VEERA DHEERA SOORAN MOVIE REVIEW
Cast: Vikram, SJ Suryah, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Dushara Vijayan, Prakash Raj, Baalaaji, Ramesh Indira, Maala Parvati, Sreeja Ravi
Director: S.U. Arun Kumar
Rating: 3.75/5
Forget ‘happily ever after’; in S.U. Arun Kumar’s Veera Dheera Sooran Part 2, ‘retired life’ for a gangster like Chiyaan Vikram’s Kaali lasts about as long as ice cream left in the open in Chennai. Kaali is a man desperately trying to keep his violent past locked away while running a grocery store, only for it to come knocking – loudly – over one very stressful night.
Vikram is the dependable core here. He convincingly portrays the exhaustion and danger of a man forced back into a life he renounced. He’s got that weary intensity down pat, reminding us why he’s a star. The film around him thankfully avoids a lot of the usual big-hero movie pitfalls – less cringe, less chest-thumping for its own sake. Arun Kumar maintains a consistent, grounded tone that aims for realism, which is definitely welcome. You feel the tension of Kaali’s situation, caught between his old crime family (Prakash Raj, Suraj Venjaramoodu) and a cop with an agenda (SJ Suryah).
And let’s talk about SJ Suryah. As SP Arunagiri, he walks away with every scene he’s in, radiating a unpredictable, menacing energy. He’s fantastic. The major downside? There simply isn’t enough of him. His character feels like a critical piece of the puzzle, yet we only get glimpses, leaving you wanting a much deeper dive into his motivations. This feeds into the film’s strength: its embrace of moral ambiguity. Nobody’s wearing a white hat here; it’s all murky motives and self-preservation, which makes the dynamics interesting.
The catch is, the storytelling itself feels deliberately elusive, and not always in a good way. VDS 2 takes its sweet time – maybe a bit too much time for its two-and-a-half-hour-plus length – without covering a lot of narrative ground. You’re dropped into simmering conflicts and expected to connect dots that aren’t fully drawn. Key character histories and the ‘why’ behind certain intense rivalries remain vague. While leaving room for interpretation can be effective, here it sometimes feels less like intentional ambiguity and more like crucial information being withheld.
While the action mostly stays gritty, there are a couple of sequences, especially later on, where Kaali suddenly becomes a one-man army, dispatching goons in a way that feels slightly out of step with the established tone. It feels like a brief detour into more conventional ‘mass’ territory. The climax, too, doesn’t quite hit with the force you’d expect after the slow-burn tension, and a shoehorned-in nostalgic song feels particularly unnecessary.
Technically, the film looks and sounds good. Theni Eswar’s camera captures the nighttime dread effectively. You’ll be gripping your seat when Vikram and his associate start planting those trigger bombs. G.V. Prakash Kumar’s score fits the tense mood.
Bottom line: Veera Dheera Sooran Part 2 offers a hefty dose of atmosphere, a solid Vikram, and a scene-stealing SJ Suryah. It’s commendably grounded and avoids cheap thrills for the most part. But its deliberate pacing often crosses into sluggishness, and the narrative gaps leave you wanting more substance. It’s a good watch if you’re in the mood for gritty character work and don’t mind ambiguity.