A quick recap: the first part ends with constable/driver Kumaresan (Soori) arresting Perumal, the leader of a revolutionary outfit. Even with a 2 hour 40 min runtime, the whole of the second part is set within the next 12-24 hours after the arrest. Packed within these few hours is the terrific origin story of Perumal, the influences different characters had on him and the effect he has on Kumaresan and many other youngsters. While with many characters and timelines, the story feels all over place, the story of Perumal Vaathiyaar is written with intimate details that makes you care and worry about what happens next.
The first part was poignant and moving but what it failed to do is show how people around Kumaresan – like the people he met, the police officers he worked with – slowly changed him. This kept us at a distance from the world surrounding Kumaresan. But with Vijay Sethupathi’s Perumal, from his days as a school teacher who overlooked class and caste issues to his special relationship with his mentor Thozhar KK (Kishore), we see his world up close and live with them to witness his journey. Behind the elusive ghost we heard of in the first part lies an innocent, betrayed and evolved leader, and a soulful Vijay Sethupathi makes us cry, laugh and learn along with this comrade.
We have both Vijay Sethupathi and Soori taking up the roles as narrators. While we continue to hear Kumarasean’s perspective through the letter he is writing to his mother, Perumal shares his life story with a bunch of young cops as they walk through a dense forest to reach the checkpost. Cleverly, this gives Vetri Maaran the tool to go back and forth between the past and present multiple times. While it’s jarring at times like when you see a character die in a flashback, and a while later, you see him alive and happy in another – it creates some inconsistency that it gets a little hard to go with the flow of the film but such instances are rare and can be overlooked given the emotional connect we have with these characters. The dark humour in a mix of Vetri Maaran’s and Vijay Sethupathi’s styles also gives the film an interesting edge even as the story often moves in a slower pace.
There are so many philosophies of life, marxism, communism and others that Vijay Sethupathi’s character speaks at different occasions. When Perumal narrates one such story to Kumaresan and a few other cops, Kumaresan keeps telling him that he is not able to understand the story or the meaning it conveys. Often, as a viewer, you do not entirely understand the underlying meaning behind several conversations and Vetri Maaran breaks it down for us through Perumal. Sometimes, it’s preachy but it’s backed by strong dialogues that hit you with a punch. And during others, it makes for a moving moment like when Perumal and Thozar Mahalakshmi (Manju Warrier) decide to get married, they read a vow of how they would stand by each other’s protest, beliefs and fights, and would together fight for a better world. And the film beautifully comes back to these promises through the conversations they have in the future as they sacrifice several personal things for their revolution.
The effort to focus on the characters around Perumal, who make and break him, gives this political film an initimate view. For instance, Mahalakshmi is written as a divorced woman who fought for herself when no one else did. Likewise, Thozar KK shows us a life of a brave activist who is never scared to die but also knows that life’s little personal joys are as important as the bigger political fight. You even learn a lot more about police officers you met in the first part like Ragavendar (Chetan), the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of E-Company who always punishes Kumaresan. You see him go through a life-altering moment and still choose to go back to his old ways. If Viduthalai part 1 was about Kumaresan believing in the differences between the good and the bad, the sequel is all about him discovering the blurring lines, as one shocking revealation after the other keeps happening.
Vetri Maaran also doesn’t limit to subtly hinting at the classs and caste issues existing in the world of Viduthalai. He throws it on our faces and lets us ponder over the events and question every action and reaction. As a result, a lot of what happens in Viduthalai part 2 is within our minds. That also means we leave the theatre with a heavy heart but everyone with a perspective of their own. And one that strongly stands out is viewing this film as a character study, comparing Kumaresan and Perumal – their innocence, their conviction to stand for what they believe is right, their stubborn nature to not apologise, and their own journeys of realising what the actual truth might be – and how they both are eventually two sides of the same coin.
Rating – 4/5
