Pichaikkaran 2

In a film industry that has almost never gotten a sequel right, standalone sequels feel like an excuse to cash in on the popularity of a hit film and Pichaikkaran 2 is a textbook example of it. The 2016 film Pichaikkaranwasn’t a revelation but amidst an overdose of action and mother sentiment, director Sasi squeezed in an interesting plot that worked majorly for its mass moments. Pichaikkaran 2 tries to maintain the idea as a scaffolding to build a new story from scratch, and though it gets an intriguing idea, it fails to make headway.

vijay Antony has shown his abundant inclination towards playing multiple characters. Of the thirteen films he has played the lead in, the ones with multiple roles, including his latest release, are five. While he played a billionaire who moonlighted as a beggar in Pichaikkaran, the sequel has him playing billionaire Vijay Gurumoorthy as well as a beggar named Sathya. While the first film was high on mother sentiment, we’ve got Tamil cinema’s age-old sister sentiment this time. If a rich man had to be poor for a month in the first film, a poor man amasses a wealth of one lakh crores in the sequel. But apart from the dichotomy and parallels, the two films don’t have anything else in common

For those working for Vijay Gurumoorthy, greed, as always, gets the better of them and they need to find a nobody whose brain can be transplanted into Vijay’s body. They track down an orphan/beggar in the form of Sathya and let science — that’s understandable to only Stephen Hawkings and Michio Kaku — take its course. They dispose of Sathya’s body in the Dubai desert, erase Vijay’s mind like it’s a hard drive that can be formatted, and voila, we’ve got Vijay’s body with Sathya’s mind. The first 20-odd minutes of Pichaikkaran 2, where the above sequence happens, is over-the-top in a manner that’s unique to Vijay Antony starrers, something I particularly enjoyed in his films like Thimiru Pudichavan, Kodiyil Oruvan, and of course, Pichaikkaran. But, from there, the film goes downhill.

Vijay Gurumurthy (Vijay Antony) and his father Gurumurthy are among the top 10 richest men in India. Vijay’s subordinates want his money after the passing away of Gurumurthy. They hatch a plan to do brain transplant surgery on Vijay. No, not kidding! You’ve read it right. They decide to use the brain of a poor man and transplant it to Vijay so he would dance to their tunes.

They find Sathya (Vijay Antony) to be a suitable match. While Sathya is a match, what surprises everyone is Sathya looks identical as well. Don’t ask how! Sathya has a traumatic past and spends most of his life in prison and is also in search of his lost sister. How does Sathya live the life of Gurumurthy? Will he find his sister?

Pichaikkaran 2 borrows the music of Pichaikkaran since it is scored by Vijay Antony as well. But, that’s about it. The second part deals with a far-fetched concept that is totally in contrast to the story of the first part. The film begins with a doctor talking about brain transplant surgery. Technology has advanced indeed! But a brain transplant surgery is far removed from reality. If the same technology had been used in the film’s visual effects, it could have made Pichaikkaran 2 look visually better than it already is.

The songs are forgettable, the characters apart from Vijay Antony’s are forgettable, the action isn’t particularly great, and even the humour that worked well in the first film falls flat here despite Yogi Babu’s presence. For a man who has the power to dictate a government, it feels odd that he wouldn’t use that power to find his missing sister. But such logic issues are the least of Pichaikkaran 2’s worries. This mediocre start aside, the director in Vijay Antony evidently has the potential to do more and that’s something we can look forward to. As far as this film is concerned, the insurmountable disappointment beggars all belief.