"Vettayaadu Vilayaadu" (trans : Hunt and Play) the third effort (after Minnale & Kaakha Kaakha) of director Gautham Menon finally hit the screens after a long time in the cans. The film though hyped heavily at the start soon found the going tough after the original producer faced difficulties and eventually the rights were bought out by another. In between Gautham fell out with actor Surya (who turned a star after KK) and their announced project "Chennaiyil Thanneer Mazhai" (Rain in Chennai) shelved.
These troubles are clearly evident in the final product. Despite attention to detail and highly stylistic filming, the film falls short in continuity & cohesion. The first half of the film grabs your attention with immense possibilities, twists and turns while the second half, even though on predictable lines hastens the pace.
Even though Kamal has nothing in this role to test his abilities, he handles this role easily despite looking his age. Worth mentioning are the investigative sequences where Kamal underplays his role. You can easily imagine other middle aged actors such as Arjun or Sharathkumar in the role. Maybe a younger star (Surya ?) as earlier rumored would have spiced things up.
Jyothika’s character is not at all relevant to the story, and this track starts off with a serious "Lost in Translation" mood meanders on and ends up along expected lines.
The Serial Killer(s) in the film are riveting even though one person too many (for the item no ?).
Harris Jairaj fails to meet expectations and is way behind the pathbreaking scores the same team came up with in their earlier efforts. A couple of songs suffer from a serious KK hangover. Only the first (Karkha Karkha) and the last (Neruppae) songs stay in mind.
There are quite a few shortcomings in the Screenplay & Editing departments and the film could well have had more action as well as choreography/song picturisation, a high point of Gautham’s films.
The film is eminently watchable if only for the directors panache and good performances. A good concept, which faltered in execution.
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