Vela review: Shane Nigam and Sunny Wayne are great in an average police thriller

In the policeman sitting inside a control room, patiently listening to calls that vary from pranks to emergencies, there is no trace of Shane Nigam, an actor known for his callous characters. Vela puts him in a different mould, of one who has matured too soon, one who’s too grave to be able to enjoy a single light moment. Only when he lets out heavy lines does Shane show his trademark nonchalance. Lines like, “I am just an ordinary policeman who wants to do his job well.” 

Director Syam Sasi does well to choose Shane for the role of his protagonist in his debut film. It gives a certain unexpectedness to his character that works well in the carefully written police thriller. Vela does thrill you, although it takes its time to do that. M Sajas’s writing gives the kind of detailing you appreciate, dropping intriguing characters across the script — the ruthless officer Mallikarjun (Sunny Wayne), the sympathetic senior (Sidharth Bharathan), a mysterious woman caller. But it does not give each of these characters enough to relate to, and by the time the script converges their stories, it becomes a short mayhem that leaves you wanting. It is the kind of film that you’d tell someone about as, “alright, nothing huge, but keeps you interested.”

The control room setting, where a good part of the film is shot, is well executed. So are the grand visuals of the famous ‘vela’ (festival) of Palakkad. The film’s makers appear to have wanted a middle path between raw and cinematic storytelling. Just as you listen to the radio-voices and the noisy transmission of operators, a music loud enough to be your wake-up call joins the background. Sam CS’s tunes add to the pace of the film and Sunny Wayne gets a rather sinister background score that works to build his character. But it loses effect when the music accompanies too many calls, from someone who pranks the police into ‘buying alcohol for a man threatening suicide’, to another who wants to sing a poem to the Chief Minister. 

Watch: Trailer of the film

The otherwise serious script allows itself a few light moments, giving a brief preview of many such fake and silly calls the control room officials have to deal with (“Sir, can you recharge my phone, this is the only number I can call for free now”). The job of the operator is to identify the serious callers among them, the ones in real trouble. Shane’s character, Ullas, has a knack for getting on such calls, putting him at odds with the corrupt Mallikarjun. Sunny Wayne is a marvel as the despicable senior, letting minute mannerisms define his character more than words. Sidharth Bharathan is another surprise, easily passing off as the friendly senior you’d imagine every workplace would have. In place of the clueless teenager of Nammal (the 2002 film he debuted in), now stands a middle-aged officer he admirably takes on. 

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Only the love interest of Ullas played by Namritha MV, an on-and-off girlfriend, seems slightly out of place, her Tamil-Malayalam outbursts rather stagey and their conversations sounding too scripted. Another character, played by Aditi Balan, also gets an unfitting dialogue delivery, lessening the effect the script calls for. 

In its enthusiasm to cover more than one area of concern, the script adds a coating of casteism to the villain, who is also abusive and murderous. Somewhere, the focus is lost and the ending appears like a patched-up work.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.