Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu

“Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu” is a 2006 action thriller film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, starring Kamal Haasan, Jyothika, and Kamalinee Mukherjee. The film’s protagonist Raghavan, an erudite police officer, is determined to hunt down a sadistic serial killer who has murdered his best friend’s daughter. Time is ticking fast, and his pursuit takes him from Chennai to New York as the killer marches on.

The narrative opens with Rani, daughter of former Chennai police officer Arokiya Raj, going missing after a call home to her father. Her disfigured corpse is quickly discovered, and Raghavan is brought in to solve it. The killer injects their victims with surgical instruments, indicative of a medical or anatomy background. The case goes cold. Six months later, shortly after Rani’s parents are killed in New York, Raghavan goes to the U.S. and collaborates with New York police detectives. In New York, he falls in love with Aradhana, a troubled NRI woman whom he saves from a killer. As Raghavan investigates a string of seemingly related murders linked to the two Indian doctors, Amudhan and Ilamaran, he begins to learn that these men have a troubling history of violence. Following a violent showdown during which Raghavan himself is stabbed and his partner figuratively (and literally) cut down, he continues the pursuit, surviving the ordeal to continue the chase.

Raghavan finds out that the killers had targeted Rani and her family as an act of vengeance. They even burnt his apartment, leaving him no option but to escape. When Amudhan abducts Aradhana, Raghavan arrests Ilamaran and learns the assassins are in a romantic relationship. When Aradhana is buried alive, Raghavan saves her and takes out the killers in a bloody climax. The film concludes with Raghavan and Aradhana’s marriage bringing hope to the long shadow cast by the tragedy.

"Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu" has an engaging emotional current to it, brought forth by Kamal Haasan’s deliverance of an equally impactful performance. Even when the tone strays into more romantic or dramatic territory, the film manages to keep a sense of suspense, action, and drama effectively woven into the fabric of the plot. With superb direction by Gautham Menon and a brilliant screenplay that keeps the audience guessing throughout, this thriller is truly a classic and one of the best in Tamil cinema’s long history.