Vettaiyadu Vilayadu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Kamal Hassan, Jyothika, Kamilini Mukherjee, Daniel Balaji, Prakash Raj, etc.
Director: Gautham Menon
Music: Harris Jeyaraj

Major expectations, a Gautham Menon movie featuring Kamal Hassan...That is an awesome combination. But this movie did not keep up to it...I was being reminded of Khaka Khaka (KK) at every nook and corner of this movie. There were literally no twists, climax so predictable, and so was the story. Surya should be proud, everything Kamal tried to do reminded me of Surya in KK. I somehow feel that he fitted the bill of a Cop better than Kamal did in VV.

Kamal rushes to the side of Prakash Raj whose daughter was kidnapped and her finger was severed and tied on a rope on his doorstep. Kamal who used to report to Prakash Raj helps uncover the body of his daughter and promises that he will find the culprit/culprits. Prakash Raj and his wife who leave India to US to stay with a relative to forget their loss are also murdered. Kamal is asked to go and do the final rites for Prakash and his wife and also help the American police in the investigation. So Kamal boards his flight to the US of A.

On his way to NY Kamal thinks about his wife Kamalinee Mukherjee who was no more...Very predictable part and felt like watching KK ending. Kamalinee appears exactly for two minutes in the whole movie...Now that Kamal is in NY and has checked into Renaissance he meets his next door neighbor, Jo, also a Tamilian (of course) trying to commit suicide over a failed marriage. Now you know where this story is going...

Kamal meets up with NYPD and officer Anderson drives him around until Kamal solves the crime and narrows it down to two medical college students in NY from Tamilnadu. They were the two students who would have been beaten by Prakash Raj for eveteasing his daughter. They are psychopath killers on loose. Kamal is beaten up when these kids escape from right under his nose and also from Indian Police when they re-enter India.

Kamal comes back to Chennai, and so does Jo. They are now in love and the villains get to know about this...How else can this movie proceed? If you have already seen KK...Then this mystery must be a piece of cake to solve....

Why I did not like this movie:
1) Kamal overacting.
2) Feels like watching KK all over again with a semi-new cast.
3) I don't know they had to include Kamalinee Mukherjee in the script at all. Was it to show that Kamal was an avengeful cop? Or was it to show that he was bitter against gundas because of what had happened to his wife? Why? Waste of a song and take a ten minute detour in the movie.
4) Why are villains always stupid to confess to a cop? And how come they are always sure the cop will die and not check on him if he is dead or not?
5) How come the American cop is running around to Kamal's orders? Does he not have enough stuff to worry about considering the fact that he works with NYPD?
6) Kamal and his smart ass dialogues, "Gut feeling = Raghavan instinct."
7) Why and why and for the millionth time why can't a director make a movie that has minimal shades of his past successful movie?
8) Why does Kamal talk in a guttural voice? Very annoying.
9) Why does Kamal always include at least one scene in his movie where he speaks Madras Baashai? We all know he can do it...there is no need to do repeat it.
10) The first stunt/fight scene Kamal has with some no-name villain was a waste of time...my gut feeling is that Kamal forced the director to include it to present a macho image.

In simple words I think KK was a far more better fare than VV and Gautham has to really do something better than that and not similar to that to make me like his movies in the future...Do not watch this movie with children as it has graphic images...

About music...Harris Jeyaraj is brilliant...But why does VV songs give you the feel of "engayo ketta maadhiri irukku?" and also I like B. Jayashree's voice...But singing the same type of songs is just getting a little too tiring for me...

See the movie as most people who have reviewed it elsewhere on the net seem to have liked it but if you are anything like me then I am sure you would not enjoy it too...I hate too much on screen violence and graphic images! They don't give me a very good after taste of the film.