You probably don’t know what you’re in for with “Vettaiyan” (or “Hunter”), the new Tamil language Indian policier starring septuagenarian “Super Star” Rajinikanth, or why it’s worth sticking with this 166 minutes thriller. How could you? The main hook—teaming Rajni with Bollywood figurehead Amitabh Bachchan—isn’t new (this is their fourth teamup) and also might not be strong enough to keep you invested. “Vettaiyan” still trudges ahead for two conventional, if mostly satisfying hours until it reaches an inevitable post-intermission twist. At this point, the movie, which follows an investigation into the violent murder of a saint-like public school teacher, shifts focus so that it’s not only about police, but also private school reform. Then, after a delirious spike of adrenaline, the movie goes back to being staid and silly, the kind of retrograde programmer that’s mainly satisfying thanks to its younger filmmakers’ commitment to being soul-deep corny.
In “Vettaiyan,” Rajinikanth plays the righteous Superintendent Athiyan, a revered “encounter specialist” (or field agent) who embodies the three criteria of a great cop, according to his techie sidekick Cyber “Battery” Patrick (Fahadh Faasil): Athiyan’s honest, talented, and courageous. To wit, Rajinikanth kills with impunity and doesn’t stop until he gets his man, as he occasionally reminds us with his sing-songy mantra: “When the hunt is on…the prey must fall.” Athiyan’s a murderer, but he doesn’t see himself that way, not until he’s forced into the orbit of Sathyadev (Bachchan), a skeptical human rights advocate and veteran judge of the Indian High Court. Bringing these two characters together takes a moment, as do most things in “Vettaiyan,” whose plot doesn’t unfold so much as it congeals.
Despite his well-established reputation (within the movie’s world), Athiyan has to shoehorn himself into a high-profile investigation that starts with the murder of Miss Saranya (Dushara Vijayan), a celebrated public school teacher, and later involves private school mogul Natraj (Rana Daggubati). An early speech from Sathyadev, which suggests that social injustice continues to plague modern India given institutionalized prejudice against lower caste citizens, helps to give viewers a sense of what’s coming. But the movie takes its sweet time in getting from one plot point to the next. For a while, we follow Athiyan and his cagey colleague Harish Kumar (Kishore) as they chase their prime suspect, a known pervert from a Tamil Nadu slum. Then the movie shifts gears, though not after a lot of self-congratulatory waffling about whether or not Athiyan’s behavior is always justified. Turns out yes, always, even when he’s wrong, in which case he’s only mistaken for trusting other, lesser cops.
Like a number of Rajinikanth’s recent movies, this one’s socially critical and dramatically rote. Unlike the better of these recent vehicles, “Vettaiyan” often coddles viewers with goofy declamatory dialogue—my favorite line: “Seems the price of integrity is death!”—and by-the-numbers action and musical sequences. You could substitute Rajinikanth with any number of his less charming competitors during the movie’s by-the-numbers set pieces, whose choreography often lacks rhythm and momentum given their uninspired use of speed-ramping and slow-motion. The best fight, shot from the perspective of a P.O.ed Athiyan, doesn’t even feature Rajinikanth on camera. Rajinikanth also doesn’t seem to be in the same room at the same time as Big B for more than one or two of their half dozen shared scenes.
Many of the movie’s hammier creative decisions seem to have been made for the sake of flattering an ideal audience that might have aged out of this type of entertainment. It’s unclear, for example, why we need to see Saranya’s lurid, giallo-esque murder—presented from her attacker’s perspective—at least four times, given how each flashback repetition doesn’t really add much. There’s also a lot of chummy, ego-stroking asides and interjections from Athiyan that are only endearing coming from an older star who sometimes talks and moves like he’s the best G.I. Joe figure that you never owned. Look at him banter with Battery (“Started your tricks already?”). See him futz with his hinged smartphone and magnetic sunglasses frame attachments! Hear him express self-doubt and rage in the same flat emotional register (“What we carried out wasn’t an encounter, but a murder!”)!
“Vettaiyan” may sometimes feel like the worst kind of throwback, but it still manages to coast on its star and his collaborators’ unshakable faith in crowd-pleasing movie logic. The filmmakers don’t miss a formulaic story beat nor do they skimp on what they think their audience will want from Rajinikanth. There’s also more than enough surreal imagery and laugh aloud moments throughout the movie, like when a heavy asks Athiyan whether he or his wife (he’s married, by the way) wants to die first, and then soon whines: “Tell your wife to stop shooting!” It’s not exactly challenging or brief, but “Vettaiyan” does eventually get to where it’s going.
