REVIEW: VIKRAM VEDHA

Producers- S. Sashikant, Chakravarti Ramachandra, Vivek Agarwal and Bhushan Kumar

Director- Pushkar-Gayatri

Star Cast- Saif Ali Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Radhika Apte, Satyadeep Mishra, Yogita Bihani , Rohit Shroff and Sharib Hashmi

Genre- Thriller

Platform of Release- Theatres

Rating- ***

Slick and Edgy

Kudos ought to go to directors Pushkar and Gayatri who had earlier also directed the original Tamil version (2017) of the Hindi film which is being released now. The film is slick, racy and what’s more very intriguing too. The writers have come up with the unique title Vikram Vedha based on the ancient folklore of King Vikramadithya and the Betaal (Vampire), the wise and valiant monarch who would capture the latter, only to be told a story at the end of which was a riddle that Vikram had to crack each time. Betaal – a clever fellow himself, well aware of the extent of his captor’s intelligence – agreed not to resist captivity if Vikram did not have the right answer and did not reveal it, Betaal could escape.

The action in the Hindi film is set in Uttar Pradesh where Vedha Betal (Hrithik Roshan) is a criminal so dreaded by the underworld and the public that the UP police set up a special task force to capture him. The group includes Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) and his dear friend Abbas (Satyadeep Mishra) In their cat-and-mouse game, in this cop chasing goon flick, Vikram comes face to face with Vedha thrice. But every time, a riddle posed by Vedha forces him to re-evaluate what is right and wrong and each of the answers also helps him solve a case he is working on.

Not only the mind boggling action but also the brilliant background music of the film both are overpowering and elevate the film to greater heights, enhancing the enjoyment of the viewer, who remains glued to his or her seat. What is creditable about the director duo, who are also the writer duo is that both the characters of Vikram and Vedha get equal prominence and not even one is dwarfed.

PS Vinod’s camera work brilliantly captures the rural-urban amalgamation of UP’s capital and marries it with this story almost seamlessly, with Lucknow almost becoming a character in the film.

As far as performances go, I should concede that Saif has put a lot of hard work and his passion towards his craft is visible in his body language, the gait which with he sets out to walk and ultimately perfectly complements the character of Vedha while Hrithik Roshan scores utmost with his author backed role, living to the hit his character with effortless ease bringing to the fore the various elements as well as dynamic dimensions of his character with effortless ease, including his Bihari accent, which reminds you of his avatar in Super 30.

While Radhika Apte who plays the advocate-wife Priya of Saif Ali Khan looks the part and has been endowed with the choicest of incisive dialogues, Sharib Hashmi walks away with various shaded to his brilliantly executed character of Babloo Bhaiya, Satyadeep Mishra also puts in a neat performance in the film.

To sum up, Vikram Vedha is definitely a slick and edgy film which will make you sit glued to your seat.It is the triumph of the writer-director duo Pushkar -Gayatri