On the unenviable lines of his past monster-pieces Tirupachi, Madurey, Villu, Sura and Vettaikkaran, Vijay has taken Tamil Cinema eight steps backward this Diwali with Velayudham.
Diving into the Telugu Cesspoo: As if there were no more sophomoric drivel left in Tamil Cinema and all combinations of puerile junk had been exhausted, M. Raja dives into the cesspool of Telugu cinema by shamelessly stealing (or borrowing, if he has bought the rights) this fiendish plot from Azad, a 11-year-old movie starring Nagarjuna and Shilpa Shetty. With minor changes from Azad, the storyline of Velayudham goes like this In a plot that resembles Vijayakanth's movies, Tamil Nadu's Home Minister is in cahoots with Jihadi Terrorists who wish to destabilize India by bombing Chennai. Yeah right! Even terrorists are bored of bombing the same old Mumbai or Delhi.
Bharati (Genelia), a journalist and her two male colleagues launch a crusade against the evils plaguing society.A sting operation goes awry, both her colleagues are killed and Bharati too has a close shave with death.The stupid thugs who killed them blow themselves up accidentally put not before giving a vaakumoolam (confession) to Bharati that they were involved in the previous bombing and another one is coming next week. Bharati has a brainwave, conjures up a fictitious character called Velayudham, writes a note signed by Velayudham warning all criminals that he was responsible for killing the thugs and he would stop the next terror plot.
Meanwhile, a village milkman, Velayudham (Vijay in a never before seen role), his sister Kaveri (Saranya Mohan) and a bunch of cronies come to Chennai to collect the money he had invested in a chit fund company.
Velayudham ends up accidentally and unknowingly saving the public from the terror attacks while still staying unknown to the public. As usual, the stupid Tamil people start believing the existence of Velayudham just as they believed in the Indian Thatha, Kandasamy and Anniyan. Once this news reaches Bharati, she solicits the real Velayudham to continue to play the fictitious one but he declines.
However when the chit fund company turns out to be a fraud and he loses all his money Velayudham, the milkman has a change of heart and Velayudham, the crusader is born.
The rest of the story is about how he foils all the terror plots and saves the people of Tamil Nadu.
With eyes like a tiger, lion like ferocity, legs like Cheetah and a body like Bruce Lee, what chance do the bad guys really have?
The screenplay is typical of Vijay films – forced songs, loads of fist fights, Thangachi (sister) sentiment, unrelated comedy track, preachy, people extolling the hero's virtues and topped off with a political tinge.
M. Raja tests the patience of the audience when describing the paasamalar (loving) relationship of the Anna – Thangachi duo and their playful pranks on the villagers in flashbacks coming one after the other in rapid succession making you want to pull the hair off your head i.e. making the audience a Mayira pudungi (a Tamil cuss word). It would not be a sin to leave this section blank as new words need to be invented to describe performances in Vijay movies. However, I'll try to be kind.
Vijay is a perfect fit for this role as it does not require great skills (besides Vijay doesn't have much to boast of anyway). However, he looks physically fit – has a shirtless fight scene in the climax that would make Salman Khan cringe.
Vijay also continues to excel in his Kakavalippu (epileptic seizure) dance moves. He seemed to have put some effort into a scene where he is required to cry.
Diving into the Telugu Cesspoo: As if there were no more sophomoric drivel left in Tamil Cinema and all combinations of puerile junk had been exhausted, M. Raja dives into the cesspool of Telugu cinema by shamelessly stealing (or borrowing, if he has bought the rights) this fiendish plot from Azad, a 11-year-old movie starring Nagarjuna and Shilpa Shetty. With minor changes from Azad, the storyline of Velayudham goes like this In a plot that resembles Vijayakanth's movies, Tamil Nadu's Home Minister is in cahoots with Jihadi Terrorists who wish to destabilize India by bombing Chennai. Yeah right! Even terrorists are bored of bombing the same old Mumbai or Delhi.
Bharati (Genelia), a journalist and her two male colleagues launch a crusade against the evils plaguing society.A sting operation goes awry, both her colleagues are killed and Bharati too has a close shave with death.The stupid thugs who killed them blow themselves up accidentally put not before giving a vaakumoolam (confession) to Bharati that they were involved in the previous bombing and another one is coming next week. Bharati has a brainwave, conjures up a fictitious character called Velayudham, writes a note signed by Velayudham warning all criminals that he was responsible for killing the thugs and he would stop the next terror plot.
Meanwhile, a village milkman, Velayudham (Vijay in a never before seen role), his sister Kaveri (Saranya Mohan) and a bunch of cronies come to Chennai to collect the money he had invested in a chit fund company.
Velayudham ends up accidentally and unknowingly saving the public from the terror attacks while still staying unknown to the public. As usual, the stupid Tamil people start believing the existence of Velayudham just as they believed in the Indian Thatha, Kandasamy and Anniyan. Once this news reaches Bharati, she solicits the real Velayudham to continue to play the fictitious one but he declines.
However when the chit fund company turns out to be a fraud and he loses all his money Velayudham, the milkman has a change of heart and Velayudham, the crusader is born.
The rest of the story is about how he foils all the terror plots and saves the people of Tamil Nadu.
With eyes like a tiger, lion like ferocity, legs like Cheetah and a body like Bruce Lee, what chance do the bad guys really have?
The screenplay is typical of Vijay films – forced songs, loads of fist fights, Thangachi (sister) sentiment, unrelated comedy track, preachy, people extolling the hero's virtues and topped off with a political tinge.
M. Raja tests the patience of the audience when describing the paasamalar (loving) relationship of the Anna – Thangachi duo and their playful pranks on the villagers in flashbacks coming one after the other in rapid succession making you want to pull the hair off your head i.e. making the audience a Mayira pudungi (a Tamil cuss word). It would not be a sin to leave this section blank as new words need to be invented to describe performances in Vijay movies. However, I'll try to be kind.
Vijay is a perfect fit for this role as it does not require great skills (besides Vijay doesn't have much to boast of anyway). However, he looks physically fit – has a shirtless fight scene in the climax that would make Salman Khan cringe.
Vijay also continues to excel in his Kakavalippu (epileptic seizure) dance moves. He seemed to have put some effort into a scene where he is required to cry.