Kollywood’s obsession with violent cop heroes may be limitless, but for some of us, our patience has run dry. Vijay Sethupathi (VJS, as he’s often called) stars in DSP as another run-of-the-mill Tamil cinema police officer who heralds encounter killings as the ultimate justice. We are introduced to his character, Vasco da Gama, in North Madras’s Kasimedu, where he nearly beats to death a caricature ‘rowdy’. But of course, Kollywood, North Madras is the singular location in the whole city where criminality and general villainy can be found, right? The story proceeds erratically between the past and present events of his life as he massacres his way to the revenge he is seeking—the uniform enables his violence, the film implies. If you’re hoping for an explanation as to why VJS’s character is named after a famed racist coloniser, you will have to keep wondering. Director Ponram offers no reason for the absurd name.
The director also offers little by way of a remotely believable story. From flashbacks that take up most of the movie, we learn that Vasco hails from Dindigul. He is a doting son and brother, looking for a government job. Occasionally, he romances Annapoorani (Anukreethy Vas) who helps run her family’s sweet shop. Only, ‘romancing’ is an exceedingly generous description. Annapoorani is shown as someone who constantly runs her mouth off, but is essentially a silly woman. Vasco’s insult-comedy interactions with her are allegedly his romantic gestures. Since there has to be a big, bad cartoonishly evil villain, we have Prabhakar as ‘Muttai’ Ravi. At least why this villain’s moniker translates to Egg Ravi is an explanation, albeit a rather convoluted one, that you do get. At some point, Vasco flees his hometown with the intent of returning as a Deputy Superintendent of Police, which he does. Vasco versus Muttai Ravi is the rest of the movie – a movie that is dedicated to simultaneously valoursing police brutality and making it fodder for comic sequences.
There is an entire segment in the film where Vasco hangs the villain's henchmen by their feet and makes a game of having them beaten up to music. He tells his subordinate cops to keep hitting them until he stops playing the music. When one of the constables doesn’t stop even after Vasco turns off the song, the constable is told that he’s been disqualified from the game. The whole stomach-churning sequence is treated as a humorous skit. The cries of pain from the men are laughed at.
The next time Kollywood stars decide to make grandstanding statements about custodial torture as they did about the Sathankulam case, they’d do better to take a long, hard look at themselves. The Sathankulam case pertaining to the torture, and deaths of Jayaraj and Bennix, made headlines, mainly for its sheer brutality. Only in April this year, Vignesh, a 25-year-old Dalit man from Chennai died in police custody, amid allegations of violence. Police excesses and extrajudicial killings are commonplace in India. Victims are from communities oppressed on the basis of caste, class, and religion. Against this factual backdrop, custiodal torture isn’t funny. ‘Encounter killings’ as extrajudicial deaths are called, aren’t heroic. The Disha case in Telangana is one such example. Movies like DSP, Vijay’s Theri, the newly-released Amazon Prime series Vadhandhi, and every other cop-hero story Kollywood churns out, seems wilfully oblivious to reality.
When Ponram’s comedy sequences are not being applied to police excesses, it goes the Kollywood route of body-shaming a plus-sized woman actor. Deepa Shankar who plays constable Pandiamma is fodder for jokes about her body and being a glutton, similar to her role in director Nelson’s Doctor. It speaks to the misogyny and colourism that runs through Tamil cinema. While VJS who himself can be described as plus-sized can land not only dignified roles but is a bankable ‘mass’ hero, dark-skinned women of Deepa’s physique are dehumanised for laughs.
Even as entertainment, DSP fails to impress. VJS’s easy charm and immense talent don’t help save the film, but you do wonder at his choice of picking this script. Ponram makes tame attempts to tap into VJS’s ability for quirky characters while also trying to deliver a typical revenge drama. He fails at both.
As a reviewer, as a human being with a minimal grasp on what can pass as musical sounds, I am still reeling from the fact that D Imman scored the soundtrack. Each song, whether for its lyrics or rhythm, outbid the other in being the worst you’ve heard yet. For ardent Vijay Sethupathi fans, this film will be an exhausting letdown. For people looking for a light-hearted movie over the weekend, I recommend you consider anything else but DSP.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.