We miss the old Kamal Haasan who gave us great films like Apoorva Raagangal, 16 Vaythinile and Nayakan among many others. There he immersed himself in different characters, and he hardly made us think about the actor. We thought of the characters and followed them. But for many years now, he has thrown it away, instead of playing himself, Lotus!
Raj Kapoor was a showman, right, but he still tried to identify with the character he was essaying; Haasan has failed here. He – after filming in recent years – can’t let go of his image as a star. He never lets us forget that he is Kamal, and plays in the galleries of his fan clubs. But I suspect that even his hardcore fans are starting to get tired. Remember, we are now in the internet age, and OTT platforms have some great things to offer.
Kamal’s latest adventure, Vikram, comes after a gap of four years. His last outing was Vishwaroopam 2, and he was a highly forgettable effort in 2018. Writer-director Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram may be better than Vishwaroopam 2, but it doesn’t say much.
Vikram is drama, drama, drama all the way in which the director not only bites off more than he can chew but also displays his fanatical admiration for Kamal. Luckily, we have excellent actors like Fahadh Faasil and Vijay Sethupathi, who though are getting typecast and still need to work on their dialogue delivery. I saw shades of his Vikram Vedha character in Kanagaraj’s thriller whose high octane action and loud decibel levels are enough to tire one after the other. And the film of 177 minutes is quite long, and in the second half it fills us with boredom.
The beginning is promised, but Vikram is allowed to ruin it later. The film moves on multiple levels – the case of a consignment of missing drugs (Suriya has a cameo as a crime boss), and the intriguing incident of masked men killing the cops (which reminded me of the 1960s And in 1970s Calcutta when young Naxalites do the same, crushing policemen, who were considered class enemies, with Karnan’s (Haasan) father being victimized, is a saga of revenge.
In a brilliant piece of work depicting Sethupathi as the head of a police team chasing Santhanam (a terrifying drug lord) Amar – Faasil is trying to crack down on crime. And finally, we are given a twist that is both charming and alluring!
Sadly, the story loses much of it after a point, and the element of thrill and suspense is lost in the faint drama. And Kamal remains Kamal (during runtime, he gets another name and identity) fails to put his once alluring magic back on track. He’s all swag, and of course, very little acting skill is required for his part. He just expected guns blazing. But what a waste of a great talent. The flaws and logical inconsistencies abound, but the shots and cuts are lovely, even the rhythmic ones. Girish Gangadharan’s camerawork is top class. I wish the writing was nice and realistic. The suspension of disbelief is the past, history. it does not work anymore.
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