#Viduthalai2 Review

#Viduthalai2

2024-Tamil

Starring : Soori , Vijay Sethupathi, Kishore , Manju Warrier , Gautham Menon , Balaji Sakthivel , Tamizh , Rajiv Menon and Chetan

Directed by Vettrimaran 

Plot : The film narrates the backstory of Perumal Vaathiyaar, a humble school teacher who is compelled to become a revolutionary due to life-altering events. In the present, Kumaresan, who is tasked with arresting Vaathiyaar, faces a moral dilemma—whether to support Vaathiyaar's cause or comply with his superiors' orders. The story unfolds as events transpire following Vaathiyaar's arrest, leading to a gripping and thought-provoking conclusion that talks about a very important topic.

Performance wise , Vijay Sethupathi takes the centre stage in this sequel as it mostly revolves his backstory. He has done a fantastic job and he portrayed the layered role flawlessly. Soori as the Kumaresan the protagonist, gets a relative lesser screen space and importance in this sequel but did a fabulous job in the last act of the film. His silent performance in climax is a standout. Manju Warrier gets a good role and has performed really well. Kishore great role with a fantastic impact. Chetan is terrific as usual right from Part 1. His role especially in last 30 mins was great. Thamizh almost comes as an extended cameo and did a good job. Same with Gautham Menon too. Rajiv Menon is pretty good in a limited role. Ilavarasu cameo has some light moments. Ken Karunas Cameo was fantastic. Small role , big impact. Balaji Sakthivel also same . Anurag Cameo felt unnecessary to be honest. It was good to see Vincent Ashokan after a long time on screen, wish he gets more roles.

Technically the film is strong . Thanks to Velraj's Fantastic cinematography which makes the film visually stunning. R. Ramars editing could've been much sharper at places as some sequences felt dragged beyond a point. Ilayaraja's songs and background score is pretty good and works as magic on screen. As usual dubbing and lip sync issues.

The Film opens right after where Part 1 Ended and proceeds with the flashback portions of Perumal Vaathiyaar and how from a small teacher he transforms into a people's leader. While the first half somewhat has a non linear screenplay where the portions shift between flashback and present, it does engage the audience. Mostly the sequences are dialogues oriented and heavily rely on Monologues. The romantic story between Vaathiyaar and Mahalakshmi is portrayed beautifully without adding any unnecessary elements. The First largely focuses on Vijay Sethupathi character alone and Soori barely has 2-3 scenes only. The film takes its time in establishing the flashback episode character of Perumal and his bonding with K.K Thozhar. Kishore as K.K.Thozhar was fantastic. The Second Half mostly deals with the aftermath of Perumal's arrest and the political unrest it causes. 

Talking about the film's negatives , the film's base issue is lackluster screenplay. Vettrimaran who is known for his brilliant screenplay misses it here...as the screenplay feels underdeveloped. A lot of sequences felt like they were written on spot. Though Vettrimaran has accepted he does that frequently , in his previous films it didn't feel like that but here it feels like it was added on the last minute due to constant reshoots . Also the Lip Sync issues are very visible especially on closeup sequences. Due to the film's strong political contents , Vettri is forced to mute or modify dialogues on the last minute and we cannot blame him really for that, but still unfortunately the lip sync issue feels like a con for the film. Also the haphazard editing makes the film feel abrupt at times. Reports suggested that initial cut of this film was 4 hrs something which was later cut down to 2hr 53 mins which was again cut down to 2 hr 45 mins. The constant trimming has somewhat the film look like it's missing some important Subplots but the makers decided to focus more on the main core over subplots. Really wish either we could've directly got the 4hr cut or they could've trimmed it in a better way and edited it properly.

 Director Vettrimaran, had taken a very simple core plot of ideology clash and had developed Viduthalai 1 in a simple way but here he tries to fully venture into the political aspects of the plot. Compared to Predecessor, this film speaks more stronger political ideologies. The film overall has a very documentary -ish type feel due to over political exposition but never feels boring. Even though majority of the sequence are Monologues driven , they don't feel preachy. The Different and partially open ended climax might not sit well everyone and might become a topic of conversation but nevertheless, Vetrimaaran never ceases to surprise us. Even with flaws here and there , the film largely works thanks due to the actors wonderful performance and the strong political commentary that the film is trying to say .

Highlights:

1)Ken Karunas Cameo Sequence 

2)Factory Sequences 

3)Pre Interval Fight

4)Soori's Climax performance 

Overall: Viduthalai 2 is a pretty good sequel that stays true to its genre. It is definitely not like it's predecessor but works as a satisfying conclusion. 'W'etrimaaran.

Rating: 3.75-4/5

Television Rights: Kalaignar TV

Digital Rights: Zee5