Vikram Vedha — "Let me tell you a story."

Vikram is a brave and honest police inspector who is decisive about right and wrong. Vedha is a criminal who understands the grey shades between good and evil. Vikram leads an encounter* unit formed to eliminate Vedha. In the course of the manhunt, Vedha tells Vikram three stories which change his perceptions of good and evil.

This neo-noir film is a classic story of cat-and-mouse between criminal and policeman which kept us guessing, especially when Vedha's moral questions kept throwing new light on the investigation. It's an exciting thriller that also makes us think as each time Vedha says "let me tell you a story" with a wicked twinkle in his eye. We see new light shed on our judgment of the characters as Vikram is forced to reassess himself and the situation.

The movie's framework of using stories to engage two protagonists to a meeting of minds is inspired by the Indian folktale Baital Pachisi. They are also known as internationally Vikram-Betaal and are often called the vetala tales. So we can see whence the names of the film protagonasts are derived. These are ancient Sanskrit stories which made us think of the Scheherazade stories in that a framing story encapsulates a lot of other tales.  Knowing just the basic outline of the stories gave us context adding another layer of understanding and enjoyment to the movie. We could only imagine how much fun watching this must have been for Indians knowing the Baital Pachisi.

We were really impressed with the storytelling and directing from the husband and wife team Pushkar · Gayatri. We weren't the only ones. This was a really popular film and is going to be remade in Hindi, using the same directors. The cast were all good but the main stars made the film. We'd never seen Vijay Sethupathi before but his intelligent, self assured gangster with a twinkle in his eye captured our hearts at once. It is easy to see why he is so popular that his nickname from fans is "People's Treasure." (I love the way that the Indian fans love their movie stars.) We've seen Madhavan (Vikram) in other movies but he is something of a chameleon and can be hard to pick out as he ranges from a crazy college kid in 3 Idiots to the hapless love in Tanu Weds Manu to the self assured detective Vikram.

Rating — for viewers with medium to difficult Indian film experience. (It's not rocket science, but without any cultural background at all you might feel kind of lost.)

* Encounter killings are something we have been shocked to find are an accepted feature of Indian society and often featured in films as heroic. Wikipedia explains:

Encounter killing is a term used in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka since the late 20th century to describe extrajudicial killings by the police or the armed forces, supposedly in self-defence, when they encounter suspected gangsters or terrorists. In the 1990s and the mid-2000s, the Mumbai Police used encounter killings to attack the city's underworld, and the practice spread to other large cities.

24 — Time Travel, South Indian Style

A scientist invents a time machine but his evil twin brother is after it and will go to any lengths to get the device in his hands.

We can't get enough Suriya. Luckily director/writer Vikram Kumar knew that and cast him in a triple role in this movie. Suriya played the inventor, the evil twin brother, and the inventor's grown son. He was so good that I kept forgetting it was one actor instead of three, which is saying something. 

I wish Christopher Nolan watched 24 before he did Tenent. Nolan only wishes he knew how to explain a complex time travel plot the way this did. I really loved the way VK carried off 24's complicated plot which called back to every little thing that was used at the beginning of the film. VK didn't miss a trick. 

It's at least half an hour too long and a slow starter which is often the case for Indian films. The love story was odd, partly because they didn't give Samantha enough to do except stand around looking adorable. However, there was also an odd stalker-ish element to the funny way the guy was keeping her interested in him. I don't think it played that way in India at all, but eventually it seemed a bit mean.

This phrase has been used in our home by everyone more than once by now - the morning after viewing - "I'm a watch mechanic. This is child's play to me." It gets funnier each time you see it in the movie and we love it. 

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Sarvam Thaala Mayam (Rhythm is Everywhere)

 

A mridangam maker's son, who aspires to learn the instrument from a maestro and become a mridangam player, has to cross social and personal barriers to reach his goal.

This is the tale of a young man struggling to overcome the hurdles of low caste and shallowness (and possibly his Christianity if I read some of the derogatory comments from the villain correctly) to learn classical Indian drum playing from a master artist. 

 The young star was good and I especially enjoyed his journey to learn the rhythm of world in the second half. The final competition on reality TV was a lot of fun. I loved the call and response with the audience. I was also impressed with the effect of the mastery of the mridangam. Who knew such a simple looking instrument could be such a versatile instrument?

I'm always interested when Indian films feature classical music because it is so very different from anything we in the West would identify as classical. I first came across this in Raazi where the young husband and wife bonded over classical Indian records. I really liked the way that the contrast between progress and mastery, discovery and command were displayed through the guru and the student. This was greatly aided by the fact that the master was depicted by an Indian master actor (think Jack Nicholson fame here) and the student by an accomplished musician (who also is a good actor).

We all know the familiar beats of such a story but this movie hit them so well and enjoyably that this was a real crowd pleaser for our family. It's an engaging movie that an adventurous American viewer would like.  

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)