Measuring the aspirations of a movie title is a difficult question overall. Superstar Vijay, as is his wont, is not averse to a challenge. He does everything he can to embody what his fans believe him to be and manages to land on his feet at the end of the formula exercise.
Vijay will dive into the project in the dual role of father and son The greatest of all timedisjointed at best, on his shoulders. He navigates the obstacles that are inevitable in a film as over-the-top as this with customary style, if not consistent success.
Director-writer Venkat Prabhu weaves the film around the semi-retirement leitmotif that Vijay has used in his few recent releases (Beast, Leo). The hero comes out of years of living in the shadows and returns to the heart of the action.
Amid a whole host of flashbacks to the megastar’s own films and misguided nods to other Tamil films and songs that place him in the larger context of mass film history. The greatest of all time perhaps containing a meta-reference to the impending end of Vijay’s acting career as he prepares to dive into full-time politics.
The greatest of all time aims to continue Vijay’s unbroken streak at the box office – a streak of nine blockbusters has made him the most bankable actor in Indian cinema. The movie has everything that his fans want. It could have done with a more original script.
The film juggles themes that have been done to death – friendship, loyalty, betrayal, guilt and redemption – and culminates in a long-drawn-out climax where the actor’s two personalities clash. Beyond the parameters of a fictional narrative, the juxtaposition could be interpreted as between a past generation and an era that carries baggage that blurs the line between good and evil, a sense of duty, and the need for self-preservation and revenge.
Vijay plays MS Gandhi – note the initials are not MK but MS. The Dhoni congruence emerges in the film’s climax, which corresponds to the final stretch of the Indian Premier League’s relegation match at tight Chepauk.
Gandhi – peace is not his primary weapon, righteousness is – leads a quartet of undercover agents working for the Special Anti-Terror Squad (SATS), a Chennai-based unit of RAW. He is the MSD of Indian espionage – a great finisher no matter how badly he starts.
This also applies to the movie. The greatest of all time opens with a bang, but falters somewhat in the rest of the first half as it struggles to strike a balance between the hero’s inherent wartime relationship and familial responsibilities.
As he himself suggests, he has two bosses, one at work, the stable SATS head Nazeer (Jayaram) and the other at home, his wife Anusuya (Sneha). He gets into trouble much more with the latter than the former.
After the decisive revelations and serial murders made by a double-minded young man emerging from Gandhi’s past The greatest of all time makes its way to an unoriginal finale, saved somewhat by its setup and cinematography. Cinematographer Siddhartha Nuni and editor and Venkat Raajen deserve a mention.
A devastating bomb blast is just a click away. Gandhi, trained not to explode, is determined to show who the GOAT is. He springs into action when thousands of innocent lives hang in the balance.
The team – Gandhi working with Kalyan Sundaram (Prabhu Deva), Sunil Thiagarajan (Prasanth) and Ajay (Ajmal Ameer) – is sent on a sensitive mission in Kenya. They were transporting a train carrying weapons-grade uranium to a terrorist outfit. In the heat of the moment, they exceed their mission.
The ill-conceived extravagance – which does not produce the desired result – comes back to haunt Gandhi, his wife and their five-year-old son Jeevan (Akhil) and his SATS companions. Before the break, Gandhi and his boss have a violent confrontation with a man who hides his face behind a helmet with “Devil” written under the visor.
The rest The greatest of all time it’s dependent on a renegade secret agent (who has a massive ax to grind and unleashes an endless bed) and assorted other traitors and prodigal children who push the protagonist and her husband to their ends.
The movie is a bit exhausting at times because it is too long. However, the action sequences and plot twists have been thoughtfully distributed over the course of three hours. So none of them are unnecessarily misplaced. Oh, If only one could say the same about the songs (composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja). They not only slow down the film, but also make it unreasonably long.
The director, on the other hand, seems aware of the impact that the musical numbers are likely to have on the pace of the film. In the series, which follows the cold-blooded murder of a government official, the author uses a romantic interest (Meenakshi Chaudhary) as a way to shake off the chase. Is this what you called me here for, the woman asks. No, (I called you here) because of the song, the man replies.
In a thriller like this, action is the main currency. Not every song is music to the ears. Likewise, every attempt the film makes to add humor to the proceedings bears no fruit.
Yogi Babu is thrown in as a man in possession of a stolen mobile phone which contains important secrets. The subplot of Nehru and Bose, who go by the name of the hero, evokes the part of the film that doesn’t add up.
What the film lacks in logic and flow, Vijay, fleshing out two distinct characters, one gray and sharp, the other pale and tough, both scarred by past events, makes up for it.
It’s the kind of rescue he’s done so often this millennium that it has ceased to surprise his critics. Of course, his fans will find no reason to feel shortchanged The greatest of all time generous proportions.
