Veeram

Right in the opening segment, director Siva lays out his cards. There is a fight between two groups in a college and the new principal, who wants to put an end to this, goes to meet the elder brother of one of the parties involved in the scuffle. And, there, we see that the brother himself is a ruffian, who will feed people before beating them as he wants them to be strong to take the blows. But since this person is also the hero of the film, he is what we could call a genial rowdy, and the scene plays out mostly for laughs. The district collector, who is his friend, is present at the scene, happily requesting a similar "entertainment" the next day as well. If this is what your of idea of fun is, then, hop on aboard, the director seems to say.

The film is a template masala film — a superhuman hero, his cronies who will sing his praises all the time, a beautiful-looking heroine, a raging villain. It has no room for logic, moving from one hero-worshipping scene to the next and is aimed at our visceral tastes. The story is in service of its star and, it is unapologetic about it.

The plot, which kicks in only in the second half, and revolves around Vinayagam (Ajith) and his four brothers, who are do-gooders who will not hesitate to meet violence with violence. Vinayagam falls in love with Koperundevi ( Tamannaah), the daughter of Nallasivam ( Nasser), a pacifist. He tries to mend his ways for the sake of his lover, but when he learns that a revenge-seeking convict (Atul Kulkarni) wants to annihilate her entire family, he decides to stop him at all cost.

The very purpose of Veeram is to be a showcase for its star, Ajith, and that it does quite well. Right from the hero introduction scene, Siva creates moments specifically designed for his hero to shine — you see him being praised by those around him, mouthing punch dialogues, being nice to kids and elders, fighting on a running train, and in the climax, coming back from the dead to destroy the villain and his me...