Veedokkade: for Surya's fans

Got back to the movies! Caught up with Surya's 'Veedokkade'. While the movies is a pure masala entertainer, the title is misleading us to think this is one of those assembly-line products in telugu industry depicting larger-than-life machismo between a 'hero' and a 'villain'.This is mild and In fact is written cleverly and with discipline, almost to the book. However, while this masala stuff maybe the best among the recent tamil flicks,it pales in comparision with the popcorn churned out from telugu industry. Like for instance, the costumes, song picturization and the music were below par while the dialogues are not effective. The climax is a damp squib. Not for nothing do we have masala Jagannaths and masala Vinayaks. They are yet to be emulated south of Vindhyas.

Having said that, this movie definitely pushed the envelope when it came to screenplay, art direction and narration. This is perhaps the first indian movie to have tried quite a few things, even if they are inspired from Hollywood flicks. The yamakasi stunts remind us of Bond and Bourne movies like Casino Royale, Bourne Supremacy, QoS. A good try. African locales spiced up the movie and were used effectively. Surya took a leaf out from his new buddy Aamir Khan's 'Ghajini' and shot a song in Namibia's desert. The desert abutts the ocean and has got the world's tallest sand dunes. All this paraphernalia is effectively put together around the star that Surya has become off late. He has the look of a superstar and seems to make intelligent choices to become and remain one. He carries this movie on his shoulders with aplomb and is present in almost every frame of the movie. Tamanna, who also made some very good choices in her blooming career should have accepted this project for the newness this movie craved for. Otherwise her role has nothing to do except to look stunning, which she does. This movie is in line with Surya's choices where he does not experiment too much, like say Vikram. He just concentrates on trying a few getups, looking great and entertaining and that is what Veedokkade does. Surya's fans will enjoy this outing.