Bairavaa

Everywhere I have seen negative reviews about this film but still I can't find a reason to hate this film.A action packed entertainer.

Bairavaa (2017): After the super success of Theri (surprisingly) Vijay returns with yet another commercial potboiler called Bairavaa. I always have a doubt on Vijay's stardom because apart of his amazing dance skills,his acting is strictly meant for his fans.The same applies to his movies (except Kaththi and Thuppaki),which are only meant for his fans.The same applies to this utter rubbish Bairavaa.

Plot: Bairavaa (Vijay) meets Malarvizhi (Keerthy Suresh), a medical college student, at a wedding and falls in love.When Bairavaa realizes that Malarvizhi is embroiled in a bitter legal battle with the corrupt chairman of her medical college, he promptly becomes her knight in shining armor.He accompanies her to her hometown in Tirunelveli to meet real estate tycoon Periyakannu (Jagapati Babu), who is the town's biggest bully.Periyakannu owns most of the business establishments and educational institutions in Tirunelveli. He and his accomplice Kottaiveeran (Daniel Balaji) rule the town with an iron hand.His medical college is a sham with no facilities and Malarvizhi and her friends, who have paid a lot of money for their seats, are fighting for their rights. The flashback shows the rape and death of Malarvizhi's friend Vaishali (Aparna Vinod), another student, who has sold her home to get a seat in the college.So how does Bairavaa save Malar and fight against PK forms the rest of the story?

Plus Points:

1)Flashback: A decent flashback is the only saving grace of Bairavaa.Though it has regular scenes,the setup in medical college and the problems faced by medical students in private colleges with no facilities are showcased well enough.

2)Varlaam Vaarlam Vaa Bairavaa track: Though it has bit Kaththi theme touch to it,still it felt good during fight sequences.But they overused in almost every fight scene which felt so repetitive.

Minus Points:

The director attempts to highlight corruption in medical colleges and the plight of students, who have no assurances even after shelling out huge sums of money for a seat. But the plot is lost in the director's over enthusiasm to portray Vijay as an all-powerful Messiah.

Bairavaa has typical outdated screenplay which tests our patience.The fun part is that they have used scenes even from the decade earlier movies like Sye,Mudhalvan,Temper,Dabangg etc.

Even fights have no freshness in it.In few fights,they have used Thuppaki and Sarrainodu bits.

Music is total disaster.What happened to Santhosh Narayan?

So,Bairavaa has all the ingredients to become a huge hit only if it had released a decade earlier.But now it became overly outdated.

My rating 4.5/10

The whole story revolves around Vijay, his screen presence is the biggest plus. The action sequences, emotional performances, romantic part and being funny he carries the entire movie on his shoulders. The only sideline would be his voice modulation at some places might seem artificial.

Keerthi Suresh as the lead pair has done her role to the perfection. She doesn't have much screen presence but has utilized her time span well. As a homely Nelai girl she excels in look as well as acting. The comedy track by Rajender and Sathish were peppered here and there. But one might feel few scenes should have been trimmed. Jagapathi Babu, Thambi Ramaiah and Daniel Balaji have put their experience into action, which worked well.

Though cast has done well, the screenplay falls flat. The first half was engaging with good scenes here and there to keep the audience engaged. But the second half falls flat. The one bold step by the director was to keep Vijay away from the much predictable flashback, which is a rarity in Vijay's film. If you go to a masala entertainer you should be ready to accept logical loop holes. The same happens here, especially in the second half the movie becomes predictable and finishes with less excitement.

The savior would be the interval block fight scene, pre climax fight scene and few others. Vijay has energized the action scenes and his fans will go crazy. The cricket fight bring in Whistles for sure.

#NO SPOILERS ****** Right from the movie announcement, cast, first look, teaser, trailer and songs the expectation for this flick was moderate, which was obvious and I can that the say the movie exactly matched it, except for the fact that it had a good content and few unexpected mass scenes. Like #Vedalam this movie also had all the qualities that it should have been released around 2005 to 2010 and not in this era. Yes an Agmark mass commercial Masala with good scenes then and there. Yet another One man army movie where Ilaya Thalapathy Vijay carried the whole movie right from the beginning. Movie had a strong plot but a weak execution in the second half. Director Bharathan is very good in paper work as he comes up with good / different stories ( first ATM, now Bairavaa ) and he had penned the dialogues for films like Ghilli and Veeram. When it comes to executing the same on screen, he fails. But there is an improvement compared to ATM ( it has to be, right :P ?). The first 20 or 30 minutes was very dull and kinda boring, even though many claim that the cricket fight was good, I don't feel that way.The actual story started then and it was in a good pace followed by a perfect interval block (Semma Mass!!!!) with Varlam Varlam Va " Bairavaa" BGM!! . Second half continued at a considerable pace by reminding us movies like Sivakasi (film), Veeram etc loses it by the uninspiring cat and mouse game between the hero and villain when nearing towards the Pre climax sequences. Then ends up in a normal climax. The reason for losing the pace was the placement of the scenes in the second half like a good scene followed by a bad scene , then again a good scene followed by a very bad scene. This movie would have been much better if some portions were trimmed. Sathish's one liner comedy helped here and there whereas Thambi Ramaiah was a great Mokkai. Keerthi Suresh as usual didn't have any scope. Another notable negative point is Mr. Santhosh Narayanan for the songs and BGM. 65 to 70% of the movie had "Varlam Varlam Va " Bairavaa" BGM and I doubt whether the remaining part had any RR. Particularly there was fight scene between Vijay and Daniel Balaji with a strong sentimental BGM (WTH ?? ) . This reminds me of the BGM in Kabali fight scene where Thalaivar rescues Radhika Apte in a BGM of absolute silence!! Also the placements of the songs in second half was bad. Papa Song visuals was good with a village temple background and good dance number. To conclude, if you are a neutral and who doesn't have any expectation and doesn't dive deep into anything. This movie would entertain you. For others except the fans, might or might not work out. On a box office point of view , there are certain movies which became hits even earned negative/Mixed reviews at the time of its release with various deciding factors. Examples ( Maan Karate, Maari, Vedalam , Theri etc) the first two due to the Pre release buzz it created and low budgets, the latter ones mainly for the few mass scenes which had been received well mainly in B and C centers even though the content wasn't good enough. So this movie has a very high chance of joining that list! #StrictlyMyview!!!

The movie knew what it was - A Mass film. It wasn't a stirring, cinematic spectacle that will captivate movie-lovers for generations. It was a movie meant to pander to Vijay's fans and give casual watchers who don't expect a masterpiece something to watch for 2.5 hours and entertain them. And I think the movie did it's role perfectly. Vijay hit all the chords - Women's sentiment, family sentiment, comedy, style, action, working against social injustice, fighting for the underprivileged and suppressed etc. He's attended to almost every major aspect of society which is what a mass movie should do. Will such movies help the Indian film industry grow in quality? No. Will it bring the money? Definitely. Should more mass movies such as this be encouraged? No. But they are an integral part of the film industry and the majority of people like it that way, so I don't think that will change. Mass Masada flick.. can't get better than this. From the start to end top notch Vijay style is superb.. definitely its not Vijay's best performance..but For a mass Masada movie like this, No one can beat Vijay.. sure-shot hit. Gun Scene , Court scene,Cricket fight scene, Nillayo song, Climax fight scene..etc. and that court scene contains full of social issues as usual Vijay conveys social MSG through his film....Vijay gave his best.. planned to go again for the cinemas..