Veera Dheera Sooran Part 2 (Tamil)
SU Arunkumar’s Veera Dheera Sooran Part 2 doesn’t divulge much. We know it centers on an ex-con, Kaali (played by Vikram), who is pulled back into the grime. We understand that an influential “Periyavar” family and the local police officer (SJ Suryah) have major bones to pick with each other. Needless to say, loving families are at stake—Dushara Vijayan plays Kalai, who shares two kids with husband Kaali. But who is Kaali, really? What makes him a major player in this intricate game of blood and brains? The film gives us taciturn answers to this question, perhaps stowing away any extra detail for its prequel (hence the “Part 2” in the title). While this mystery gives the film a little bit of an edge, it has mostly resulted in an indulgent drama with characters we struggle to care for.
The film gives us clues to piece together an image of Kaali as we see fit. He runs a tiny provision shop with his sparkling wife, happily handing out potatoes and semiya to undoubting customers. He might have piling debts, but he’s able to catch a peaceful wink of sleep at night. So, when he’s forced to drop the potatoes and take up explosives (or “kizhangu,” as they’re called in the film) instead, his life changes in the course of a night.
The film is largely a boilerplate revenge drama: Superintendent of Police Arunagiri (SJ Suryah) has his sights on the notorious Ravi (Prudhvi Raj) and Kannan (Suraj Venjaramoodu). Of them, Kannan has beef with Kaali. But who is Kaali after?
Stories of revenge usually hinge on immense tension and high-intensity emotional stakes, yet the film often delivers neither.
It is interesting that Arunkumar largely opts for the one-night film route. We learn about Kaali and his adversaries mostly through the movements of a single night, with events that sound deeply fascinating on paper: a bomb that doesn’t go off, a favour that is double-sided, a cup of Horlicks that serves as the last piece of the puzzle. But Veera Dheera Sooran is unable to create the immaculate urgency required for such a format, leaving us instead with winding, underwritten scenes that convey little to nothing about the characters. We have scenes that always feel like they are going to bubble up to a crescendo, but instead quickly fizzle out.
The way Prasanna GK edits the film is quite unconventional. We either get tightly cut scenes that inform us of the night’s events, or serious action sequences suddenly undercut by moments of mirth, like in the flashback. From one pivotal night, we are transported ten years into the past for the flashback. Here, Dushara and Vikram share a romance that could’ve been quite refreshing in another film with the depth to flesh it out. This mood-mismatch continues on in the second half, never giving us a moment to empathise. There’s a wedding in the family, but also a death—a tragedy that unnerves Kaali, Ravi, Arunagiri, and Kannan. Yet this is a death we know nothing about, because we’re not even shown a glimpse of the person at the heart of the loss. And so we’re unfortunately left behind in an awkward position, unsure whether to grieve or not.
There are moments of fatalism with deep purpose that leave us with a lot of intrigue: like the paper plane that makes a bittersweet return, a gesture of goodwill that sets off a domino of bad luck for Kaali, or the image of water that haunts a person who lets someone die without a sip.
Theni Eswar’s camera is masterful, especially in those long, single-shot takes towards the climax. For a film that should rely so heavily on tension, Vikram delivers a performance that mostly oozes nonchalance. The prequel perhaps holds a lot of answers to our questions, but as a standalone film, Veera Dheera Sooran could’ve used more depth and far more urgency, something that the filmmaker mastered in Chithha (2023).
If there’s anything Sruthi loves more than watching films, it’s writing about it. Sruthi Ganapathy Raman’s words can also be read in Film Companion, Scroll.in, and The Times of India.
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.