Dhanush-Kajol's VIP 2 movie review and rating
Director : Soundarya Rajinikanth
Producers : Dhanush
Music Director : Sean Roldan
Starring : Dhanush, Kajol, Amala Paul
After the huge success of VIP, Dhanush and team are back with its sequel which has been titled VIP 2. The only addition to the cast is the mighty Kajol who plays the negative role in the film. Read on to see whether the sequel lives up to its expectations or not.
Story :-
The story continues from where it was left in the first part. Raghuvaran(Dhanush) is a successful engineer who works for Anita constructions, a new entry into the corporate world. Their sudden rise is not digested by the MD(Kajol) of Vasundhara Constructions who starts targeting both the company and Raghuvaran personally. Rest of the story is as to how a small-time engineer like Raghuvaran takes on the might Vasundhara in the big bad corporate world.
Plus Points :-
The film heavily relies on the star power of Kajol and Dhanush. As expected, Dhanush is pretty impressive in the film. His body language, dialogue delivery and the way he matches his screen presence with Kajol look good on screen. Vivek is decent with his comedy as the film moves swiftly till the half point.
Kajol looks gorgeous as the corporate company head and does a good job. All her confrontation scenes with Dhanush have been executed quite well. The comedy scenes between Dhanush and Amala Paul in the first half evoke good laughs.
Minus Points :-
VIP clicked mainly because of the interesting thrills and amazing background score by Anirudh. That is clearly missing in the sequel. After writing the first half fairly well, Dhanush is short of tricks and ends the story in a silly and stupid manner.
Both Kajol and Dhanush, who don’t see eye to eye bond over a few drinks in a helpless situation and end their animosity in the most logic less manner. This looks over the top completely. Ritu Varma is wasted in a cameo.
Also, there is no conflict point after a while as the war between Kajol and Dhanush is sidetracked and the film takes another route completely. Clearly, the film misses out on the charm, wit, and humor that worked in the first part.
Technical Aspects :-
Music by Sean Roldan is a huge disappointment as not even one song is impressive. The same goes for his background score too. Camera work is neat and so were the production values. Kajol has been designed supremely well. Dialogues are very good and have been written quite interestingly.
Coming to the director Soundary Rajnikanth, she has made a mess of the sequel. She could do justice to the film only till the first half. Her screenplay during the second half and the way she ends the film abruptly is hugely disappointing. Not even one factor during the second half looks interesting as the film falls flat on his face.
Verdict :-
On the whole, VIP 2 is a silly sequel who does not live up to its expectations. Kajol and Dhanush’s confrontational scenes during the first half are the only saving grace. Abrupt ending, lack of a conflict point and basic drama during the second half makes the film go downslide and leaves you in despair. Check out for some better releases that have hit the screens this weekend.
Film: "VIP 2: Lalkar"; Director: Soundarya Rajinikanth; Cast: Dhanush, Kajol, Amala Paul, Ritu Verma, Balaji Mohan, Samuthirakani, Vivek; Rating: **1/2
This film suffers from sequel fatigue but unlike its prequel, this is not really an underdog story.
Taking off from where it left in its prequel, the 2014 released "VIP", it is the tale of the jobless, yet conscientious engineer, Raghuvaran (Dhanush).
He is now married to his neighbourhood sweetheart and is humility personified. He is still working for Anitha Constructions, commutes on his favourite moped whom he calls "Soundari" and becomes a brave-heart after a couple of drinks.
The film begins with him winning the prestigious, "Engineer of the Year Award", at a shoddily presented function, where all the awards have been predominantly taken by Vasundhara Constructions, a company headed by the snooty and arrogant, Vasundara Parmeshwara (Kajol).
After the awards, when he is invited to join Vasundhara Constructions, he flatly refuses on grounds of loyalty. Taking offence to this, Vasundhara ensures that he not only loses his job but can't survive in the city. How Raghuvaran tilts the scales in his favour, forms the crux of this tale.
With the story credited to Dhanush, arrogance and humility are the two key factors that propel this "mass appeal" plot. Gimmicky scenes and songs are gummed up to create star appeal and this one hour film is stretched to two, with Dhanush's heroism going nowhere in particular.
The first half of the narrative meanders with meaningless scenes. It is only ten minutes after intermission, when Raghuvaran gets motivated, by his father and dead mother, that the film gets some semblance of a concrete progression.
The dialogues are mundane and rustic. Some peppered with lyrics of the early 1970s Hindi film songs, the director manages to extract empathy from its older audience. But overall, the lines lack punch both in weightage and delivery. But nevertheless, it is Dhanush's antics that keeps the audience hooked.
With his ordinary boyish charm, Dhanush does make an effortless impact. But it is his larger than life character and over-the-top acting with his artificially created superstar swag, that make him look out of place. Nevertheless, he is lovable.
Kajol as the antagonist and femme-fatale Vasundhara is an eye-sore. She does not gravitate from frowning.
Amala Paul as Raghuvaran's wife Shalini and Ritu Verma as Raghuvaran's boss of Anita Construction are relegated to the background with miniscule roles.
Samuthirakani as Raghuvaran's dad and Vivek as Raghuvaran's younger brother have their moments of on screen glory.
The music in the film does have its moments and the choreography is the typical big-ticket jamboree and they do nothing in terms of the narrative.
Overall, the film is astutely mounted. It is only the poor dubbing that mars the viewing experience...
