Viduthalai Part 1 - The liberation of people

Viduthalai, directed by Vetrimaaran, is a sensational film in recent Tamil cinema history. Vetrimaaran yet again proves that cinema is not just a tool for entertainment but to make a socially responsible film to give a remarkable impact on the audience with people's stories. Viduthalai starts with the train accident on a river bridge, the stunning ten to fifteen minutes single shot of the film gives an astonishing opening to the film. Viduthalai travels from various character's perspectives in the film but it begins with the story's protagonist Kumaresan, a newly joined Police Constable who is being treated low due to his righteous behavior and falls in love with the tribal woman in the village after an inciting incident, the department kicks to start the 'Operation Ghost Hunt' to hunt down the Makkal Padai leader Perumal aka Vaathiyar - the activist group struggle and protest to stop the government for initiating the approval of mineral factory in the hill region where the story revolves. Government stations various police companies in the hill region to inspect and watch the activity of the activist group - Kumeresan's path changes after a few inciting incidents and he will be in a situation to save the girl he loves and to capture Vaathiyar at the same time. 

The film's story is adapted from the short story of Jeya Mohan's Thunaivan,  as the story's baseline seems to be simple, they pulled the engagement factor with the screenplay. The screenplay holds the audience with each of its seconds, and the audience doesn't get bored as the story and its screenplay continuously put forward various information related to the story - it is not over the flow or very less, it is just on the line. The screenplay of this film got its own ups and downs - it takes its own time to introduce the characters and gets the audience to gel with it but overall the screenplay is maintained to be fast-paced in a few places and slowed down to show the intriguing elements at the same time. The structure is placed on the hero's journey where the arc is perfectly designed and executed from the point Kumaresan enters the region in a bus with an appointment and dares to catch Vaathiyar in the end. There are so many clap-worthy scenes that give goosebumps to the audience and it is because the film connects the audience so very well to its essence - it literally makes us cry, angry, and nervous at the points where the story reveals various back stories and character depth of prime characters like Kumaresan, Vaathiyar, and Tamilarasi and also when Kumaresan is tossed and twisted in his path.     

Viduthalai's important factor for immense feel is the landscape and location setting of the film where the story takes place - they completely shot the film in the hilly region in the interior parts of Tamil Nadu, there would be much more practical difficulties to the unit to shoot compared to the usual set design shooting process. The director's choice to shoot the film completely in live locations is the biggest success of the film. 

They make us travel with the protagonist and experience his point of view, also the film takes us to the perspectives of the police and there are so many brutal police tortures shown in the film. At some point, the incidents of police custody torture shock us to extreme extents - to the end, where the people of the village being stripped naked and tortured are the most disturbing images in the film where it extremely shook us. But the film tries to keep the incidents like the bomb blast on a rail bridge, police custody tortures, and ghost hunt operation close to the real incidents that are staged at the end of the 1980s and early 90s in Tamil Nadu. The story switches between the perspective of an activist group and the government - the element of which is right and which is wrong is left to the audience's perspective. The political idealogy and correctness in the story as well as of the director is the greatest pillar - the film handles the idealogy of the liberation & right of the people and many more, the part of putting forward the questions against the government at the closing image of the film is the most daring attempt in the recent times. 

Velraj's cinematography and his frames lit the hype in each scene, the breathtaking opening single-shot sequence is the brilliant choreography of camera work, it literally travels from one person to another with an effortless swift. Velraj did splendid work in each of the scenes, he understood the terrain and composed the frames with intriguing shots. The staging and blocking of the characters in the frame are done excellently and made the audience get immense with the action sequences with his frame. The audience can feel the immersive experience of the landscape in the aerial shots - they staged marvels in aerial shots and other close-ups to bring the heat of what the characters are experiencing in the story. Ilayaraja's music and background score subtly hype the scenes, his genre of music suits the mood of the film in a quite melancholy way as the film itself demands the kind of score. The two romantic song numbers, Kaatumalli and Unnoda Nadandha are a complete bliss to the audience - they didn't slow down the screenplay and they helped to elevate the romance between the Kumaresan and Tamilarasi. The intimate movements of romance between them are beautifully portrayed through the songs, particularly Unnoda Nadandha is a simple yet brilliant song number in the film, which is beautifully visualized. The stunts by Peter Hein played a vital role in the film, and the stunt choreography in the climax on the rooftops is mind-blowing. The production design of the film is another significant factor in the film, they chose live locations and recreated the 1980s setup through it, particularly the train incident scene is an example of great work done by the production design of the film. Each and every minute detail in the film is brilliantly carried - Art director Jackie's work contributed to the film is intense and it worked very well in each frame. Editing in the climax is crisp and quick, and to the front portion of the film, the editing is done in a way to allow the scenes in more screen space rather than quick cuts. Sound design has done its part subtly and intensely - the audience can feel the effect of the forest through sound design, each sound is given importance and rendered to give the experience of the audience traveling inside the woods. 

Soori delivered an excellent performance, subtle and natural acting performance from Soori is one of the backbones of the film - he effortlessly delivered a mature tone through his performance for the character of Kumaresan. Vijay Sethupathi has less screen space in this part one but he does a marvel whenever he appeared on screen - he effortlessly scores through his subtle performance. Bhavani Shree's performance in the film is significant and she does a daring performance in the climax. Other supporting actors like Chetan, Gowtham Vasudev Menon, Rajiv Menon, and Tamizh elevated the story to the next level.  

Overall, Viduthalai is a significant movie to be watched and celebrated. Viduthalai is a technically sound and brilliantly staged film with perfect writing and filmmaking techniques. Vetrimaaran proves that making movies close to reality and projecting the livelihood of the people is what turns out to be a real success for a film and audience - he is someone who is strong in both technical and writing aspects and that gives a blockbuster hits to his movies. He is a socially responsible filmmaker and has become an inevitable influence in filmmaking in Tamil Cinema. His films are all about details and background research works and Viduthalai is one of the same kind who done a powerful role in Vetrimaaran's filmography.

I do like to call him VictoryMaaran rather than Vetrimaaran.