Delivering political ideologies and agendas has been Captain Vijayakanth’s motive in ‘Virudhagiri’. The actor unflaggingly focuses upon the recent issues like Indian student’s attack in Australia and brutalities against transgenders, which haven’t been sensationalized in any films before.
Most of the socio-commercial movies would have
Virudhagiri
the protagonists combating against bad politicians for society’s well being. On the contrary, ‘Virudhagiri’ proves to be different by touching upon some of the important issues. Vijayakanth delivers with his directorial touch for adding some essential ingredients in narration. The film is based on Liam Neeson starrer Hollywood movie ‘Taken’, an emotional thriller indeed. However, Captain’s idea linking the Australian attack on Indian students with this plot makes it interesting.
Virudhagiri (Vijayakanth), a sincere police officer endeavors in safeguarding the societal peace. Gaining international recognition for accomplishing a security task in foreign countries, he returns to Chennai handling a serious case of transgenders being scourged to death for organ racketing. On an unexpected turn, his niece (Madhuri Idaki) undertakes a trip to Australia, where she gets kidnapped by a group of strangers. Using his high-skilled intelligence activities, Virudhagiri flies down to the foreign land for the rescue.
Vijayakanth outlines whole lot of hard-hitting problems through dialogues that often wins applause from his audience, which includes the present film industry related issues of piracies... One such example is when Mansoor Ali Khan says “Avanga vaarisu edukuru pandanga mattum marketla varavae varadhu. Matthavan padam release aana anikke vandhududhu”. The title song ‘Makkal Oru Puram’ distinctly speaks off the actor’s expression on present-age political system. Implying the importance of Tamilians and their accomplishments in various arenas across the globe easily gains the attention of audiences.
Vijayakanth deserves special pat for not being enslaved to clichés like heroines falling in love with him and dancing duet numbers. The actor thereby strides on a clear route and avoids such unwanted ingredients, which otherwise would have been a spoiler.
But on the flipside with other characters in the film relentlessly praising the protagonist, it evokes delight only amongst his fans, while for others it may turn an ordeal. The self-aggrandizing liners penned by Vijayakanth go limitless after a certain extent, which should have been avoided. He goes irresistible over-singing self-praises to the baddies in foreigners. The screen play sometimes appears disconnected.
The picturizing of trigger-violent sequences of gruesome massacre of transgenders could have been softened as it creates aversion. Boopathy should have handled these shots in a moderate way while his creative placement of lens in few places, especially the action sequences is appreciable. Sundar C Babu’s title song ‘Yezhaigal Thozha Vaa Va’ is a pure political propaganda while ‘Makkal Oru Puram’ goes in right tunes.
The motive of Vijayakanth is very clear. He has used Virudhagiri as a communication vehicle to convey his thoughts at the same time satisfying the entertainment quotient to the audience. If you go with an unbiased notion, the film may appeal to you. For the hard core Vijaykanth fans, Virudhagiri is a treat!
Verdict: Captain’s self-promotion
