Beast Tamil Movie

Beast is a battle between the templates set by Vijay and Nelson in the past. Neither of them win and so the movie falls between stools. Apr 16, 2022 By Baranidharan Sivasankaran

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Director Nelson who was just 2 films old while signing for Vijay's Beast has become a firebrand among the producers. That is mainly due to his off screen commentary and the way he infuses subtle wry humour into the narrative. Nelson's previous successful outing is 'Doctor', the Sivakarthikeyan starrer. Personally, the movie did not appeal for me as it lacked depth in writing and followed the same tropes that he followed in his debut feature, 'Kolamavu Kokila'. However, after watching 'Beast', I could see a common pattern in his narrative. It's not just humour, but desperately trying to make ordinary scenes into extraordinary ones with pretty ordinary lines and interesting modulations.

So, what is in store for us with Beast? The story is no secret as it was out in the open when the trailer was released. A mall in Chennai gets hijacked by terrorists. They demand the release of one of their leaders to release the hostages. Raw agent Veeraraghavan (Vijay) is in the mall. He schemes things with the 'Nelson gang' and saves the day for the hostages and Indian government.

We get everything that one expects while walking into a 'Vijay movie'. Foot-tapping numbers for which Vijay gyrates more than Pooja Hegde, action blocks that are shoved right into our gut, rehashed mass dialogues, a heroine who falls head over heels for Vijay and some comic bits to ease the pressure every now and then. What we don't get is logic and the ability to think through scenes with an iota of logic.

One could even forgive the tons of bullets that escape without even brushing Veeraraghavan, but how can we forgive the dumb terrorists who fail to keep a tab on the CCTV cameras that would shown their own men getting culled. At the end of the day it's a 'Vijay movie'. So, no questions asked. Anything and everything goes. Also, as an add-on we get a mini love triangle with Pooja Hegde and Aparna Das. VTV Ganesh provides some laughs with his voice and modulation.

Yogi Babu and Redin Kingsley were forgotten while making the movie. Selvaraghavan as the negotiator was natural and proved to be a surprise package. Rest of the cast including Shaji as the minister and Lilliput as the terrorist were convincing. Ankur Vikal as the terrorist mastermind is another dumb job at casting. Pooja Hegde plays the typical heroine for the 'Vijay movie'. However, her dialogue delivery resembles that of Priyanka Arul Mohan in Doctor. Actor Vijay and music director Anirudh are the pillars for the movie. They try their best to keep things afloat.

Finesse is a rare commodity for a Vijay movie. Surprisingly we get a glimpse of that during the movie's intro portion. We get to experience some reality check with Vijay erring on his part as he is misguided in an operation. He gets to pay a huge psychological toll because of his actions. Just when I thought that the narrative finds its unique direction, the movie switches to autopilot mode, reminding us that we are in a 'Vijay movie'.

The movie tried to mince fun and action with an extra dash of superstardom to leverage on the larger than life image of Vijay. The job was half done. Thanks to a weak narrative, and Nelson's half-baked character portrayal, the movie fails to live up to its expectations even as a 'Vijay movie'. Even a true blue Vijay fan would agree with that!