Vikram Vedha

Vikram Vedha
Film poster
Directed by	Pushkar-Gayathri
Produced by	S. Sashikanth
Written by	Pushkar-Gayathri Manikandan
Starring	R. Madhavan Vijay Sethupathi
Music by	Sam C. S.
Cinematography	P. S. Vinod
Edited by	Richard Kevin
Production company	Y NOT Studios
Distributed by	Trident Arts
Release date	July 21, 2017 (2017-07-21)[1]
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Box office	est. ₹70 crore

Vikram Vedha is an Indian Tamil-language neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Pushkar and Gayathri featuring R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi in the lead roles. Achyuth Kumar, Shraddha Srinath, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Kathir play supporting roles. Produced by Sashikanth, the team began pre-production works in 2014 and the film began production in November 2016. The film released on July 21, 2017.^[2]

Plot

The classic Indian story of King Vikram and the Vedhalam (spectre) brings you into the life of Inspector Vikram (Madhavan), brave, honest and draconian about right and wrong. He and his colleague Simon (Prem) are part of an 'encounter' unit formed to eliminate the dreaded gangster Vedha (Vijay Sethupathi). Tipped off by an informant, they storm an abandoned house and kill several gangsters and an unarmed guy, Pulli (Kathir), who, later is revealed to be Vedha's innocent, younger brother. The unit makes plans for another raid when, Vedha walks into the police station and surrenders.

Vedha is totally imperious to intimidation or threats; he doesn't acknowledge the police officers until Vikram walks into the interrogation room. Vedha cheekily offers to tell him a story but Vikram has no interest; Vikram believes that all evil must be severely punished and Vedha is the epitome of evil. Vedha soberly asks Vikram to only listen and then adjudge about what is evil and what is not.

Vedha's first story is about how he, a henchman in a cocaine smuggling gang, endeared himself to the boss, Cheta (Hareesh Peradi), and eventually rose to become a gangster and smuggler himself. Despite his own life of crime, Vedha actively dissuaded his brother Pulli, an intelligent and sensitive soul, to stay away from crime. A rival gangster, Ravi, forces Pulli to carry drugs. Pulli is caught; he confesses so Ravi assaults Pulli. An enraged Vedha goes after Ravi. Vedha asks Vikram if Vedha should kill Ravi or his boss who gave the order; Vikram replies that Ravi was merely an instrument; the boss is the real culprit. Vedha replies that he did kill the boss. At this point Vedha's lawyer interjects; Vedha is bailed out. Vikram is stunned to find that Vedha’s lawyer is none other than his wife Priya (Shraddha Srinath).

In an ambush, Simon is apparently shot and killed by Chandra (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar), Pulli's girlfriend, who also have been killed. The Superintendents of Police (Achyuth Kumar), leader of the encounter unit, puts it down to a botched encounter and closes the case. Shocked and angry, Vikram raids Vedha's tenements and captures Vedha and brings him to a wooded area to shoot him when Vedha pleads with Vikram to listen to a story which may reveal something about Simon's death.

The second story is about how Pulli, now grown up, offered to invest Vedha's ill-gotten money in the stock market and, launder it. Vedha's boss Cheta invests five million into this venture. One day Chandra is supposedly abducted and the money, missing. Chandra later returns and reveals that she had stolen the money to start a new life, away from the tenements and crimes, but her love for Pulli brought her back to him. The money is returned to Cheta but Cheta orders Vedha to kill Chandra. Vedha now asks Vikram if he should carry out the order or if he should oppose Cheta, an action that would escalate into an all-out gang war. Vikram replies that he should support Pulli, an innocent, and oppose Cheta whereupon Vedha attacks and disables Vikram and flees. Vikram begins to doubt his actions now that he knows Pulli was innocent all along.

