Comedian Vivekh's latest outing as a lead actor - Vellai Pookal has hit the screens and here are our thoughts on this detective thriller. The film is entirely set in the US and the plot looks quite interesting on paper. Vellai Pookal traces the life of Rudran (Vivekh), an ageing Tamil Nadu Police officer, who goes to the USA to meet his estranged son.

A series of mysterious kidnappings happen in the neighbourhood of his son's house and Rudran sets out to solve the mystery. Out of his own interest, Rudran starts his probe as an independent detective. On the other hand, there is another story in which we see a young child being sexually abused by her own father. How these two stories converge at a point and how does Vivekh trace out the antagonist, form the plot of Vellai Pookal. 


US techie turned director Vivek Elangovan is promising and his writing exhibits a good amount of smartness. Rudran's mind games in every mission look fresh and creative on screen. The opening scene of the film sets the right mood that establishes the characteristic features of Rudran. The climax twist is a big surprise and the revelation does sound justifiable. The narration by Rudran is clear cut and the neat dialogue delivery takes the audience through the twists and turns with ease. This convincing climax helps the film to a major extent, thereby, enhancing the overall experience.

The inclusion of the 'Syria' angle in this mystery is noteworthy. The plot points and the clues that lead to Vivekh tracing out the villain are neatly etched out, fulfilling the responsibilities of a mystery crime thriller. The director has cleverly used a few characters purposefully to confuse the audience. Usually, we tend to find a lot of logical loopholes in mystery thrillers, but with Vellai Pookal, on a fortunate note, even minuscule detailing and almost all questions are answered during the course of the film itself.


However, this film has quite a lot of issues in the execution. There is no proper flow of sequences in the first half as we see some needless scenes in the first half that add up as fillers with no substance. The film does test your patience due to this compilation of uninteresting scenes put together. The game gets exciting when Vivekh gets personally connected in this series of kidnaps and from thereon, the film is gripping and holds the intrigue factor. The last 45 minutes of the film is set in a good momentum and one could wish that the first half also had the same momentum to keep the audiences hooked.

Except for Vivekh and two or three other characters, the rest of the actors are all foreigners and too many unfamiliar faces in a single film makes it a tough task for the audience to connect with the characters. Also, those characters fail to captivate the audience as the performances are not arresting. The emotions are weak and don't earn any empathy.


It is highly refreshing to see Padmashri Vivekh in a role of this kind, that he hasn't attempted before. He happens to be one of the leading comedians in the industry and there is no addition of scenes or counters to suffix his 'comedian' - star image. Kudos to director Vivek and the team for not diluting the proceedings with unwanted comedies or humour. In simple words, there are no force-fitted comic sequences.

Vivekh aces his role as Rudran and he looks believable as an independent detective. There is a particular scene towards the end of the film where Vivekh breaks down emotionally and that scene proves the man's acting prowess. Vivekh is seen more of a performer in this outing and the comedian takes a backseat. His body language is an added advantage.

Charlie is a valuable addition and he brings in his expertise as an actor throughout the film. Though he doesn't have much scope to emote, he looks completely honest to his character. Pooja Devariya is wasted in a role that is weakly written. The man who played Hunt is a good find, as his terrorizing looks and psychic behaviour are intense. The rest of the characters do not leave a major impact.

The background score and the songs don't supplement the mood of the film much and you don't feel the tension through the music. As said earlier, due to low production value, the visuals look inconsistent at various places and the editing also doesn't connect the scenes properly. The amateurish making is a con for the film as a well-written script loses its power during the conversion of text-to-screen. Due to this lack of finesse, the edge-of-the-seat thrill factor goes completely missing. 

VERDICT - A neatly written competent thriller that has its moments! Watch out for Vivek's performer avatar!
RATING -2.5/5