Veeramae Vaagai Soodum review: Vishal’s film is a quintessential vigilante drama with decent action

Veeramae Vaagai Soodum review: The film stands out with some decent action stretches. Even some over-the-top fight sequences work because of Vishal.

TP Saravanan’s Veeramae Vaagai Soodum has both interesting and predictable stretches. Even though it unfolds like your regular revenge-themed vigilante drama, where a common man decides to go against the system to get justice, it works in parts because of the narrative. Instead of creating a story where a hero takes on a villain in a straightforward way, Saravanan builds the tension with multiple crimes colliding to form a domino effect. If not for these multiple crime angles, the film would’ve been just another boring story of revenge. Still, you can’t shake off the predictability in some places.

Veeramae Vaagai Soodum: Vishal in a still from the movie. 

Vishal plays Porus alia Purushothaman, who is getting ready to be a police officer. He’s the kind of guy who believes in flexing his strength when it comes to dealing with injustice. His father, a constable, feels his anger will someday land him in trouble and end his career even before donning the khaki. Baburaj plays a lawless local politician who’s eyeing for an MP seat. His younger brother uses his clout in college to do anything and get away with it. In one incident, Baburaj’s brother gets embroiled in an MMS scandal involving his college mate, which leads to a police complaint.

Simultaneously, Porus’ sister is constantly harassed by a local thug and when it goes out of control, Porus gets involved to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, Baburaj must deal with an employee from his factory who has been protesting for the closure of the establishment for polluting nearby villages with hazardous waste. The eventual story-line reveals that all three crimes are interconnected.

Vishal, dubbed as the action star of Tamil cinema, lives up to that image in most of his films. Veeramae Vaagai Soodum is yet another example, which stands out with some decent action stretches. Even some over-the-top fight sequences work because of Vishal, who has always succeeded in pulling off stunts and making it look believable. Vishal’s character is written in a way that he also uses his future-cop skills to interpret the crimes and connect the missing dots.

Unfortunately, like most Tamil films, Veeramae Vaagai Soodum is also plagued with poorly written female characters. The character of the protagonist's mother is sidelined by assigning kitchen chores while the sister's role also gets an awkward portrayal in certain scenes. Dimple Hayati as the heroine gets a decent introductory scene, in which she calls out the her manager for misbehaviour. However, every scene after that has hardly anything for her in it.

As a vigilante action film, Veeramae Vaagai Soodum makes for a decent watch. It does feel long drawn at 2 hours and 46 minutes but the action keeps you pinned till the last minute.

Film: Veeramae Vaagai Soodum

Director: TP Saravanan

Cast: Vishal, Baburaj, Dimple Hayati and Yogi Babu