Directors: Pushkar-Gayatri
Writers: Pushkar-Gayatri
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte
Even though it follows the original storyline with unwavering faith and is helmed by the same writers and directors, the Hindi version of Vikram Vedha is, on paper, not a Xerox copy of the 2017 Tamil film. While R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi played cop versus gangster in the grey-toned metropolitan clutter of modern Chennai, the Hindi Vikram Vedha is set in Lucknow and Kanpur, which directors Pushkar-Gayatri depict as peak, north Indian exotica: Mughal architecture; a palette of saturated, warm colours; labyrinthine slums with brightly-painted buildings; Ram leela actors and explosive Dussehra celebrations in the background; Hrithik Roshan prowling with his trademark, feline grace in the foreground. Technically, all this should serve to make the Hindi Vikram Vedha look and feel different from the original. Yet barring Roshan’s solo action sequences, there are few moments in this remake that don’t make you nostalgic for the original.
It’s not that Vikram Vedha isn’t competently made. To begin with, there’s Pushkar-Gayatri’s clever script, which takes the legend of Vikram-Betaal and transposes it into a modern-day thriller. Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) is a trigger-happy police officer who is known for his single-minded determination to wipe out bad guys. On one hand, he seems incorruptible. On the other, he doesn’t hesitate to plant evidence to make the victim of an encounter look like the aggressor, even though it was Vikram and his team that entered the scene, guns blazing. The man that Vikram is looking for is Vedha (Roshan), the craftiest gangster of the Lucknow underworld. When Vedha walks up to a police station and surrenders voluntarily, Vikram knows there’s more to this than meets the eye. It turns out Vedha has his own agenda and it begins with a simple request: “Can I tell you a story?” Twisty, intelligent, packed with complex characters and punctuated with excellent stunts, the script of Vikram Vedha is an actor’s dream.
Add to that Pushkar-Gayatri’s directorial flair. The duo has a gift for crafting moments that convey information to the audience without spoon-feeding and with style. For example, they weave beloved songs from vintage Bollywood films into the background score as a stylish hat-tip to the music that has been the soundtrack to our lives for at least two generations now. Combined with the slow-mo that is distinctive of the south Indian action spectacle, the filmmaking in Vikram Vedha often feels like a cinematic version of the famous slogan of ‘unity in diversity’. This is not a bad thing. Neither is the sight of Roshan and Khan — both ageing aesthetically — striding across a screen or towards the camera. Considering how handsome both these actors are, you wouldn’t think that covering half of their faces with beards would be an improvement, but it turns out that less sometimes really is more.
