High expectations are raised by Vetri Maaran's name alone, and Viduthalai Part 1 easily exceeds them. Setting the stage for an engaging encounter, the opening single-shot scene of the movie shows the aftermath of a train explosion. The main confrontation in Viduthalai Part 1 is between the police force and a group of activists fighting to defend indigenous people and their resources.
Soori performs the role of Kumeresan, a police officer assigned to a delicate hilly area where the fighting is most violent. Inadvertently saving the life of an indigenous woman as he gets to know the area earns him the fury of his superiors and exposes him to the violence of the local police unit. The department starts "Ghost Hunt," an effort to apprehend Vaathiyaar (Vijay Sethupathi), the activist group's head, and obstruct their advancement. As Vaathiyaar's whereabouts are unknown, Kumeresan asserts to have some leads. As Kumeresan develops feelings for one of the tribal women (Bhavani Sre), the police force starts using force against the populace in an effort to apprehend Vaathiyaar.
The story is told from the viewpoint of Kumaresan (Soori), a moral police officer who joins the squad searching for Perumal alias Vaathiyar - The Mentor (Vijay Sethupathi), the head of the neighbourhood separatist group Makkal Padai (People's Army). Kumaresan joins the police force with high hopes, but he has no idea that he will spend most of his time performing mundane tasks, such as carrying food to all of the check points through the forest and performing nighttime tower duty. His moral convictions are called into doubt when Kumaresan accidently crosses paths with Vaathiyar and later plays a crucial role in his capture.
The movie begins with a train explosion, and the images are undoubtedly the scariest ones one has seen in recent Indian movies. Those responsible for the attack, which left 28 people dead and numerous others seriously injured, are the People's Army. Operation "Ghost Hunt" is started by the police to apprehend Vaathiyar, whether he is alive or dead. When two men try to run after being shot in cold blood by police for carrying weapons, we observe a bus being frisked at a checkpoint in the following shot. Although some lives have been lost in both instances, the police killings are justified since they make newspaper headlines the next day. In the most unsettling, unrelenting manner, Viduthalai challenges the morality of police abuse.
The movie develops like a criminal thriller and creates its world at its own leisurely pace. The article explores the political climate in Tamil Nadu in the 1990s in addition to focusing on police violence. Soori, whose previous parts in his career have all been comedic, is a highly intriguing choice to portray the lead role. Like the majority of us, he becomes a mute observer of all the crimes committed in the name of a police inquiry. He does a fantastic job of capturing the innocence and helplessness of his role.
Vetrimaaran casts some really intriguing roles. The choice to cast Gautham Vasudev Menon in a significant part is brilliant. A director whose previous works celebrated police deaths now portrays an officer in a film that brutally exposes police violence. It makes sense to cast Vijay Sethupathi as Vaathiyar. Despite his lengthy cameo, he makes the biggest impression in those passages. The role of the women, who take the brunt of the abuse, is what makes Viduthalai at times unsettling, and Bhavani Sre is a talent to watch out for.
