Tamil film fans are well aware of Dalapathy Vijay. Starting his career as a child artist, Vijay has seen many hardships in life. Father was a film producer but his work was not going well. Vijay’s mother used to sing songs in concerts for which she used to get 100 rupees. The day when this money was received, there could be arrangements for food in the house. In his childhood, Vijay was a very fun-loving child, but his younger sister Vidya died at the age of just 2 years and Vijay’s face lost its sense of humor and carelessness. Leaving studies halfway, Vijay adopted acting completely. Sometimes doing family films, sometimes doing romantic films, Vijay’s career was full of ups and downs. In the 2000s, Vijay started working in action films and Vijay’s star rose to the heights. Today, Vijay’s film fees are the highest among Tamil films, at least three times more than Rajinikanth’s. For some time now, Vijay’s films have been creating panic at the box office. Because of Vijay’s acting, his unique dancing style, excellent action and comedy with mischievous eyes, people in the country and abroad go to watch films in the name of Vijay. The charm of his previous film Master is still intact. On the contrary, his recent film “Beast” which was released in theaters on 13 April 2022, did not do well at the box office, while the advance booking was very good. For this reason, this film has now been released on Netflix. Viewers will see the film because of Vijay, Vijay’s character is overshadowed in the film but the script of the film is weak.
In the film, Vijay plays the role of a RAW agent Veera who resigns from RAW after an innocent girl child is unknowingly killed by him in a covert mission to arrest a terrorist named Umar Farooq (Lilliput). Suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, Vijay takes treatment from a psychiatrist but does not make much difference, rather the psychiatrist has to go to a bigger psychiatrist. Umar Farooq’s accomplices enter the mall in Chennai and capture it and take about 250 people hostage. Vijay also happens in that mall only. He secretly starts thwarting the planning of the terrorists. One by one he kills the terrorists. On the other hand, Umar Farooq is released because of a corrupt Home Minister. But Vijay finds him after going to Pakistan and gets him arrested again.
There are many reasons for the failure of the film but the biggest problem is the script of the film. The film begins in Kashmir and Vijay is made a superhero right from the start as he takes down terrorists with ease and takes Umar Farooq captive. A girl child dies in this attack because Vijay’s officer gives him wrong information. Vijay is attached to this girl. Vijay didn’t get a full chance to grieve for it and he had a feeling of guilt, he was absent from the film and instead of a comedy of psychiatry, an attempt has been made to make fun of PTSD. The love between Vijay and Pooja begins in a very strange way and soon becomes so deep that Pooja even gets him a job in her company. Vijay’s job days are not kept in the script. All the guards in the security agency are old and an attempt has been made to create humor through them. Vijay being in the mall is a good coincidence but his escape and hiding from the terrorists has become a very weak scene. Phone jammers are installed but Vijay’s phone rings because he has become a RAW agent. Contacting Selvaraghavan (actor Dhanush’s brother who is himself a successful film director) as her handler is also half-baked as it is not possible to trace who is who in the mall. Vijay starts killing the terrorists with the help of a knife but he does not even touch their guns etc. Aparna, the minister’s daughter, wants to become an IPS but is held hostage. Even when Vijay rescues him, he does not hand over the gun and ask him to help. In the climax of the story, Vijay also flies fighter jet MiG, he requests the government to send Dassault Rafale planes to kill Pakistan’s F-16 planes. There is a flight of imagination in films, but that flight is not so high that the viewers stop understanding.
Vijay’s role has been written thoughtfully. Writer director Nelson writes his own films. His last film Doctor, which was very successful, was marred by a weak script. Although Vijay liked Nelson’s script very much, so he signed the film. The film completely glorifies Vijay, whereas in none of the films before this, Vijay was described as larger than life. The beauty of Vijay lies in the fact that he does every role in such a way that the audience believes in him. This has not happened in Beast. The action and stunts are excellent, but Tamil cinema has seen better stunts than this. A RAW agent fighting terrorists like a super human or flying a MiG plane, the audience could not digest. Where did this plane come from is also not mentioned in the script. Pooja Hegde is the heroine along with Vijay, who is the guest of two songs and some half dozen scenes. Pooja was not given any scope to act, just her dance in Arabic Kuthu and Jolly O Gymkhana songs is tremendous. Pooja is a beautiful actress but was in the film only for the glamor quotient. Aparna Das’s role was small and insignificant. Selvaraghavan is successful as a director but does not work as an actor. The role of Lilliput and Ankur Vikal was also small. There was nothing special to do.
Why should the hero of the film be made a superhero, we the audience are still afraid to ask this question. In the last few years, in good films and web series, we have got a very realistic idea of the way RAW or Army agents work, in such a situation, it is incomprehensible for a RAW agent to act like this. Twin brothers Anbumani and Arivumani have done a great job on the action. Vijay has also played these sequences very well. Vijay’s first film with Anbu and Arivu. No action has come from anyone else’s side, terrorists have been kept in the film only to get beaten up or die at the hands of Vijay. The scale of the film is huge. An entire set was built for the filming of the mall scenes. The film’s music is by Anirudh of Kolaveri, whose director is third with Nelson and third with Vijay. A song from the film, Arabic Kuthu, became very popular, and Instagram was flooded with reels. The scope of songs should have been created in the film but the length of the romantic track was very less so there were only two songs. The third song was like the theme song for the film Beast.
The film completely focuses on Vijay. Victory is overshadowed. But Vijay’s superstar status cannot make him bigger than the story of the film. If the screenplay is weak then even the best hero cannot save the film. Vijay’s fans will definitely watch the film but will be disappointed with the strange script. Vijay’s action will be seen in full but his comedy and stardom is missing. There is an attempt to cash in on Vijay’s popularity a little more by inserting hit dialogues from old films at the end, but all this comes after a long time. There is nothing like Beast in Beast, yes if there is entertainment then the film can be seen. The Hindi dub is available on Netflix under the name of “Raw”.
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Tags: movie review, netflix, Pooja Hegde
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 13, 2022, 11:31 AM