Indian films try to promote a hero and his image rather than promoting a story. We have directors who are clever marketers and who believe that making a movie that satisfies fans at the theatres is more than enough with a star who is willing to do anything for a movie. They just calculate while writing how many fans are going to enjoy this sequence and doesn’t really concentrate on story or purpose for making a movie. Is this Vivekam also such a movie?
Plot : Ajay Kumar (Ajith), a Counter Terrorist Squad officer and a clever strategist in warfare doesn’t feel threatened by anything in his life. But he once gets badly bruised and almost killed by the treason of his friends whom he believe. How he rises from the ashes and wins the fight forms the crux of the story. Ajay Sinha (Vivek Oberoi) his fellow agent and a great friend cheats him during a mission. Why he does that? Who all helps him? Hassini (Kajal Aggarwal) forms the crux of Ajith’s survival, how and why? To know the answers, watch the movie!
Performances : Ajith gives his best to the film. He transforms his body from fat to fit. He looks an authentic agent but Siva fails to give him good scenes to shine as an actor. Even though he did pull of unimaginable stunts, we don’t get the adrenaline rush that the makers thought we would. Kajal Aggarwal has matured into an actress and we can see that in her performance. But the writing needs to even cohesive for her to shine.
Vivek Anand Oberoi even though looks the part and gives an authentic tone to his performance this is mere cakewalk for him. Bringing such a popular and capable actor to the mix, one expects to extract much more but again Siva disappoints with his writing. All other actors are mere props in this movie including Akshara Haasan.
Technicalities : Anirudh Ravichandran who proved time and again that he is a great talent in giving suitable BGM to a scene, once again excels here. He captures the mood of the movie right. Vetri, the cinematographer doesn’t disappoint us in anyway as he is able to pull off some great shots under trying conditions. Even his color tones work well in tune for the movie. But editor spoils his work with his rash cuts. Ruben, who is a talented editor seems to be in rush here. Unnecessarily he tries to add more cuts to normal scene as well and one fails to fathom what is the rush all about. He makes the movie a mess.
Writer and director, Siva understands only one thing, whatever your movie might be just use the actor who has an image and try to play to the gallery. In his rush to do that he doesn’t really care about content and even though if he has some good content on his table and a willing actor, he just makes it a mess with the unhappening writing only he can pull off. With a good popular hero any director and writer tries hard to make a believable Spy thriller. But being a calculative maker more than a story teller, Siva kills the movie with unnecessary cuts and jumps between timelines in trying to ape english series and movies of the genre and also make the film look relevant and new. All his efforts in creating Ajith Fan Moments are fruitful but the character ends there. Film also revolves around the same point without going anywhere.
Analysis : Movie making is about satisfying fans of an actor. It is more about a story and in that if you add an actor and his image that transforms better on screen. Here Siva succeeds in creating moments where you enjoy heroism but fails in giving it all a good purpose in the end. The movie ends up being a mess and he is the major culprit for that. You may watch this movie if you like Ajith as a person and an actor!
Rating : 2/5
