If Veera Sivaji is anything to go by, Vikram Prabhu is well-past that lovely, promising Kumki period. He was quite unknown then, save for some indistinct resemblance to his father, but that really did not matter. Bomman was earnest as the elephant-boy, living and breathing pachyderms.
Four years later, a slightly more popular Vikram Prabhu draws on his grandfather’s legacy to bring in the audience. Veera Sivaji stars Vikram Prabhu as the eponymous hero – Sivaji – who is out to make a hero of himself. And for this, he employs another age-old tactic of the Nadigar Thilagam: emotions that tug, pull, and totally sever the heart-strings. He does laugh at the ensuing drama when it gets too teary, but the moment is all too fleeting. Sivaji is an orphan with a heart-of-gold, has ‘family’ who are not related to him by blood, and tries everything to save said cash-strapped family from impending doom. He allies with thugs, enters shady deals and does all in his power to circumvent logic. In short, anything that is good movie-fodder.
An insipid romance with Shamili (as Anjali, what else) follows. Here are two actors – with familial ties to cinema – starring in a script that quite manages to rob them of their past. Anjali appears and disappears in a cloud of pink or lilac, wears the most outrageous costumes in the most scenic locales, and falls in love with Sivaji who tries to rob her blind. Quite the extraordinary male fantasy, this.
The Veera Sivaji review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.