VIP 2 Review - Lives up to the expectations over the VIP tag
An idea of making a sequel to a successful film has one paramount challenge and a big advantage. The challenge is that the sequel has to match the expectations over the first part. The advantage is that you already have a success formula and you just have to tread the best laid path with a little caution over repetitiveness. 'Velai Illa Pattadhari 2' aka 'VIP 2' effectively wins the challenge by exploiting all the advantages offered by its all class hit first part 'VIP' that released in 2014.
The story starts an year after the point where the first part ended. The 'Velai Illa Pattadhari' Raghuvaran (Dhanush) now a successful Engineer. He is married to his lover Shalini (Amala Paul) who is in charge of running the household taking care of her husband, his father (Samuthirakani) and younger brother Karthik (Hrishikesh) in the place of Raghuvaran's late mother (Saranya Ponvannan).
Raghuvaran wins the Best Engineer of the year Award. In the same Vasundhara Constructions owned by the self made and the most successful entrepreneur and architect Vasundhara (Kajol), wins almost all the other awards given for the construction industry that . Vasundhara offers a job for Raghuavaran in her company which is South India's number one at the business. But Raghuvaran refuses the offer as he is loyal to his boss who recruited him when he was jobless and for his ultimate dream of starting his own construction company with his VIP gang of Engineers.
A huge project to construct a multi-speciality hospital goes to Ravhuvaran's company instead of Vasundhara's, due to the former's effort. This makes Vasundhara target Raghuvaran. She decides to make him repent for rejecting her offer. She manages to grab that huge project using her political influences and also starts giving problems to the company where Raghuavaran works in order to corner him and make him jobless. Raghuvaran resigns his job to save his employer from further losses and distress. Now he has again become a 'VIP'. He plans to go ahead with his dream of starting his own construction company but does not have the required fund.
What happens to Raghuvaran's ambition and what are the hurdles he faces in the process? What happens to Vasundhara's challenge to Raghuvaran? The answers to these questions forms the rest of the film.
'VIP 2' is predominantly engaging and entertaining for the most part. The film has all the elements such as the mass, emotion, sentiment, comedy and romance which were the big contributors of the success of the first part. But the only problem here is the story is predictable and the incidents are not as organic as they were in the first part. But this drawback is compensated by whistle worthy mass moments, a social angle added in the second half and also a powerhouse woman character positioned against the hero. So 'VIP 2' succeeds in entertaining and engaging the audience with almost never a dull moment.
The story and dialogues have been written by Dhanush while Soundarya Rajinikanth has directed the film apart from writing the screenplay As said earlier the story is a little predictable but Dhanush makes up for it by adding a laudable social angle when he rejects a much needed project because, if it is completed it will be a huge threat for the lives of many people and he also leads a protest for it. The way the film ends and the last fifteen minutes is a surprise and it is quite likeable. These compensate for the predictability factor. As the dialogue writer Dhanush has done a pretty good job. The way he has used Thirukkural instead of punch dialogues in the important mass moments of the film is praiseworthy.
After the experimental 'Kochadaiiyaan' Soundarya makes a comeback with this film which is her introduction to regular commercial mass films. As a director she has registers her signature with quite attention to details in the script as well as the making. The visuals are grand, sets are catchy and innovative and the acting of almost all the artists are quite impeccable. As the captain of the ship. she has ensured that all these are properly executed. Surprisingly the lip sync for Kajol and all the other characters who may have had a different dubbing artist is quite perfect. It is something which most filmmakers miss.
And in terms of characterisation there are some noteworthy moments where the attention to details during the paperwork is evident. For example, in a particular scene where Vasundhara crosses Raghuvaran she just moves ahead as if she has not noticed him but while on the go she voluntarily says "Good Morning" to his boss who stands next to him. This minute expression speaks a lot about the attitude of the character.
Having said that Dhanush and Soundarya could have made the familial scenes more interesting. They cannot be called as dull but they follow the cliched pattern that involves a over-caring and hyper emotional wife and her husband's rants about her.
Dhanush as the invincible Raghuvaran steals the show as always. His dialogue delivery, expressions and body language in the mass scenes as well as the emotional ones are equally perfect. Amala Paul gets more performance scope than the first part and she has done justice to the character. Samuthirakani who was a strict and cynical father in the first part turns into an affectionate and friendly father of Raghuvaran in the second and does his part well. Vivekh manages to raise guffaws in regular intervals as he did in the first part and there is also one good emotional scene involving him which strikes the right chord. Director Balaji Mohan makes an impressive extended cameo while Sharavana Subbiah comes in a usual villain role.
The 'VIP 2' team can proudly raise their collars for having cast a highly celebrated Bollywood star like Kajol in a story and a role that warrants a star with such an aura and performance capability The way the character Vasundhara character and Kajol effectively add beauty to each other. Kajol's looks, costumes, body language and to top it all her performance give an impression that no one could have have brought this much of style, suaveness and attitude to the character Vasundhara and made it a memorable female character opposing the hero. A perfect and worthy comeback for the 'Minsara Kanavu' actress indeed.
Sean Roldan's BGM is quite good while songs do not match the expectations created by the first part.The 'VIP' theme composed by Anirudh for the first part has been used in a very limited but effective way.
Sameer Thahir's cinematography has guaranteed pleasing visuals while Prasanna GK's Editing is flawless. Anal Arasu's stunt choreography deserves praise.
Verdict: With mass moments, familial emotions, the invincible Raghuvaran and the powerfully attractive Vasundhara, 'VIP 2' entertains predominantly and engages throughout and it will definitely satisfy the audience.
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