First Day, First Show ... and well worth it.
This engrossing tale gripped us right from the opening credit sequence. Simple animation recalled the thousand-year-old Sanskrit myth of 'Vikram aur Betaal' which probes the universal question of good versus evil and suggests that human life is more accurately understood as shades of grey rather than either. A "good" king Vikramaditya seeks to save his people by subduing an "evil" spirit/entity called Betaal (in many versions of the myth not precisely human) only to learn through a series of challenging moral questions posed by Betaal how nothing may be quite what it seems.
Writer-director duo Pushkar & Gayatri deftly shift us into what seems at first a disarmingly simple police encounter that will nonetheless resonate later throughout the film: "good" cop Inspector Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) and his special police team ambush and annihilate the gang of "evil" criminal Vedha Betal (Hrithik Roshan). The central conflict of our story develops as Vedha stages his own surrender to Vikram in order to force Vikram to solve three great questions. And therein lies the unexpectedly deep and compelling tale.
So satisfying, to walk out of the cinema with so much to think about!
Hrithik Roshan yet again proves how he is not just an industry superstar but a super actor, completely submerged into the persona of a complex and challenging character who rivets our attention throughout. I loved how directors Pushkar & Gayatri deliberately keep his Vedha mysterious and almost unknowable ... he retains his secrets! ... perhaps in homage to the not-quite-human Betaal from the original myths. But in "Vikram Vedha" Hrithik portrays for once the catalyst, rather than protagonist, of our film. Saif Ali Khan's Vikram is truly our central character about whose evolving journey and discovery the whole movie turns. And I confess, it is Saif who really surprised me here. For all the ups and downs of his long and on the whole successful career as a leading film actor, never before had I seen Saif Ali Khan bring forth this much power and subtlety to any role. And the two actors, together, play off each other brilliantly.
The supporting cast - particularly Radhika Apte as Vikram's wife who is also the lawyer defending Vedha and Rohit Saraf as Vedha's innocent younger brother - are uniformly excellent and well cast. But "Vikram Vedha" is never really their show. Here, and most rightly, all focus remains throughout on our two compelling title characters.
Special shout-out to the exceptionally good art direction, which due to the horrifically deadly COVID-19 pandemic prevailing in India during time of production had to be largely Lucknow and Kanpur rebuilt on backlots overseas in Abu Dhabi.
If the action choreography never quite reaches the international standard we'd seen in other recent Hrithik films such as "Bang Bang!" (2014) or "War" (2019), there are still some particularly memorable scenes. Any scene where Hrithik's Vedha and Saif's Vikram are going head-to-head, definitely. There is a Vedha gun battle scene shortly before the climax in a ruined roof-less structure with an open looping staircase that was nicely shot. My special favourite, though, is a mid-film rooftop 'parkour' sequence where the Vedha character escapes by nonchalantly walking - not running - up down and around while the feverishly seeking police madly hunt for him at street level: perfectly illustrated the character.
Much recommended viewing!
This engrossing tale gripped us right from the opening credit sequence. Simple animation recalled the thousand-year-old Sanskrit myth of 'Vikram aur Betaal' which probes the universal question of good versus evil and suggests that human life is more accurately understood as shades of grey rather than either. A "good" king Vikramaditya seeks to save his people by subduing an "evil" spirit/entity called Betaal (in many versions of the myth not precisely human) only to learn through a series of challenging moral questions posed by Betaal how nothing may be quite what it seems.
Writer-director duo Pushkar & Gayatri deftly shift us into what seems at first a disarmingly simple police encounter that will nonetheless resonate later throughout the film: "good" cop Inspector Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) and his special police team ambush and annihilate the gang of "evil" criminal Vedha Betal (Hrithik Roshan). The central conflict of our story develops as Vedha stages his own surrender to Vikram in order to force Vikram to solve three great questions. And therein lies the unexpectedly deep and compelling tale.
So satisfying, to walk out of the cinema with so much to think about!
Hrithik Roshan yet again proves how he is not just an industry superstar but a super actor, completely submerged into the persona of a complex and challenging character who rivets our attention throughout. I loved how directors Pushkar & Gayatri deliberately keep his Vedha mysterious and almost unknowable ... he retains his secrets! ... perhaps in homage to the not-quite-human Betaal from the original myths. But in "Vikram Vedha" Hrithik portrays for once the catalyst, rather than protagonist, of our film. Saif Ali Khan's Vikram is truly our central character about whose evolving journey and discovery the whole movie turns. And I confess, it is Saif who really surprised me here. For all the ups and downs of his long and on the whole successful career as a leading film actor, never before had I seen Saif Ali Khan bring forth this much power and subtlety to any role. And the two actors, together, play off each other brilliantly.
The supporting cast - particularly Radhika Apte as Vikram's wife who is also the lawyer defending Vedha and Rohit Saraf as Vedha's innocent younger brother - are uniformly excellent and well cast. But "Vikram Vedha" is never really their show. Here, and most rightly, all focus remains throughout on our two compelling title characters.
Special shout-out to the exceptionally good art direction, which due to the horrifically deadly COVID-19 pandemic prevailing in India during time of production had to be largely Lucknow and Kanpur rebuilt on backlots overseas in Abu Dhabi.
If the action choreography never quite reaches the international standard we'd seen in other recent Hrithik films such as "Bang Bang!" (2014) or "War" (2019), there are still some particularly memorable scenes. Any scene where Hrithik's Vedha and Saif's Vikram are going head-to-head, definitely. There is a Vedha gun battle scene shortly before the climax in a ruined roof-less structure with an open looping staircase that was nicely shot. My special favourite, though, is a mid-film rooftop 'parkour' sequence where the Vedha character escapes by nonchalantly walking - not running - up down and around while the feverishly seeking police madly hunt for him at street level: perfectly illustrated the character.
Much recommended viewing!
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