In Vivegam, everybody wants to know who Ajith Kumar is. Even Ajith doesn’t seem to know, and so he says:
“Who I am is determined by the one I am standing against.”
And that’s how director Siva alludes to the fact that Ajith plays a chameleon of sorts in this thriller film. True to form, in the roughly two-and-a-half minute trailer, Ajith sheds one outfit for another, as bombs and all sorts of missiles explode in the background. Soon, he’s romancing Kajal Aggarwal in various European-looking locations.
Siva also borrows heavily from Gautham Menon’s template. He dresses Kajal Agarwal like Trisha from Yennai Arindhaal, and the trailer is quite similar to Yennai Arindhaal’s. There’s also a cheesy moment or two here.
Meanwhile, Ajith’s romance with Kajal is threatened by a noticeably unhinged Vivek Oberoi, who offers the type of over-the-top praise Vadivelu might have in his heyday. Akshara Haasan runs in one shot, and that’s about all the space Siva could make for her, because if you haven’t noticed – this is an Ajith film. And he has to loom above all.
Finally, Siva ends the trailer with a shot of an eagle. Inexplicably, Ajith talks about being a phoenix.
All that bird-talk aside, we have to remember what this is about: a trailer for a boilerplate masala movie featuring one of Tamil’s biggest stars, and it succeeds in showcasing Ajith Kumar’s heroism. Coming quite some time after his Vedhalam, this is just another opportunity for his fans to see their star fight bigger guys on screen and romance beautiful ladies.
Anirudh composes the music for this film, and so, there’s a lot of techno beats and whatnot. It’s quite cool, really. Ajith is a star whose early career had scores by an increasingly lost Deva. To see him slow-mo walk to Anirudh’s undoubtedly ‘with-it’ musical score, is refreshing, if nothing else.