Vikram Vedha’s anticipation is extremely rewarding

Whenever a much-loved Tamil, Malayalam or Telugu movie is remade in Hindi— many times than not, the remake often falls short– losing the original’s essence in translation or it cannot evolve itself from its original sensibilities for a Hindi speaking audience.

It seems, director duo Pushkar and Gayathri are well aware of this fact and it transpires in their latest offering Vikram Vedha.

Remake of their 2017 film of the same name, here R Madhavan’s Vikram is played by Saif Ali Khan, and Hritik Roshan reprises Vijay Sethupati’s Vedha. The film is inspired by the mythological story of righteous King Vikramaditya, who promises to capture Betal, a celestial spirit.

Through this chase the righteous Vikram, starts to interrogate his own beliefs of the line between right and wrong.

What works for the Hindi remake is the background score, dialogues, screenplay, performances and production design. Sam CS, who scored the Tamil original, creates an electrifying background score here, which acts like a necessary garnish in some of the best scenes. Sam’s composition of Bande, penned by Manoj Muntashir, will surely ring in your ears long after exiting the theater.

Production design, which is credited to Durgaprasad Mahapatra, is  sure to take you through to Uttar Pradesh, as Lucknow's nawab architecture, and dingy lanes make for contrasting aesthetics. While the local accent does slip up here and there, Benazir Ali Fida’s dialogues-- like “Gyan ka mahasagar pel diye (Giving us an ocean of knowledge)” or “Marenge kaan me giroge Japan me (I will hit you so hard you will fall in Japan)”-- peppered throughout the film will keep you laughing and make you forget all about the accent.

Watchers of cult shows like Sopranos and The Wire—Pushkar and Gayathri give us an airtight script with well-shaped and fully realized characters. While it definitely holds true for Saif and Hritik’s character, it also fits the bill for Radhika Apte, Rohit Saraf and Yogita Bihani, who have limited screen time but are instrumental in taking the premise forward.

Reprising roles played by a living legend Vijay Sethupati, and R Madhavan, is not an easy feat. Hrithik and Saif do the job smartly and sink their teeths into the role. Instead of trying and being like Sethupati-- the actor brings in his own flair to Vedha, taking some language notes from Super30’s Anand. He is having a blast. The hooting in the theater during a 9 AM show, whenever Hrithik would be on screen, was a clear testament to his enigmatic performance.

Pushkar and Gayatri, who are also the creators behind Amazon Prime Video’s first Tamil original Suzhal: The Vortex, seem to be creating their own niche inspired by mythological stories. “Most of these myths, especially the local ones are based on real people. And they are all very close to our hearts because we have been hearing those stories,” Gayatri said in an interview.

What doesn’t work for Vikram Vedha is the Vishal-Shekhar composed song Alcoholia. The appearance of the song seemed jarring and out of nowhere. But treat it as a blip.

Our verdict? Do not miss Vikram Vedha. The dialogues, Sam’s music and screenplay is sure to keep you hooked.