Comedy as a genre has undergone a sea change in the Tamil cinema. Decades ago, the comedian, usually protagonist's best friend, appeared in a scene inserted between a sequence of songs and actions, providing a great deal of feed to Tamil's comedy Tv channel. That “another comedy” track has been a thing of the past since the advent of a new generation of directors. One of them, Nelson, was a pioneer who pushed comedy to the fore in an important sequence, regards of the mood of the scene. This was obvious in kolamavu kokila and Doctor was worked primarily.
This metaphor failed him in Vijay's latest movie, Beast, and struck the theatre. Vijay is cast as Veera Raghavan, a RAW agent that can dodge 100 bullets and escaped unharmed. For the first few minutes of the movie, I see him doing what he regrets at the Indian Border. In this scene, you can feel the reason, the emotional weight.
But unfortunately it's missing in the rest of the movie. Also, I do not feel the tremors that should exist in a such tense situation. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the chennai Shopping Mall, held hostage by a group of terrorists, both emotions and logic face of the other.
A good 40 minutes or so into ‘Beast’, it is not difficult to see where the movie is headed. It's headed into the Nelson zone. Veera Raghavan (vijay) looks somewhat detached and impassive. The character around him are hostages, much like Veera himself, yet that don't show terror on their faces. Some of them like Yogi Babu and even Pooja Hedge, wear their character quirks on their sleeves. But then, do you watch superstar movies expecting thinks go to this way? Not at all. To ou walk into the Thalapathy Vijay movie expecting the hero's dominance. The way Vijay is edged out of the screen at times, you can safely bet the director Nelson wrote the script with a second-rung hero in mind.
Actually, we got to say more. ‘Beast’is a quasi-superstar vehicle. Some superstar movies are like this: they make us say that only the particular actor can do it. An example would be the A.R. Murugadass-directed ‘sarkar’. Some other superstar movies are like this: they feel like superstar movies that some other hero, too, can do (not listing an example to avoid offending fanboys ). ‘Beast’ belong to the third, forbidden category: this superstar vehicle tempts us to say that it should have been headlined by a medium-range hero. Ther in lies its biggest undoing.
This is an action-comedy that unfolds in the backdrop of a hostage situation were the category that should not have been reduced to a caricature is reduced to worse: terrorists. Amid refrences to NSA and mossad, a pm aspirant and a reckless special officer (Selvaraghavan), ‘Beast’ forgets to construct edgy situation. There is an action sequence where Vijay is the middle of the life-threatening situation. As the gun battle unfolds, the staging turns out to be amateurish and lacking in dynamism and believablity; it is as if Vijay is standing inside a lift, with the doors of the lift opening and closing just at the right time.
The moment of the captors is sketchy. There is a sentimental terrorists who is a conveniently - written stock character. We don't get a clear idea of how many terrorists are there and on which floor. There is no intrique when Vijay's character is around. It's as if he is there to keep ‘Beast’ from becoming a full length comedy. The terrorists barely look menacing. Wait, do you even remember how they look? The captives are never tired of cracking jockes and hurling repartees. One of them even has the mood to body-shame a fellow captive. Yes, this is all semi-funny at least. But, then we didn't sign up for it
Nothing embodies the film's lack of creative energies more than Vijay parroting Mahesh Babu's punch line from ‘Pokiri’. The punchline is fifteen years old! But this punchline is not the only thing that feels borrowed about ‘Beast’. A lot of stock situation look old.
Anirudh's background score and manoj paramahamsa's cinematography lend a touch of dignity to the film. Vijay's studied portrayal of a gutsy and lucky RAW spy is huge plus.
