Sethupathi (aka) Sethupathy review

A film for Vijay, and he has to win

Vijay Sethupathi plays a tough cop, a role he has played so many times before. (VijaySethupathi.Official/Facebook)

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Sethupathi
Director: SU Arun Kumar
Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Remya Nambeesan
Rating: 2/5

Arun Kumar’s Sethupathi is a film that moves from reel to reel on the shoulders of actor Vijay Sethupathi, who plays a cop, Sethupathi -- a toughie role that he has done so many times. There has been one wonderful exception, though, called Orange Mittai, where he essays an old man desperate for the warmth of human company.

Kumar’s film has the usual -- and oft-beaten -- incidents of an honest policeman not only battling a system which is unfriendly and even corrupt, but also a local dada, a saint for the masses but a personification of evil for his foes. Vijay’s Sethupathi has to obviously be on the chopping block of the villain (an impressive performance by Vela Ramamoorthy). Otherwise where is the story?

Watch Vijay’s Sethupathi trailer here:

The story begins with a man in khaki being burnt alive and Sethupathi bent on punishing the guilty. But when an accident involving a teenager shatters Sethupathi’s clean image, and barricades his way towards netting the criminal, a kind of lord in Madurai, the policeman has to plot a completely different script.

Much of the movie is an endless series of chases and blows -- with the goons being beaten to pulp by the one-man brigade called Sethupathi. One may call this make-believe, but Kumar’s work rolls far beyond this.

However, there are finer, delicate moments in Sethupathi that do provide a pleasing relief. Sethupathi’s chemistry with his screen wife -- a hauntingly expressive Remya Nambeesan -- is scintillating. Nambeesan is certainly a high point of the film, and she conveys a gamut of emotions with elan. Why is she not used more often by Tamil cinema?

Predictable, for we know that Vijay will triumph in every move he makes, and often ponderously cliched, Sethupathi is high on thrill, thanks to adept editing by Sreekar Prasad, but besides this, there is hardly any novelty to mull over after the curtains drop.
                                                                                                                                                            

 "Kaakki Sattai Pottaa Mattum Dhaan Nee Aambala", challenges Vaathiyar (played by Vela Ramamoorthy), the villain in director SU Arunkumar's Sethupathi. Will Sethupathi, the inspector, who is in line to become the ASP, prove him wrong, fighting all the frame ups and hurdles thrown at him by the villain? This is the basic plot of the film.

Arunkumar has sketched the characters well enough that just the personalities alone invoke interests among the audiences. Be it Vijay Sethupathi's bold, authoritative personality or Remya Nambeesan's dutiful, witty, smart persona or Vaathiyar's composure, shrewdness and maliciousness, the director has taken time in sketching each characters distinctly. But the depth in these characters wouldn't have been evident, if not for the solid performances from the actors. To add, Vaathiyar's gang looked weak with no smartness and having them look like comedians could have been avoided.
Vijay Sethupathi's part as a father is also well defined and played. The two kids brim with pleasant innocence, and energetic performances.

Sethupathi is Nivas K Prasanna's first mass entertainer and the composer brings in variety and perfect feel, with ease. "Naan yaaru" number stands out tall both in composition and visual. 

Sreekar Prasad's cuts are as smooth as silk, so much so that one might even forget the involvement of an editor. Dinesh Krishnan has significantly contributed to the aesthetics of the film through his visuals. Be it the top angles of the crowd sequences or the compositions of many slow-mos involving Vijay Sethupathi and also one involving his kid and the initial murder sequence, Dinesh Krishnan shows immense maturity.

All that considered, Sethupathi has a few downsides too. The movie holds the attention of the audiences rather too loosely. Despite its 121 minute run, the movie feels too long and leisurely paced, owing to it’s tried and tested story template. While it is mostly good to have a simple story, in a movie like Sethupathi that has had predecessors with similar tales, a bit more complexity, depth or a difference in the narrative could have killed the déjà vu.

To sum up on a positive note, Sethupathi is still an enjoyable entertainer, with power packed performance from Vijay Sethupathi.