If Hollywood can justify producing a sequel to “Rambo” and “Top Gun” after more than three decades, why can’t Kollywood do the same? In the fun-filled Vikram, a secret agent first introduced in 1986 emerges from deep undercover to thwart the largest drug deal in Indian history. He’s a grandfather now, but that doesn’t stop the title character (Kamal Hassan) from throwing people across the room in this three-hour stunner that brings Vikram together with a younger client named Ammar (Fahad Fasil). The two have at least one thing in common: rules and regulations don’t matter, which means they’re free to fight crime as creatively as they (and director Lokesh Kanagaraj) see fit.
Taking a page out of James Cameron’s “True Lies” with his big go-it-or-go-home style at set pieces, Kanagaraj has achieved unforgettable success at his best and biggest Tamil song of the year (at $53.7 million and counting still). At least one other trick the director learned from Hollywood – although the entire project can seem like an epic parody of studio exaggerations at times – is the strategy of connecting the film to past and future projects (so far, only 2019’s Kaithi movie”) through the lines And interlaced letters: dubbed the Lokesh Cinematic Universe.
In a way, that’s how Vikram’s name reset works as well, with this new movie tying in one of his star’s previous successes without worrying too much about how it relates. Other than dozens of obscure jokes, the two films don’t have much in common, as Kanagaraj brings the character into the 21st century. Cue one of the most catchy tunes you’ll hear all year, composer Anirudh Ravichander’s magnified remake of Ilaiyaraaja’s 1986 theme for the original “Vikram,” which plays out on a back-lit battle royal designed to evoke the film’s iconic title sequence.
Although Kanagaraj relies heavily on music to power the movement—mostly intense electric guitar tones and blasts of drum and bass—it features only one traditional number: near the start, an open-shirted Haasan leads a crowd of drifters through a chain of dad-like dance moves around A dilapidated train yard. Later, the same character is executed on camera by a group of masked terrorists, a horrific crime that prompts Police Chief Jose (Chimpan Vinod Jose) to put Amar’s loose cannon on the case. Ammar is due to marry in a few days, and has sworn his fiancée (Ghayathi) not to question him about his job, which includes everything from torturing suspects to interrogating prostitutes.
The film will take the next hour and a half to reveal what each audience is supposed to get into: that the character of Hasan – the constantly drunk clown who calls himself Karnan – was not actually killed. Nor was he the fatal blow that his family and servants believed in. It is, in fact… Vikram, the leader of the Black Squad espionage team, elite government agents who have been betrayed and left to die by their multiple superiors. The real mystery, which the film enjoys teasing, is whether this seemingly ambivalent fellow is a hero or a villain—a question that is ultimately answered with a long anti-drug rhetoric and the scene of Hasan blowing everyone up with an antique Browning machine gun.
Kanagaraj likes to complicate his characters, which makes the cartoon more interesting. We also welcome the way Vikram is unaffected by American body ideals: the drug-like Pablo Escobar Sandhanam (Vijay Sethupati) is a giant bull of a man. Regardless of the ankle-cutting little guy (Jaafar Sadek) leading his crew, Vasil is often the shortest person on screen. However, like the Jack Russell terrier, Amar redeems himself with extreme ferocity, frightening everyone who crosses him. (Hassan isn’t a bodybuilder either, but he fights hard, throwing punches with every punch.)
A two-ton shipment of experimental raw material (one gram of which makes a kilogram of cocaine) has lost a shipment, and Sandhanam wants it back. Could he be the masked terrorist? Doubtful, since he operates so far above the law, he does not need disguise to kill with impunity. Sandhanam is slow and cumbersome by nature, but retains a blue crystal-like substance that gives him Popeye-like powers: one bite and he goes berserk. Even Sandhanam answers someone, gets calls from someone named Rolex, who is finally revealed (as the star of Tamil Suriya) in the last scene.
The film swells at the seams with subplots and characters, though Kanagaraj makes the twists easy and fun to follow, and some of the action scenes are better conceived and designed than Hollywood is producing these days. The wedding banquet that turned into a bloodbath is the high point of the first half, while Ammar’s private party (which he missed during the service) feels like a missed opportunity. Just when you think the movie is of no use to its female characters, she comes along with Agent Tina (Vasanthy) in the second half to steal the show, even Vikram.
Known for his comedic chops, Haasan enjoys the role: As the adoptive grandfather of a lovable child who is allergic to loud noises, he does his best to keep things quiet when carnage comes within sight of the infant. Later, he risks his life to boil milk for the crying baby while the sons of Sandhanam break into his house. Kanagaraj goes so far when it comes to endangering the heroes’ wives and children, that the film’s manipulative climax involves a desperate attempt to resuscitate the child during the battle of the great boss. Excess is half the fun in such movies, and Vikram is always big without overdoing it. Kanagaraj’s strategy: Leave them wanting more, and let the Lokesh Cinematic Universe continue when the time is right.
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