VIP 2 - Movie Review

'VIP-2' is in theatres now. Let's see what works and what don't work for this Dhanush starrer.

Story:

Raghuvaran (Dhanush) is an efficient, principled engineer working with a construction company. When he is given away the award for the year's best engineer, it ruffles the feathers of Vasundhara Parameshwaran (Kajol), an egoistic, ambitious construction empress. She decides to poach him, but Raghuvaran is not ready. He tells her that his loyalty will forever rest with his current employer.  

Followed by a defeat at his hands, Vasundhara now works towards destroying Raghuvaran and the company he works for. But the guy has his own plans. What are they and how does he teach the conceited and unethical Vasundhara a lesson? That is what the second half is about.

What works:

With the film missing some of the fundamental lessons of script writing (more on this later), Dhanush is its only hope. As the film's writer, Dhanush pens for himself all the expected scenes: Emotional but peppy conversations with his late mother (who comes into his sight directly from heaven whenever he is down), late night parties as a henpecked husband who is constantly hounded by his MBBS-educated housewife (Amala Paul), cinematic fights with henchmen, and, not to forget, those 'Nenu Local' moments wherein he mobilizes hundreds of local engineering youngsters against illegal real estate projects (remember the police station scene in Nani's film?).

In such portions, Dhanush acts effortlessly.

What doesn't work:

The very characterization of Dhanush is silly. Amala Paul's character starts seeming monotonous and caricaturish after a point. It's no longer humour; it is the 'Raghuvaran B.Tech' hangover that Dhanush seems to be enjoying himself as an actor and a writer.

Kajol's character is nothing short of a nightmare. Look at the way how the boss at South India's largest construction company behaves when Raghuvaran is around. It is a cliched presentation, not to speak of how it is a dumbed down version of Nilambari ('Narasimha). Her character's arc stops rising after the first verbal duel with Raghuvaran. This is a serious flaw. 

Performance score:

Director Soundarya Rajinikanth makes no attempt at re-branding Dhanush. After all, this is part 2 and not version 2.0. Phew! Kajol is a total letdown and don't buy into any encomiums. The lip sync is horrible. Amala Paul fits the bill as a dominating wife. If Samutharakani as Dhanush's light-hearted dad is OK, Ritu Varma as a pointless colleague is forgettable.  

Bottom line: 'VIP-2'  is full of clichés. Except in the beginning, the film doesn't entertain or excite us. A total disappointing sequel to a hit film!