Rekka review: Vijay Sethupathi takes wings in a razor-thin plot

Rekka
Director: Rathina Shiva
Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Lakshmi Menon, Kishore
Rating: 2.5/5

This year seems like a dream run for Vijay Sethupathi with six releases, the latest being Rekka (Wings). Having earned the title of Makkal Selvan/People’s Darling in line with the Tamil film tradition of celebrating actors with honorific, Sethupathi literally takes wings in the movie transforming himself into a superman. While most of his six films this year were more or less rooted in realism, Rekka tends to slip into fantasy. A powerful actor who exhibits the right kind of emotions and in the right measure, Sethupathi seems to have been pushed into the highly popular genre, which in Tamil cinema passes off for entertainment, often brutally crass. And Rekka stands in stark contrast to his earlier Aandavan Kattalai, where he was absolutely charming as a man lost in a world of deceit.

In Rekka, Sethupathi’s Shiva lives with his parents and sister in Kumbakonam, and, though a lawyer (with not a single scene in court), he plays the roadside Samaritan often helping young women escape unwanted marriages arranged by their parents. In the bargain, he creates enemies among those men who feel slighted at the eleventh hour.

One of them is David (Kishore), who many months later finds a chance to get even with Shiva, forcing him to kidnap the daughter (Anjali, essayed by Lakshmi Menon) of an influential Madurai politician. With the marriage of his sister in progress, Shiva is cornered all right with David’s henchmen all set to create mayhem at the ceremony.

Watch the trailer of Rekka here:

What follows is beyond any shred of logic. While Anjali -- who had once seen and admired Shiva -- is all too willing to hold his hand and run away with him from her home, making his task look like a cake walk, David has his own little game to play -- a game in which she and her knight in shinning armour are but pawns.

Boringly predictable, the narrative stutters and stammers through a medley of songs (some imagined!) and fights -- with very little space for character development or emotional enrichment. Stretched thin, the plot relies heavily on its lead guy, Sethupathi. He has indeed a fascinating presence and a lovely way of saying his lines, punctuated with a smile here or a smile there. Great, but all this may lose its sheen if Sethupathi decides to become yet another star, throwing away the immense potential he has to disappear into a character.