Vikram investigates the death of Pulli. But all the clues, the informant, the hitman at the scene, the bystanders, have been systematically purged. Vikram finally discovers that Ravi, once Vedha's underling, was behind the initial shootout which, to Ravi's advantage, would have decimated Vedha's stronghold. Vikram informs Vedha and Vedha tracks down Ravi and brings him to an abandoned factory. Vikram arrives to find Ravi, beaten up to an inch of his life. Vedha proceeds to tell Vikram the third and final story.

Vedha had sent Pulli and Chandra away to Mumbai, away from Cheta. Vedha begins to notice a surprising pattern: his own men are being systematically targeted and eliminated. Vedha himself is marked for death but barely manages to escape a when his friend sacrifices his life to protect Vedha. Hidden in the bushes, Vedha sees that it is Simon who was paid by Ravi to kill his friend. Vedha asks if Simon was absolutely in the right; Simon took the money for an expensive medical procedure for his young son, and Vedha's men were gangsters who deserved to die anyway, but Pulli was innocent. Vedha kills Ravi and escapes before Vikram can answer.

The encounter unit arrives and castigates Vikram for letting Vedha escape again. Vikram now pieces it together. The entire encounter unit had come into sudden money which could only be traced to Ravi. The SP reveals that Ravi had paid them to kill Vedha and Chandra's abduction was intended to lure Vedha to the factory. The guilt-ridden Simon, had arrived early that fateful night to save Chandra, not kill her. The SP killed Chandra and Simon and covered it all up. At this point when the unit prepares to finish Vikram, Vedha appears again and saves Vikram. A gunfight ensues. Vikram shoots and disables his colleagues, who were mere instruments and then shoots and kills the SP, the instigator. Vedha, who had acquired a firearm turns on Vikram to find Vikram has a gun trained on him. Vikram asks Vedha whether he should let Vedha go for saving his life or kill Vedha since he is a deadly murderer. The film ends with the standstill between Vikram and Vedha.

Cast

• R. Madhavan as Vikram, The Police Officer and Encounter Specialist.
• Vijay Sethupathi as Vedha, North Madras Gangster.
• Kathir as Pulli (Vignesh), Vedha's younger brother.
• Varalaxmi Sarathkumar as Chandra
• Shraddha Srinath as Priya
• Prem as Simon, Special unit member and Vikrams close friend
• Rajkumar as Half Boil (Vedha Gang)
• Hareesh Peradi as Chetta
• Achyuth Kumar as Police SP
• R. Amarendran as Sankar
• Sugunthan as Jijo (Kerala Gang leader)
• E. Ramadoss as Police Officer
• Vivek Prasanna as Ravi
• Manikandan as Santhanam, Police constable

Production

Director duo Pushkar-Gayathri began working on the script in 2014, with producer Sashikanth revealing in an interview to The Hindu in January 2015 that he would produce the film. Telling the tale of an encounter cop and his pursuit of a gangster, Vijay Sethupathi agreed to feature as the gangster in the project.^[3] The directors revealed that the story for the film was inspired by the Vikramathithan Vedhalam folk tale, with the characterisation of both roles derived from that plot.^[4][5] Pushkar and Gayathri continued to develop the script throughout 2015, while working on the post-production works of Sudha Kongara's Irudhi Suttru (2016), where they networked with actor Madhavan. In February 2016, Madhavan confirmed that he was working on the film and had begun research to portray an encounter specialist. He revealed that he would undergo arms training and meet people involved with the police and defence forces.^[6][7]

The film was officially launched in mid-November 2016, with more members of the cast and crew being added to the team. Rookie actor Kathir was also added to play a third leading role.^[8] Meanwhile, actresses Shraddha Srinath and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar were signed to play the leading female roles in the film.^[9][10] Sam C. S. was signed on as music composer, while Richard Kevin and P. S. Vinod were announced as editor and cinematographer respectively.

Music

The original songs and background score were composed by Sam C S. The soundtrack has four original songs and 6 bits that form the score of the film. The track "Tasakku Tasakku" was released as a single on 5 June 2017 and the second single "Yaanji" was released exactly a week later. The album was digitally released on 16 June 2017 to positive reviews.

Track Listing

References

External links

• Vikram Vedha on IMDb