Vikram Vedha

About the film

Vikram Vedha is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Pushkar–Gayathri and produced by YNOT Studios. The film, which is inspired by the Indian folktale Baital Pachisi, stars R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi as the title characters, alongside Shraddha Srinath, Kathir, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Prem, Achyuth Kumar, Hareesh Peradi and Vivek Prasanna. In the film, Inspector Vikram sets out to track down and kill Vedha, a gangster. After voluntarily surrendering himself, Vedha tells Vikram three stories which change his perceptions of good and evil.

In January 2015, Sashikanth revealed that he would be producing a film directed by Pushkar–Gayathri. Following development of the script throughout 2015, Madhavan and Sethupathi were selected to play the lead roles in February 2016. Principal photography began in November of the same year and was completed by January 2017. The film was shot mainly in North Chennai, with the area being used as its backdrop. Sam C. S. composed the soundtrack and score, while P. S. Vinod and A. Richard Kevin handled the cinematography and editing respectively.

Plot

Vikram is a righteous police inspector with a rigid, black-and-white view of morality, while Vedha is a notorious gangster who operates within the gray areas of good and evil. Vikram's close friend, Simon, leads an encounter squad specifically formed to eliminate Vedha's criminal syndicate. During a raid, the unit executes several of Vedha's henchmen and frames an unarmed youth to avoid judicial scrutiny. As the squad plans its next operation, Vedha unexpectedly walks into the police headquarters and voluntarily surrenders.

During his interrogation by Vikram, Vedha offers to tell a story about his rise as a drug smuggler. He explains how he tried to shield his mathematically gifted younger brother, Vignesh "Pulli," from the criminal underworld. However, a rival gangster named Ravi forced Pulli to carry contraband. When apprehended, Pulli confessed, leading to Ravi's arrest. On the orders of his boss, Sangu, Ravi later assaulted Pulli, leaving a permanent scar on his hand. Vedha presents Vikram with a moral riddle: should he kill the weapon (Ravi) or the mastermind (Sangu)? Vikram answers that Sangu is the true culprit, and Vedha implies he acted accordingly. Soon after, Vikram's defense attorney wife, Priya, secures Vedha's bail. Vikram then makes a horrifying realization: the unarmed youth his squad killed and framed in the earlier encounter was actually Pulli. Fearing Vedha has targeted Simon in retaliation, Vikram rushes to find him, only to discover Simon and Pulli's girlfriend, Chandra, shot dead. SP Surendhar quickly dismisses the deaths as a botched encounter.

After Priya refuses to disclose Vedha’s location, an enraged Vikram tracks him down to a forest to execute him. Vedha subdues him after sharing a second story regarding an adult Pulli laundering syndicate funds into the stock market. When a substantial sum invested by Vedha's superior, Cheta, went missing alongside Chandra, it was revealed she had stolen it for a new life but returned out of love for Pulli. Cheta ordered Chandra's execution, prompting Vedha to ask Vikram if he should obey his boss or protect his family. Vikram chooses family, validating Vedha's past actions. Vedha then urges Vikram to look deeper into the suspicious murders of Simon and Pulli.

Production

After the release of Va (2010), the husband and wife director duo, Pushkar and Gayathri, took a break from filmmaking. They decided to explore other genres during this time as their earlier films, Oram Po (2007) and Va, were comedies. The duo planned to make their next project, which would be titled Vikram Vedha, with a more serious tone where emotions like anger, hatred, and pain drove the characters' motives. This led to their decision to develop characters whose actions are not entirely good or evil.

The duo initially considered setting the film either in politics, business or journalism before finally deciding on a police-gangster background. The Indian folktale Baital Pachisi inspired the development of the story. The ghost-like being Vetala who posed morally ambiguous questions to King Vikramaditya, each of which could result in more than one answer, attracted them. The film's title and its characterisation of Vikram (Vikramaditya) and Vedha (Vetala) were also derived from the tale.

In a January 2015 interview with journalist and film critic Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu, S. Sashikanth, the owner of production house YNOT Studios, confirmed that he would produce the project. Pushkar and Gayathri continued to develop the script throughout 2015, completing it in April 2016. Dhilip Subbarayan and P. S. Vinod were selected to be the stunt choreographer and cinematographer respectively. Richard Kevin also worked as an assistant director in addition to handling the film's editing. Manikandan was selected to write the dialogues after initially auditioning for and then playing the role of Santhanam.

Themes and influences

As the film is inspired from Baital Pachisi, it consists of an animated sequence involving Vikramaditya and Vetala, on which the main characters Vikram and Vedha are formed. For the title, the film's title designer Gopi Prasannaa revealed that the swirls in the Tamil letters 'Vi' and 'Th' symbolise the sword of Vikram and the tail of Vedalam.

Key details