Vel (film)

Vel
Directed by	Hari
Produced by	M. Chinthamani
Written by	Hari
Starring	Suriya Asin Vadivelu Kalabhavan Mani
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography	Priyan
Edited by	V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Sree Rajakaalaiamman Medias
Release date	8 November 2007
Running time	161 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Vel (Staff Spear) is a 2007 Tamil language action family drama film written and directed by Hari and produced by Mohan Natarajan. It stars Suriya in dual roles as hero, Asin as heroine and Kalabhavan Mani as the villain. Besides, it features Lakshmi, Saranya Ponvannan, Vadivelu,and Nassar in supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film released on 8 November 2007, coinciding with Diwali. Upon release, the film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Deva and in Hindi as Main Faisla Karunga in 2014.

Plot

A couple (Saranya Ponvannan and Charan Raj) travel in a train to Chennai along with their twin babies. During the journey, a robber kidnaps one of the babies and gets down from the train. He steals the jewels and leaves the baby in a garden and runs away. The couple lodges a complaint with the police. The kidnapped baby is found by Nassar and Ambika, and they adopt and raise the baby as theirs.

27 years pass by, Vasudevan aka Vasu (Suriya) works for a private detective agency in Chennai and lives with his parents Saranya and Charan Raj, while the kidnapped baby is grown into Vetrivel aka Vel (also Suriya) in a village named Chokkampatti near Dindigul. Vel’s family is widely respected in their village for their good deeds and is also responsible for protecting the villagers from the local politician and goon Sakkarapandi (Kalabhavan Mani). Sakkarapandi killed Vel’s parents years ago and wants to revenge by killing other members in the family also. Vel takes the responsibility of protecting his family members. Meanwhile, Vasu's parents keep worrying for years about the fate of the lost child.

Vasu falls in love with Swathi (Asin), a TV anchor. They both decide to get married. Swathi, during a visit to Dindigul for a TV show, sees Vel involved in a local clash and informs Vasu. Now Vasu suspects that it might be his twin brother and decides to leave to the village to get more information. Appatha (Lakshmi) is Vel's grandmother and always fears that Vel’s biological parents will find him and take him away from them. To her shock, Vasu goes to Vel’s home and meets him. He informs about all the incidents and wants him to come back with him to Chennai and meet his parents. Vel gets shocked knowing about his past but neglects saying he cannot leave his adopted family and prefers to stay with them in Dindigul.

Vasu requests Vel to permit him stay with for a week in Dindigul along with Vel’s family. Vel agrees and Vasu becomes close with the family. Vasu gets to know about Sakkarapandi and his thirst for revenge on Vel’s family. A flashback is told by Kuzhandaivelu (Vadivelu) where Nassar finds about Sakkarapandi’s illegal businesses, which made him lose his MP post and get jailed. Sakkarapandi, after getting released from jail, poisons Nassar and Ambika and wants Vel’s entire family to be dead. Vasu plans to send Vel to Chennai. He requests Vel to visit his biological parents disguised as Vasu and stay there for a few days so that he will get to know his mother’s love towards him. Vel agrees hesitatingly.

Vasu wants his brother to lead a peaceful life free from sickles and fights. So he plans to trap Sakkarapandi strategically rather than physical attack. Vasu brings a team of investigative officers from his detective agency and asks them to closely monitor Sankarapandi’s moves and also gather his family details. Vel meets his parents in Chennai and stays with them without revealing his true identity. But Swathi’s relatives plan for a ring exchange ceremony between Vel and Swathi, mistaking him as Vasu. Vel discloses to his parents that he is the elder son lost years back, which surprises his parents.

Vasu calls Swathi to assist him, whereby she is sent to Sakkarapandi’s house to interview his wife (Aishwarya), thereby searching for some evidence against Sakkarapandi. Sakkarapandi’s college is sealed for selling drugs to students, and Vasu also gets evidence of Sakkarapandi frequently visiting the nearby forest for hunting wild animals. Sakkarapandi gets arrested by police. He poisons the food provided for Appatha, though she is saved by Vasu. Knowing this, Vel rushes from Chennai to Dindigul to meet Appatha. Vel’s family comes to know that it was Vasu in disguise of Vel, which angers them. They scold Vasu and ask him to leave the place immediately. Vasu leaves with Swathi.

Sakkarapandi plants a bomb in his sugar factory and plans to kill all the villagers working there, thereby planning to create chaos in the town. Vasu and Vel get to know about his plans and fight together against Sakkarapandi, following which Sakkarapandi's leg gets stuck between railway tracks. Vel amputates his leg to save the train; however, Sakkarapandi dies due to the explosion of the bomb carried by him.

Vasu asks his mother to let her allow Vel to stay in Dindigul itself as the entire family will feel the pain of losing a son who was raised for 27 years by them. She understands and says she is happy that both sons are leading a very good life, and she does not want to hurt the entire family by taking away Vel with them. Finally, Vel stays with his adopted family in Dindigul, while Vasu and Swathi get united.

Cast

Soundtrack

Director Hari once again teamed up with composer Yuvan Shankar Raja for the musical score of Vel after having worked together in Thaamirabharani. The soundtrack of Vel was released on 13 October 2007 and features 6 songs. Lyrics were written by Na. Muthukumar and Hari. Comedian Vadivelu had lent his voice for one of the songs.

The album received mixed reviews.^[1]

Track list

Box office

This film budget was ₹12 crore (US$1.7 million). It became aBlockbuster Hit in the Boxoffice by collecting around ₹52 crore (US$7.2 million). This film's theaterical run was 50 days in 17 centers and 100 days in 13 centers making it a commercially successful venture.^[2]Sony Music Entertainment

References

External links

• Vel on IMDb