Viduthalai Part 2 Movie Review: Vijay Sethupathi powers through a Vetrimaaran film that is politically charged with barrage of ideas

Viduthalai Part 2 Movie Review: Vijay Sethupathi headline a Vetrimaaran sequel that explores the origins of people's movement and comes out politically strong, yet all over the place

Soori and Vijay Sethupathi in Viduthalai Part 2

Viduthalai Part 2 story:

After the police force captures Perumal Vaathiyar (Vijay Sethupathi), we begin to see his backstory, and how from being a teacher, he gets exposed to ideologies of communism, and eventually begins to head a people’s movement while being a revolutionist, and considered an outlaw. After he marries a fellow comrade Mahalakshmi (Manju Warrier), Vaathiyar continues his live, as per his ideologies, and fights for causes before his untimely capture by Kumaresan’s battalion, the officers of which have agenda of their own.

Viduthalai Part 2 review

Vetrimaaran almost foreshadows what is to happen with Vijay Sethupathi's Vaathiyaar in Viduthalai Part 2 with a certain unseen character, perhaps which is why we get a barrage of politically charged shorts before culminating in an endpoint. What is left unseen makes people believe its existence, and when one exists why would another come, forms Viduthalai sequel's core.

If the first part of Viduthalai was unidimensional, about how a rookie cop is caught on the crossroads of choosing what is ethical and what is lawfully right, the sequel delves extensively into what one of the two paths stands for and how they rose to become what they are. In Vetrimaaran’s Viduthalai Part 2, which begins with Perumal’s arrest, we see a barrage of incidents, or rather to be called exploitations and oppression that the underprivileged go through. And slowly, as the film switches from showing the landlord-labourer power dynamics that is infused with intersectional feminism of how women from oppressed castes remain to be the most vulnerable out of the lot, we see Viduthalai Part 2 taking the shape of showing how the people’s movement began in Perumal’s life.

Also read: Viduthalai Part 2 actor Soori Interview: Cinema has now become more than entertainment for me | EXCLUSIVE 

At one point, Karuppan (Ken Karunas) while stabbing a landlord who exploited his loved one and his community, says his name is not Nallaan (the fourth born), but Karuppan. He further reiterates that his name is only what he calls himself and not what he gets called. Vetrimaaran’s film is filled with several one-liners that are politically charged and holds no bars in calling a spade a spade. In another instance, Vaathiyar says that people may not know politics, but when their rights are revoked, they revolt. Undoubtedly, Viduthalai sequel is all about the rise and rise of Vaathiyar and how he becomes to be the man he is, and how his subsequent capture brings out the dirty secrets of those in power. Vijay Sethupathi powers through the Vetrimaaran’s narrative, that the sequel almost feels like a stand-alone feature of Vaathiyar and the likes of him.

With its non-linear telling, Viduthalai wades through the life of Vaathiyaar who from being a simple teacher, gets exposed to the brutality of oppression through the eyes of Karuppan and his fiancée. And just as he witnesses his first sight of brutality, he takes the comrade way. The film has enough and more portions to show how the Red Salute becomes his way of life, as he eventually falls in love with comrade Mahalakshmi. As the latter explains why she feels her long hair could make her weaker and talks about her first marriage, Vaathiyar is not shocked to know her marital status to make it a taboo. Instances like this make their love story more empathising. But Vetrimaaran’s film also gets to jab many issues together. From talking about the landlord-labourer exploitation to that of the waging system in a factory, and how public roads still remain the property of only some, Viduthalai Part 2 tends to jam many instances together to make one narrative.

Also read: Viduthalai- Part 1 on OTT: Before watching Vetrimaaran’s sequel, stream the first part HERE for free

In Viduthalai Part 2, Soori who resumes the role of Kumaresan has a limited show, but he makes the most in the climax portions. As he is handed over the crucial portion of the last few shots, Soori makes the most out of it. Looking at both parts of Viduthalai as one story, Vetrimaaran’s duology stands bifurcated. Even as we get to know the full story of the train accident that took place at the beginning of the first film, and how and why Kumaresan does what he does, the duology seems non coherent. Nevertheless, Viduthalai Part 2 is a film that stands concentrated in what it has to say and remains to be a yet another powerful tale that is coming from Vetrimaaran’s voice. And the filmmaker makes a poignant point when he writes, “When you make people believe that Vaathiyar will come back, that is when new leaders will not be formed.” It is the belief that controls the people and the question arises who has the power to make beliefs.

Viduthalai Part 2 verdict

Vijay Sethupathi brilliantly pulls off a character that has to shoulder a story of oppression through multitude ways and years. In a Vetrimaaran film where political ideologies are not just laced but outspoken, Viduthalai 2 may come of disjointed in parts but still carries a tale to be told. It eventually becomes a character-driven story, while its idea still might be about the ideology.

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