Vedalam Movie Review

November 10, 2015

2 minutes read

Review Overview

Performances

BGM & Technical Aspects

Screenplay & Direction

A formulaic masala sans important ingredients.

Toting up, Vedalam is a could-have-been-an-entertaining film had the director concentrated more on screenplay instead of pandering to the star image of his lead character.

Cast: Ajith Kumar, Shruti Haasan, Lakshmi Menon, Soori, Thambi Ramaiah, Ashwin, Rahul Dev, Kabir Singh, Kovai Sarala & others

Cinematography: Vetri

Music: Anirudh

Editor: Antony Ruben

Stunts: Stunt Silva

PRO: Suresh Chandra

Written & Directed by: Siva

Production: Shri Saairaam Creations

Release Date: 10-11-2015

Run Time: 02:32:00

Ajith Kumar’s Vedalam boasts a ton of cliches in style, making the neutral audiences cringe and faithful fans go berserk at the mildly entertaining histrionics of their idol, which is sparsed throughout the film.

Ganesh (Ajith), a childlike, affable cab driver, who arrives to Kolkatta to enroll her lovable sister Tamizh (Lakshmi Menon) in arts college, unleashes a couple of high-profile murders to everyone’s surprise. The mystery behind the murders forms the story of Vedalam.

The gloss and hangover of gravely formulaic Telugu films are highly evident in director Siva’s filmmaking flair, which portrays poorly sketched villains that mouth done-to-death punchlines unabashedly.

The first half of the film is partly entertaining thanks to the entourage of comedians including Soori, Kovai Sarala, Mayilsamy, Bala Saravanan and Lollu Sabha Swaminathan who manage to tickle the funny bone at regular occasions, that come at the cost of few middlingly conceived scenes. Soori’s wisecracks range from utterly rubbish to adequately entertaining. It would, definitely, not be an overstatement to say that Shruti Haasan is also one of the comedians. But not a successful one at that though. Her staginess gets unmasked in a scene or two when she tries to chew more than she could bite.

The second half is a huge dampener and disappointment. The proceeding go leisurely with Anirudh’s manipulative, over-the-top background score, hare-brained scenes that reek of shoddy melodrama and few handicapped character arcs that are purely banal. The flashback portion, which was supposed to steady the film, comes as an impediment thanks to the custom-fit brother-sister sentiment sequences Siva manages to stage.

As always, Ajith takes on the responsibility of entertaining the audience single-handedly but his efforts yield results, which are not so satisfying this time. Siva needed his masala moments to come of age and a little matured to make it more enjoyable and accessible. But he fails miserably at that.

Toting up, Vedalam is a could-have-been-an-entertaining film had the director concentrated more on screenplay instead of pandering to the star image of his lead character.