{"id":992,"date":"2019-06-22T10:27:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T04:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/?p=992"},"modified":"2019-06-22T10:27:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-22T04:57:30","slug":"blog-vellai-pookal-a-good-enough-mystery-for-sunday-home-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/2019\/06\/22\/blog-vellai-pookal-a-good-enough-mystery-for-sunday-home-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Vellai Pookal review: A good enough mystery for Sunday home video."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rudhran has a (not-so) unique investigation technique. He stands in the crime scene, plays the possibilities back in his mind and deducts\/detects the crime. When the answer doesn’t fall into his lap, he interrogates suspects in his imagination too. In Vellai Pookal<\/em> (2019), this is treated somewhat like a cut-away dream sequence \u2014 bright lights, minimal backdrop, characters speaking strangely etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of these scenes, there is a shot of some Agatha Christie novels. It appears so much in passing that, when I went back to find the scene for fact-checking purposes, I had to rewind and forward several times to catch that moment. Yet, when I watched Vellai Pookal<\/em> the first time, this passing shot recalibrated my expectations, and made me sink deeper into the film\u2019s universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**
From Singam 3<\/em> and Saamy 2<\/em> at one end to Dhuruvangal Padhinaaru<\/em> and 8 Thottakkal<\/em> on the other \u2014 I\u2019d consider myself well-acquainted with what passes for police procedurals in Tamil cinema today. If you\u2019ve seen enough of them you\u2019ll realise that there\u2019s a value system among the present crop of crime thriller writers \u2014 evil villains, political backing, corporate-funding, violence against women, and most of all unending moralising. Tamil film cops want to be judge, jury and executioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when I begin watching any cop movie today, I expect the hero to play god in the end. I expect all his vulnerabilities to turn into fuel for greater violence. In fact, most of all, I expect gory death of the perpetrator at the hands of the cop hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vellai Pookal<\/em> is not that kind of film, it never pretends to be. The hero of the film is a police officer chasing retirement \u2014 Vivek shines as Rudhran. He never overplays the body language of a cop, his mannerisms never chest-thumping. Yet, when he pins down a weapon-wielding man, he\u2019s believable. His sidekick is another retired man, Charle plays a supportive father adequately. Both of them move to an unfamiliar milieu in love for their children. Their vulnerabilities are somewhat adorable and their lives relatable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when the crimes begin, it seems rather natural that Rudhran would want to investigate. We are drawn into that investigation from a safe distance, in an Agatha Christie-esque way. Several characters dot the milieu, doing suspicious things, none of them exactly fear-inducing. Until the crime comes into one\u2019s own home, there is no sense of tension \u2014 not that I\u2019m complaining. In fact, for much of the first half, Vellai Pookal<\/em> is more domestic drama than crime thriller. And this tone continues, right till the end, even as it turns into a personal crisis. In fact, in the last scene of Vellai Pookal<\/em>, when Rudhram tells the murderer, \u201cNaan irukken, naan paathukkaren<\/em>\u201d (Trust me, let me help you), the film retains its warmth for a story so gloomy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the film gives in rather easily to the temptations of sexist jokes and racist proclamations. Bharathidasan, the sidekick plated by Charle, is a creep. The film is peppered with adoring taunts about his \u2018weakness\u2019 for women. They keep bringing up Sunny Leone like uttering of the name itself is a singularly power-packed bullet of all the world\u2019s jokes. At one point, an African-American man is arrested without evidence and the media raises issues of racial profiling. Rudhran explains it to the audience this: \u201cNamma oorla jaadhi per solli thappichukkara madhiri, inge race<\/em>\u201d (like people escape in the name of caste in our country, it is race here). No one raises an objection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that sense, even if Vellai Pookal<\/em> is beautiful dandelion in gaudy commonplace red rose-filled landscape of Tamil police procedurals, I can\u2019t tell that the allergies are worth it. I might have liked to watch Rudhran solve more cases. Vellai Pookal<\/em> could have opened doors to the return of some plain old investigative storytelling \u2014 I think of Andha Naal<\/em> in nostalgia. But that requires a deeper insight into social inequalities, an intersectional outlook, and a stronger inclination towards social justice that Vivel Elangovan has failed to demonstrate in this film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I do hope the bug catches on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rudhran has a (not-so) unique investigation technique. He stands in the crime scene, plays the possibilities back in his mind and deducts\/detects the crime. When the answer doesn’t fall into his lap, he interrogates suspects in his imagination too. In Vellai Pookal (2019), this is treated somewhat like a cut-away dream sequence \u2014 bright lights, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tharkuri.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}