Jawan may have resurrected Shah Rukh Khan as a superstar, but what about Vijay Sethupathi?

Vijay Sethupathi is a star who rose to popularity by working on films that were complex, and refreshing. Whether it was humour, romance, or action, there was always something different about the films that he signed up for. This has over time become his signature even. For instance, Vignesh Shivan directorial Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, Premkumar’s 96, Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe, Balaji Tharaneetharan’s Seethakathi, or Seenu Ramasamy’s Dharma Durai, are films that not only spoke for and validated Vijay Sethupathi as an actor, but also a star who chose to do something out of the box. However, things have changed since Vikram Vedha.

The change has been slow, but it has been steady. From playing lead roles in small-budget to mid-budget films, the actor was cast to play a villain or supporting character in big budget film. Of course, the actor in Vijay Sethupathi would nail a character with grey shade, as we have seen multiple times with his roles in Petta, Master, Vikram, among others. However, it has gotten way too monotonous. His role in Jawan is probably the least interesting character in the film, and this role as Kaalie Gaikwad is so one-dimensional that it screams boring from the very beginning. The reason the animosity between Kaalie and Vikram Rathore (Shah Rukh Khan) works in places is not because of Kaalie, but because of Vijay Sethupathi himself.

There are glimpses of Bhavani from Master, in the way the actor has played Kaalie. Especially in the climax fight scene where Vikram and Kaalie fight one-on-one leading to the arms’ dealers’ fall and his plea. That last one time where he tries his luck is straight out of Vikram’s climax scene. The urge to make a deal, and when it doesn’t work, the desperation — we feel like we have seen it before not only because the set up in the film is reminiscent of certain films, but because the actor has manifested those roles while playing Kaalee.

This is a very common occurrence when roles get underwritten and well-performing actors begin to improvise on the role to make it interesting. To touch base with something familiar, and then work on building on that emotion/ reaction to the suit the scene can backfire, as seen in Jawan. The world may be celebrating the film as seen from the Day 1 collection, but what is unfortunate is the fact that Bollywood continues to miss big time on producing well-written commercial films. It looks like Rocky Aur Rani ki Prem Kahanii did not change the course of the industry, but was just a mere exception to the rule.

If not, Atlee’s hodge-podge of a film (no denying that it is a well-made hodge-podge!) would not be hailed as brilliant. Objectively, the film is mediocre in terms of its writing. It is the packaging that has been done. To be brutally honest, Jawan is like that famous brand of chips packet that is filled more with air, than chips.

It is time for Vijay Sethupathi to really deliberate on his choices. Yes, wanting to work with huge stars is understandable, especially considering his struggle before his debut, however, it now seems to be hindering his popularity. A rare Kadaisi Vivasayi amid a horde of mindless action films may just not be enough for this actor’s fans down south.

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics.

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