‘Vikramvedha’ joins the long list of unnecessary Bollywood remakes of South Indian films.
Release Date: 30/09/2022
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte, Sharib Hashmi.
Director: Pushkar Gayatri
Vikram Vedha is a scene-to-scene remake of the 2017 Tamil film Vikramvedha directed by Pushkar Gayatri and featuring R Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi as the titular characters. In the Hindi remake, Saif Ali Khan plays the role of Vikram while Hrithik Roshan plays the role of Vedha.For the uninitiated, the story revolves around honest cop Vikram and his team of encounter experts who are out to get Vedha and his gang, a dreaded gangster. Vedha is in hiding and yet the police have been able to kill many of his associates. After one such encounter, Vedha suddenly reappears, hands himself over to the police, and when Vikram is questioned, offers to tell him a story. What happens next is what the film is all about.
As already mentioned, the film has nothing new to offer in terms of story, screenplay and characters. Thus, the only reason for anyone who has seen the original to watch this remake is to see the various changes, and stylistic choices, added by the directorial duo to the finish of the film. Interests that change to some extent. order and add a dash of excitement to them. A small section documenting Vedha’s rise to power has also been reimagined.
The main reasons why northern audiences might watch this remake are the two leading men. Especially Hrithik’s turn as the sinister Vedha. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding his portrayal of the role and the directorial duo try their best to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the actor playing the role. Vikram’s character, on the other hand, remains the same as the original, with Saif Ali Khan trying to bring his sensibility and physicality to it using subtle nuances and minor changes.
For those who haven’t seen the original, it’s sure to be a fun, interesting and entertaining watch. I watched this movie with someone who had some idea of the original but hadn’t seen it. She was involved in the narrative for at least two-thirds of the film and her enthusiasm started to wane towards the end of the film when she could guess who the bad guys would be. Having said that, it still begs the question – why watch this remake when the original can be streamed for free?
