Viduthalai Part 1 () is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language period crime thriller film written and directed by Vetrimaaran, and produced by Elred Kumar under the banners of RS Infotainment. It is adapted from the short story "Thunaivan" () written by B. Jeyamohan. The film stars Soori, Vijay Sethupathi, Bhavani Sre, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Rajiv Menon and Ilavarasu. It was presented by RS Infotainment.

Viduthalai: Part 1 was released worldwide theatrically on 31 March 2023. The film emerged a critical and commercial success, receiving praise for its characterisation, cast performances, plot, technical aspects, background music and cinematography. The sequel Viduthalai Part 2 is scheduled for a release in end-2023.

Plot 
In 1987, a train accident occurs where many people have been severely injured and dead in rural Tamil Nadu. The emergency responders and government officials arrive at the scene, where the State and Union ministers are visibly disturbed by the level of atrocity. It is later revealed that the extremist group, Makkal Padai ( People's Army), is behind the accident to protest against the state government's decision to allow a mining company to take over their hill village for a project.

Due to this, the government announces "Operation Ghosthunt" to capture the group's leader "Vaathiyar" Perumal, who is also known to be a ghost as nobody has ever seen him, but people know about his existence and involvements in such attacks. Kumaresan is a newly recruited constable, who is a truck driver from a lower-middle-class family in Chinnapudur. He was looking for a stable job to support his mother and him. Kumaresan is recruited on special duty for the operation, where he is taken to the police training and joins as a new driver.

Kumaresan learns about the complicated alliances and conflicts between Makkal Padai and the government, and also discovers that following orders is essential, and cannot always help the locals, which conflicts with his helpful nature. He also discovers about the meaning of bureaucracy and the need to navigate professional life, especially as a newly recruited officer. Kumaresan is also attracted to Tamilarasi "Pappa", the granddaughter of a woman he once rescued, and they spend time together.

Due to a brutal incident orchestrated by E Company's Officer-in-charge (OC) Ragavendar, the government assigns DSP Sunil Menon as the head of the operation, where they decide to turn the villagers against Perumal. Sunil interrogates a villager and manages to sketch Perumal's face. Kumaresan realises that the people he helped during his duty hours were actually Perumal and his men. He relays this information to Head Constable Chandran. Unknown to Kumaresan and the police force, Chandran is actually a part of "Makkal Padai" and Perumal's mole; he relays about Kumaresan to Perumal.

Instead of Kumaresan, Makkal Padai targets Sunil and tries to kill him, but he manages to escape unscathed. Sunil decides to make some of the officers disguise as members of Makkal Padai, to earn the trust of the villagers. Kumaresan learns from Pappa that Perumal actually targeted those police officers who are committing atrocities against innocents in the name of police interrogation. She also reveals about the officers' involvement in the death of her father and her mother losing sanity. Kumaresan realises the extent of police brutality against the villagers and how he too is playing a part, albeit a minuscule one, in helping them. He realises the good intentions of Perumal.

On the day of start of the road works for the village, Makkal Padai attacks the inauguration where four officers are shot and killed. Enraged, Sunil orders to drag the villagers who are suspected to be involved with Makkal Padai. The villagers are arrested, where Pappa's grandmother is killed during the interrogation. Days later Pappa herself is arrested and tortured naked along with other women and men from her village by E company, as the police have intel that one of them is a close relative to one of the leaders of Makkal Padai. Unable to save them, a guilty Kumaresan runs pillar to post. He meets and tells Sunil about Perumal's hideout and is assigned with 10 other officers to nab him. After a massive shootout and reinforcements, Kumaresan manages to arrest Perumal, while Paapa reveals herself as their target to save others, and she is taken away. Perumal is interrogated in custody, while Kumaresan finds Paapa missing in camp cells.

In the mid-credits scene, Ragavendar suspends Kumaresan on same night, for not filing an act of subordination memo and also vows to hide away Kumaresan's effort to arrest Perumal. A daring photographer breaks into the camp, photographs an imprisoned woman and records the brutal atrocities by the police department. After getting arrested, Perumal is interrogated and insulted by Sunil. Later, Perumal somehow escapes and tells some important information about the train blast to Kumaresan in the forest. He bids Kumaresan and his young police friends to solve the train blast issue.

Cast 

 Soori as Constable Kumaresan (#1563)
 Vijay Sethupathi as Perumal "Vaathiyaar", the leader of Tamilar Makkal Padai
 Bhavani Sre as Tamilarasi alias Paapa, Kumaresan's love interest 
 Gautham Vasudev Menon as DSP Sunil Menon, Head of "Operation Ghosthunt"
 Rajiv Menon as A. Subramaniyan, Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu
 Ilavarasu as Ila. Ilavarasu, Tamil Nadu's Minister of Public Works
 Balaji Sakthivel as Village Person
 Saravana Subbiah as Collector of Arumapuri District
 Tamizh as Sub-Inspector Amudan
 Chetan as V. Ragavendar, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of E-Company
 Aryan as Constable Aari
 Munnar Ramesh as Sub-Inspector "Chow Chow" Ramasamy
 Pavel Navageethan as a photojournalist at the train derailment spot
 Sardar Sathya as Sub-Inspector Velmurugan
 Manimegalai as Tamilarasi's paternal grandmother ("Appathaa")
 Bala Hassan as a Constable
 S. Chandran as Head Constable Chandran
 Asuran Krishna
 Sundareswaran CVC as T.A., the second-in-command to Perumal
 R. Ganesh Gurung as Natarajan, Superintendent of Police for Arumapuri District

Production

Development 
During the pre-production works of Vaadivaasal, Vetrimaaran was reported to collaborate with Soori for another project in July 2019, due to the extensive pre-production of the former. Vetrimaaran decided to adapt late Na. Muthukumar's short story Pattamppoochi Virpavan and later opted for Meeran Moideen's novel Ajnabi, which involved multiple foreign locations such as Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In April 2020, due to the restrictions in air travel to curb COVID-19 pandemic, Vetrimaaran had decided to make changes in the script and used the lockdown period for pre-production works. Media reports later claimed that, Vetrimaaran had adapted the short story "Thunaivan" written by B. Jeyamohan, with the film being titled the same. However, the makers decided to title the film as Viduthalai, which was officially confirmed on 21 April 2021 with the first look being released. Originally intended as a single film, it was later split into two parts.

