Vel

“Vel” (2007), directed by Hari and again featuring Suriya in a dual role opposite Asin, Vadivelu, and Kalabhavan Mani, is an action drama about twin brothers separated at birth. One matures into his gentle nature as a gentle private eye, the other as a courageous and scrappy town defender.

Thiyagarajan and Sharadha, en route, by train, from Madurai to Chennai, lose one of their twin boys. A beggar woman snatches the boy’s gold chain and abandons him at the mansion of a rich village zamindar. The boy grows up there as Vetrivel, or Vel, beloved by his adoptive family. His twin, Vasudevan or Vasu for short, grows up in Chennai and becomes a private detective. He finds romance in the shape of a television presenter, Swathi. One night, while watching television, Swathi sees her husband’s double on screen, and the husband, Vasu, finds out that he might have a lookalike. He visits their village to search for Vel and inadvertently rescues his family from a bomb blast planted by their archrival, Sakkara Pandi. When Vel inevitably learns the truth of his birth, he will not abandon his village family.

When Vasu realizes the danger Vel’s family is in from Sakkara Pandi, the twins hatch an elaborate scheme to swap locations. To stop the fire from taking more lives, Vasu pretends to be Vel in order to take care of the village, while Vel stays in Chennai to learn about his biological parents. The twins disorient and terrorise their foes and gradually undermine Sakkara Pandi’s grip over their town. The villain retaliates, culminating in an epic showdown. In the climax, the actors reuniting as brothers and fighting Sakkara Pandi together is action-packed and a fitting conclusion to the film. Through emotional dialogues, Vel chooses to continue living with his birth parents and embrace both sides of his family. The film’s coda shows these families together and the twins standing close to each other, reaffirming their connection.

“Vel” is actually more a mass entertainer with action, family drama and emotion all packed in. Suriya truly knocks it out of the park in both roles, lending dramatic contrast between the soft-spoken Vasu and the fiery Vel. The film artfully mixes comedy, thanks to Vadivelu, with the fiery anger and tragic, heartstring-plucking family motif.