With more ideological discussions and debates, Vetrimaaran comes back with the sequel to his 2023 film Viduthalai. Vetrimaaran narrates this story with more and more information and sparks several other thoughts in the society with his unrelenting courage to convey his stories.
Viduthalai 2 starts from where its first part had ended, and Kumaresan played by Soori is on a life-changing journey with Perumal Vaathiyar, played to perfection by Vijay Sethupathi. This time, Vetrimaaran focuses on scaling down Vaathiyar's story and his transformation from a teacher to a revolutionist.
While Viduthalai 1 was an underdog story about an honest constable, whose unwavering stand towards honesty gets him into the journey of capturing another person, amidst his obstacles, Viduthalai 2 is more towards the backstories of Vaathiyar and the film answers many of the questions left in its first part.
The biggest success of Viduthalai 2 is how it meticulously narrates the lives of many revolutionary leaders through its characters and the discussions he has with the viewers through his film. Viduthalai 2 is more conversational and interactive,for the fact that Vetrimaaran gives so many questions to his audience to think and act upon. The way he narrates his stories, the way he structures his stories with such conviction and the way he finds his stories well integrated into the mainstream space is what Vetrimaaran keeps succeeding at, but this is where he loses some of his best touches this time.
Vetrimaaran has so much to tell , discuss and definitely these are not something to be contained within the confines of a 3 hour narrative film. The issue with Viduthalai 2 is his attempt to talk about so many issues that he fails to convert his thoughts into a more cohesive screenplay, rather he keeps his characters utter lines one after the other.
Viduthalai 2 has some striking sequences and it shows streaks of brilliance, but amidst his continuous shooting of questions and dialogues, the film struggles to find the right balance between a film and a commentary on the social structure. The backstory he gives to his characters and the way he gives explanations to the events of the first part are good, but somewhere between them, he stuffs the narrative with so much information. In a brilliant conversation, the reason for leaders having a family to be an example for people having a family despite fighting for rights, is thoroughly well written and the film has some superbly tender romantic moments with Vaathiyar and Mahalakshmi played by Manju Warrier.
Vetri's choice of starting the story from Ken's character and how this causes Sethupathi's Vaathiyar to become a part of much bigger things through the mentorship of KK Tholar, played by Kishore is a smart choice. The reason he gives to the short hair of Manju Warrier is reflective of his strong views. The way he introduces Anurag's character to transform the cause of action in Vaathiyar is nice, but everything gets lost in his unrelenting attempt to tell so much information only through dialogues.
The film has razor sharp dialogues like Ken uttering lines, ' Naan vekrathu thaa en per, nee koopudrathilla' and the superb contrast of 'Truth' and 'Information' through a single line, they are all strong and thought provoking. The unconventional open ending, he leaves at the end through a literal cliff hanger is a bold narrative choice. The intention of the film is definitely for everyone, but the film is not everyone's cup of tea.
Vetrimaaran opts for a more documentary-mode screenplay and his last minute issues are more prevalent in this film. The film has so many dialogues to an extent where one dialogue in a scene is overlapped by another dialogue in the voice-over. This is the primary issue of this film. The film is so overstuffed with information, and all these are more words than visuals. The film feels like so much shot, that somehow doesn't come to the screen, with so many abrupt cuts.
Viduthalai 2 lacks a strong goal, unlike its earlier part and the film keeps the audience at a hand distance, owing to its lesser emotional depth in its surrounding characters. The tension its earlier part managed to create by intercutting scenes between Kumaresan's battle and his love-interest's torture gave us the urge for him to win that day and that tension is missing in this story.
The film redeems itself in its superb 3rd act, with great moments around a shootout that is extended so long and the way the film leaves open at the end is a great choice. But it is Vetrimaaran's too much information loading, that bogs down the film's impact. Amidst all of its incohesive nature and too many things to chew, Viduthalai 2 is another clear example of a great filmmaker transforming his noble intentions into a film.
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