Casting 
In January 2021, Vijay Sethupathi joined the film's cast and also shot few portions during the commencement of the shoot, thus marking his first collaboration with Vetrimaaran. Vetrimaaran revealed that Sethupathi would play the role of Soori's mentor in the film, which is said to be a crucial one, although Soori plays a crucial part in the story. This is Soori's first film in a leading role. The team recreated Sethupathi's character, which is based on Ku. Kaliyaperumal Vaathiyaar, a member from Tamil Desiyam Group.

Bharathiraja was reported to join the film in his first collaboration with Vetrimaaran, although he was replaced by Kishore during the filming of the first schedule. Ilaiyaraaja was reported to compose music for the film marking his first collaboration with Vetrimaaran. In January 2021, Bhavani Sre, sister of composer G. V. Prakash Kumar was announced playing the female lead, in her third feature film after Ka Pae Ranasingam and Paava Kadhaigal. In April 2021, Gautham Vasudev Menon was reported to play the role of a cop in the film.

Filming 
The team moved to Sathyamangalam forest to shoot major sequences featuring Soori during December 2020, and filming eventually began on 4 January 2021. Bharathiraja opted out of this schedule citing the climatic conditions, which led Vetrimaaran to replace him with Kishore. Few portions of the film has been shot in an iPhone, which is used to control production costs. The shooting of the film took place in Sathyamangalam for three months, and the team moved to Chengalpattu in April 2021, in which the team erected a huge police camp set, and shooting of the film happened for 20 days. The team later planned to shoot the last leg of the film at Sathyamangalam after the COVID-19 lockdown. Principal photography wrapped by 31 December 2022.

Music 

The film's soundtrack is composed by Ilaiyaraaja in his maiden collaboration with Vetrimaaran. Ilaiyaraaja composed the song of the film in his newly launched music studio in Kodambakkam, after his fallout with Prasad Studios where he recorded songs for nearly four decades; It marks his first work being recorded at his new studio where music composition of the film began in February 2021. As of May 2021, Ilaiyaraaja recorded three out of eight songs being planned for the film and are touted to be "situational numbers" as per sources. The music rights were purchased by Sony Music India. The first single titled "Onnoda Nadandhaa" released on 8 February 2023.

Release 
The distribution rights for Tamil Nadu were acquired by Red Giant Movies. The overseas distribution rights for UK and Europe were acquired by Ahimsa Entertainment. The film released theatrically on 31 March.

Home media 
The streaming rights of the film were acquired by ZEE5, and the satellite rights by Kalaignar TV. It began streaming on ZEE5 from 28 April 2023. The Telugu dubbed version was released on 15 April by Geetha Arts.

Reception

Box office 
Viduthalai: Part 1 collected  crore on its release day. worldwide and earned in total  crore worldwide in four days.

Critical response 

Viduthalai: Part 1 received critical acclaim from critics with praise towards its characterisation, cast performances, plot, technical aspects, background music and cinematography.

Logesh Balachandran of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 and wrote "Viduthalai Part 1 maintains a consistent pace and keeps viewers engaged with moments of high tension. It stays true to Vetri Maaran's style and artistry, making audiences eager for the sequel." P Sangeetha of OTTplay gave the film 4 out of 5 and wrote "Viduthalai scores on all corners, be it the plot, narration, background score, acting performances, cinematography and not to forget, the filmmaking. A brilliant film from the Vetri Maaran stable!" Latha Srinivasan of India Today gave the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Viduthalai (Freedom) is a film that is a must-watch because it offers a new cinematic perspective of Vetrimaaran and especially because Soori is outstanding."

Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote "The film, which is definitely not for the faint-hearted, is an elaborate, detailed exploration of abuse of power." Gopinath Rajendran of The Hindu wrote "Viduthalai Part 1 ends at a crucial juncture and the ending makes it evident that exponentially more incidents are bound to happen in the sequel; Vetri Maaran leaves us on the edge of our seats." Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The Indian Express gave the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Vetrimaaran is back with another film about police brutality that is heart-wrenching and might be a hard watch if you prefer your safety zone."

Bharathy Singaravel of The News Minute gave the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Soori is masterful in Vetrimaaran's gritty political spectacle." IndiaGlitz gave the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Go for this vintage Vetrimaaran film with a powerful performance from Soori." Maalai Malar gave 3.75 out of 5 stars and wrote Vetri Maaran has beautifully designed each character according to the script and captivated the audience. Hindu Tamil Thisai wrote that Casting in Vetri Maaran films always works magic on screen. That way the magic has happened in this film too.

Sequel 
The sequel Viduthalai Part 2 is scheduled for a release in end-2023.

References

External links 

2020s Tamil-language films
2023 crime thriller films
Films about police brutality
Films based on Tamil novels
Films directed by Vetrimaaran
Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja
Indian crime thriller films
Indian police films