Viduthalai: Part I

Viduthalai: Part I (2023) is a Tamil action-thriller from director Vetrimaaran, and you can watch it online on iFILM. A rookie constable named Kumaresan reports for duty and is immediately shipped off to a hill unit hunting one wanted man.

That man is Perumal Vaathiyar, the leader of a separatist movement that rose after police brutalized villagers under the cover of "interrogations." Soori, long typecast as a comic actor, plays Kumaresan as quiet and out of his depth — he watches his own side torture farmers and slowly loses track of who the real criminal is. Vijay Sethupathi looms over the whole film as Vaathiyar, talked about for an hour before he ever steps out of the fog.

Adapted by Vetrimaaran from Jeyamohan's short story "Thunaivan," the film runs a grinding 146 minutes where the violence is mundane rather than stylish. It's built for viewers who want their action cinema to ask uncomfortable questions and refuse easy answers, and Part I cuts off exactly when the dread peaks. Stream Viduthalai: Part I (2023) online on iFILM.