Velaikkaran : Highly Ambitious
"High time we change the situation to suit our life", the film starts with this powerful dialogue from Sivakarthikeyan and stays loyal throughout. If Mohan Raja’s impressive 'Thani Oruvan' was all about how a single man’s ideology can change things, 'Velaikkaran' is about what difference that "Loyal Worker" can bring to the society. Raja makeshifts the ideology of loyal, is it to your boss or to the profession? The sketch is drawn for an engaging tale of a character who presses his co-workers to bring about a change, and does he succeed?
Sivakarthikeyan plays the role of a young man who dreams big, not just for himself, but for the entire slum he lives in. Soon the dream snowballs for the whole society as he finds himself fighting for what is good for everyone. He is the good samaritan who wants change from self to the whole society, the journey takes him across various barriers; from fighting for basic rights in the slum to a food manufacturing company that markets adulterated food. So it’s not just one message that Raja aims to convey, he throws a volley of strong foothold messages by weighing Siva’s character to a great extent. To keep it commercially alive Raja uses twists, betrayal, and faint love to drive home a script which is burdened with a lot of social responsibility.
What is Siva Karthikeyan's best trait? His comical sense, no doubt in that. Mohan Raja tunes Siva’s ability to deliver his theme. As a responsible youth from a slum he dreams to relieve the community from the clutches of Prakash Raj - a moneylender slash hired goon. He soon joins work as a salesman who markets food products, the journey gives him happiness, but he finds out that the company manufactures food that are unhealthy for consumption. The story’s focus shifts from after-effects of the food consumption to the entire workforce who work in these manufacturing companies. Siva takes matters in his hands and blames the average worker. He puts forth a question if he has to be loyal to his "good" profession or a bad boss. Fahadh Fasil plays a surprise role, best not to spoil the cream. As an equally ambitious suave business man his capitalist roles and dialogues towards the end are strong and hits the middle class man’s gut. How Siva uses his marketing skills and every ounce of his brain to bring down the adulteration of manufacturing company with the help of common worker forms the rest of the story.
With a strong supporting cast, Raja helps their screen presence with gritty dialogues. Almost every single character in the movie has a fitting responsible dialogue, be it Rohini, Nayanthara, Vijay Vasanth, Sneha, Prakash Raj, RJ Balaji and even comedian Sathish has something useful to say. Its safe to say that Sivakarthikeyan is ready and has stepped into a new role, breaking away from a casual youth to a responsible one. He steps into the careful and watchful eyes of the director to be the cream of 'Velaikkaran'. Utilizing Siva’s comic sense aptly is certainly Raja’s master stroke as it helps to ease the seriousness of the screenplay. Fahad Fasil’s hefty body language and the way he carries himself arrogantly yet to point is a delight to watch. He matches Siva’s character to the exact opposite and makes us wonder if anyone else could have done it with better elegance. With not too many songs, Anirudh scores a hard gritty BGM that lives up to its expectation. Muthuraj certainly is one another hero of Velaikkaran as the slum set is done amicably.
There is no denying the fact that 'Velaikkaran' has its logical loopholes and for its generalized view of corporate and sales people. The story and dialogues look tad too harsh and flimsy in trying to frame bosses and the companies. But with an engaging and responsible storyline at its helm, these factors including the faint love portions with Nayanthara do not harm the film’s baseline. Raja has done it yet again.
Verdict : 'Commercial yet socially responsible' sums up 'Velaikkaran'.
