Vikram’s 1986 film starring Kamal was not as well received as expected at the time. To rectify this, his fan Lokesh Kanagaraj has directed a film of the same name with Kamala in 2022. Following the success of Prisoner and Master films, the film directed by Lokesh, Kamal’s silver screen entry after a gap of four years, how is Vikram released amidst huge expectations as the biggest star cast?
Actors Harish Barodi, Kalidas Jayaram and Kamal Haasan, who knew the whereabouts of tons of missing drugs at the beginning of the film, are killed by masked assassins. Faqat Fazil, who is trying to trace the murder, finds out the shocking background of the deceased Kamal. He also finds out that a drug trafficking gang led by Vijay Sethupathi is involved. What is the mystery behind Kamal’s death? Did Vijay Sethupathi find the missing drug? What is the background of the masked killers? Vikram is the rest of the story of the film.
Vijay Sethupathi Gang, the villain who is searching for tons of missing drugs on one page. The other side is Faqat Fazil, who is looking for masked assassins who mysteriously kill guards. Director Lokesh Kanagaraj, on the other hand, weaves the story in many layers as Kamal Haasan who dies in the first scene as the detective cop, and moves it clearly and vividly in his own style.
The director has created the Lokesh Kanagaraj Universe in the film with the character of Vikram released in 1986, adapting the story to the current context and including the characters from the 1986 Vikram and Prisoner films. Lokesh Kanagaraj is amazed at how successfully he has done this despite his experimental efforts.
Kamal leaves Faqat Fazil and Vijay Sethupathi to score in the first half and gives a total of applause in the second half. The first half, which starts slowly and moves slowly into the story, begins to unravel shortly before the break. The excitement that starts there spreads throughout the second half and serves as a kamagama biryani treat for the fans. Many scenes, especially the occasional prisoner film reference and Surya’s intimidating cameo, add to the film’s goosebumps moments.
But, despite the action scenes in the prisoner film being full of shooting scenes, the main reason for the success of the film was the quality sentimental scenes that were seen in it. It is a little disappointing that such sentiment is a little missed in this film. The sentimental scenes involving Kamal Haasan refuse to stick to the mind, especially the sentimental scenes involving Faqat Fazil. Lokesh Kanagaraj, who gave more importance to fight scenes, may have given a little more importance to emotional scenes as well.
If you ask me if this is a Kamal film or a Lokesh Kanagaraj film, I would definitely say Lokesh Kanagaraj film. Lokesh Kanagaraj has done everything he could to keep Kamala that level. Kamal, accordingly, has been outstanding in his performance, as usual. Kamal, who is over 60 years old, has taken the pinny pedal in all aspects of action and sentiment. After all these years he still does what he can to show variations in acting and does everything better and inspires once again. Especially in the break scene and the climax scene, he has shocked the theater with applause.
Vijay Sethupathi will be seen in the same role as the villain in Master. He is the leader of a drug trafficking gang, although he has acted well and does not understand the verses spoken in many places. Despite his body language and acting, he has received applause in the animation theater for his performances. The film stars a huge star cast. Narain, who plays Prisoner Reference, who played the lead roles in it, immediately traveled with Kamal Haasan and did justice to the role he was given. Similarly, Santhana Bharathi and Ilango Kumaravel, who have acted with Kamal, have appeared in the film for a while but they have acted memorably.
Faqat Fazil, who appears throughout the first half of the film, has become just another protagonist of the film. Even for small emotional scenes, he has shown his subtle acting. Gayatri, who happens to be his girlfriend, also comes to mind in a few scenes. Sivani, Maheshwari and Myna Nandini, who are the wives of Vijay Sethupathi, have come and gone in some scenes. Semban Vinod Jose, a Malayalam-speaking Tamil-speaking corrupt police officer, has attracted attention for his quiet villainy. Actor Surya stuns the mass audience with his last show. Especially after his appearance in Prisoner Part II, Vikram was shocked by the theatrical applause when he appeared in the film Leads for Part III.
Anirudh is seen as the main protagonist of the film after Kamal Haasan. He made the theater dance to the tune of tens of songs, fitting the music in the right places to express different kinds of emotions from scene to scene in the background music and taking the film to the next level. Anirudh’s hard work has given great music to the audience. The night time scenes in Krish Gangadharan’s cinematography are world class. The lighting and angles are especially set for night time scenes and animate the scenes. The role of art director Satish Kumar in helping to capture such a quality work is immense. Each of his sets and the variety of guns that come with it make the picture unmistakable. Likewise the love stunt scenes are a big plus for the film. The scenes where Kamal Haasan and Vijay Sethupathi clash in particular are the pinnacle of excitement.
Lokesh Kanagaraj, who grew up to be a fan of Kamal and came to the cinema and gave such a film with the same Kamal, has firmly established his place in the cinema with this film. Similarly, the film starring Kamal four years later is a good comeback for him. Vikram is a good summer treat for youngsters and family audiences who enjoy action movies (if extreme violence scenes are okay).
Vikram – Action Adakalam!