Vikram Vedha Movie Review: Hrithik Roshan & Saif Ali Khan film is a WINNER for big screen

Remakes are always tricky – at times makers hit it out of the park and at times, the film falls flat on its face. This week’s release, Vikram Vedha falls in the former category, as director duo, Pushkar and Gayatri adapt their Tamil Original to perfection for the Hindi-speaking audience and elevate the impact by making optimum utilization of Hrithik Roshan’s superstardom, and Saif Ali Khan’s screen presence.

First things first, Vikram Vedha is among the most complex screenplays of modern times, which has been simplified in projection to make the film reach out to a wider section of the audience. The narrative of this action thriller speaks volumes about Pushkar & Gayatri’s command over their craft. The film rides on smart writing, loaded with twists and turns which keep you on the edge of your seat, and has enough action sequences infused at the right moments resulting in high points at regular intervals.

The high points of Vikram Vedha include Saif Ali Khan’s introduction, which reaches at its peak with Vedha aka. Hrithik Roshan’s arrival, the plot twist at the end of the first tale, and the intermission block. There’s also a quirky action sequence featuring Hrithik in the first half that lands very well. The momentum continues in the second half as well, particularly the last 45 minutes which elevates the overall impact of the entire story. Of course, Vikram Vedha is not devoid of drawbacks. The romantic track of Saif Ali Khan and his wife, Radhika Apte, doesn’t land as well as expected and just adds on to the run-time.

The pace dips a little due to the sub-track featuring Rohit Saraf in the second half, and the episode could have been crisper on the edit table. The music is weak and warranted at least one chartbuster. However, the background score by Sam CS acts like another hero in all scenes. It’s designed to justify the larger-than-life aura of Hrithik Roshan, with grandeur in all beats made for Vedha. The placement of Bande in the second half is sure to be greeted with whistles. A dialogue-heavy film like Vikram Vedha is loaded with one-liners by Manoj Muntashir and B.A. Fida, which are sure to result in multiple clap-trap moments for the audience.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of quirks added in the character traits of Vikram and Vedha, which is a welcome change from the original. The action sequences are well designed by Parvez Shaikh, and they look even better with Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan. One miss in the climax action block lies in the fact that it had ample scope for better build-up for Vedha. Watch out for the machine gun action scene - It is a riot.

There are some stars who are best experienced on the big screen and one of those is Hrithik Roshan. He gets into the skin of Vedha, and brings in an element of madness to it. When he hits someone, we know he can do it, as such is the conviction, such is the body language. He makes all the action scenes look believable. HR manages to hide the storm beneath the calm when needed and explodes like a bomb in the intense moments – it’s a rare combo, which he strikes to perfection. Saif Ali Khan delivers another reliable performance as Vikram, emerging as the perfect nemesis to Hrithik. He gets his moments of those walks and displays bravado at the right moments. Watch out for the metamorphizes of his character through the narrative, and the small tweaks in his body language. Radhika Apte as Priya and Rohit Saraf as Krishna do well in their respective roles, but the real surprise package of Vikram Vedha is Sharib Hashmi. He is simply phenomenal as Babloo, and stands tall in front of both, Hrithik and Saif. The rest of the cast is decent.

Overall, Vikram Vedha is an action thriller designed to be best experienced on the big screen to celebrate the presence of Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan. It’s loaded with action, dialogue-baazi, and the right amount of massy elements, but warranted a little better music. The lack of a romantic track for either of the two leads (as demanded by the script) makes the reach a little concentrated, but nonetheless, it has enough to emerge as a winner for the audience in terms of a package for big-screen entertainment.

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