Abdul Rasheed

VidaMuyarchi Review (Minor spoilers ahead) Watched Vidamuyarchi yesterday. As almost everyone knows this is a kollywood adaptation of "The breakdown" , a taut hollywood thriller released last millennium. So let me "break it down" if the tamil version manages to maintain the same level of thrills, tension and narrative as its hollywood source. The story is about the ordeal a divorcing couple goes through at the hands of an Indian run (!) human trafficking ring in Azarbejan (of all places). The director Magizh Thirumeni probably chose this as location because it offered stretches of barren landscapes, and lonely stretches of highway and to also to introduce language as another barrier in the protagonist's "muyarchi" in finding his missing (soon-to be ex) wife. However it is not a good "look" for the country as almost everyone this couple encounters turn out to be a crook or turn up dead :) The first 20 minutes takes its sweet time in establishing Ajith and Trisha's backstory with a series of yawn-inducing nested flashbacks and the screenplay moves lethargically without adding anything to the promised thrill quotient of the movie. Ajit looks his age but the problem is he looks like the "father of the bride" in the marriage sequence apparently happened 12 years ago (de-aging technology anyone ?) . Anyhow, as the movie progresses , Ajith and Trisha take one last roadtrip where they meet a few miscreants and an apparently helpful couple - enter Action King Arjun and Regina Cassandra. Ajith's car breaks down predictably in the desolate highway and he "trusts" the said couple with his wife to drop in the next rest stop. Then Ajith figures out the minor glitch under the bonnet of his car, fixes it and "races" to the rest stop only to find there are no signs of Trisha. The quest begins to find the missing wife , with most of the time dedicated to unfit Ajith running lethargically with a bag in the highway. Anirudh's BGM is the only saving grace that creates an induced pumping of adrenaline which has no business pumping just going by the happenings on the screen pre-intermission. Post intermission segments pick up in pace with several action sequences, which will be lapped up by "Thala" fans, However there are no intelligent moves by Ajith to figure out Trisha;s whereabouts he just goes through a hierarchy of goons and sidekicks , beating them into pulp to reach the antagonists' lair. Even the climactic action sequence between Ajith and Arjun lacks creativity and could have been choreographed better given the latter's action pedigree. Magizh has some good work in the past like Thadam and Kalaga thalaivan but the same level of intensity missing in this , atleast in the first half. The performances of all actors is on point and the director even dedicates a backstory for antogonists to add some more depth and dimension to their motivation, albeit with futile results. On the whole perseverance pays, no doubt it has already paid Ajith well and most probably will pay the producers at box office , given Thala's BO draw. But as for the audience's pay-off , your mileage may vary depending on how much of a fan of Ajith you are. VidaMuyarchi - No harm in giving up on this one.