Arun Kumar, who directed the poetic ‘Pannaiyarum Padminiyum’ has once again joined hands with Vijay Sethupathi to give a brilliantly scripted mass entertainer which hits the bulls eye.

‘Sethupathi’ is a tough cop  who balances his job with his family life perfectly.  An investigation into the death of an inspector from another station pitches Sethupathi against Vathiyaar a big wig in Madurai and the story is about the cat and mouse game played by  the two told brilliantly.

Vijay Sethupathi is a rare talent who dons a wide range of roles  with consummate ease.  If he was perfect as the wannabe rowdy in ‘Naanum Rowdy Dhaan’ here  as the straightforward  cop Sethupathi he has gone many notches higher.  The uniqueness he brings to his roles is again evident as he does not mouth any punch dialogue, but gets the claps with his body language alone.   Vijay Sethupathi is a delight when he casually takes a selfie while keeping the villain’s henchmen waiting.  The scene when he casually  confirms the fear of his enemy for him from his bike and  when he instructs his wife and son over the phone to chase away the goons who have come to  kill them drown the theater in applause.  This is probably his first full length  action film and he has taken to it like a fish to water.  Remya Nambesan carries the role of a married woman with two kids without a flaw.  Both Dhanusra and Raghavan are two cute kids and the latter has his own mass scene in the climax.Vela Ramamurthy as Vathiyaar does not look menacing, but by his dialogue delivery and body language convey his role nicely.  Linga as the loyal constable fits the role to the T and so is Vivek Prasanna as the main henchman.  The diminutive actor who plays the role of an officer who court-martials Sethupathi brings the house down when he rules in favor of him.

Nivas K Prasanna’s background score  greatly enhances the film  and the songs too are pleasant with the mass  Hey Mama rendered by Anirudh taking the cake.  Cinematography by Dinesh Krishnan and editing by Sreekar Prasad blend well.  Arun Kumar,  whose previous film was class has this time taken the usual cop story and has made it into a highly watchable commercial entertainer with his brilliant screenplay which proves wrong  every guess from the audience.  For the first time we get to see the inner life (family) and outer life of a policeman.  Usually romance scenes of cops will seem out of place but in this one it is cute.   In one of the scenes when the hero walks home speaking angrily on his  phone immediately changes when seeing his kids watching and starts playing with them that sends a clear message that even cops should not carry their work home.  Arun has kept the dialogues to the minimum and has let the action do the story telling and he comes good with the promise he has shown.

On the down side a few scenes in the first half are a little lengthy which could have been trimmed.

Verdict: You can welcome ‘Sethupathi’ with open hands for the brilliant performance of Vijay Sethupathi and  the gripping screenplay.

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