Pushkar and Gayathri have released their long-awaited remake of “Vikram Vedha” in Hindi. The Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan starrer action thriller has shown promising attributes in the trailer. It is more or less an exact replica of the director-duo’s 2017 blockbuster “Vikram Vedha,” starring Madhavan and Sethupati. Whether the remake is good or bad is not a matter of discussion today. Today we will analyze the story thoroughly. However, one thing is certain: with a better budget and robust execution, even remakes can be worth a watch.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Vikram Vedha’ What Happens In The Film?
We see a fearsome cop named Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) in pursuit of a notorious criminal named Vedha (Hrithik Roshan). At the beginning of the film, Vikram kills some of Vedha’s gang members in Shivgarh. He shoots a boy who was not carrying any weapons with him. To avoid any further investigation into the particular encounter, Vikram plants a weapon in the boy’s hand and shoots an officer in his hand to create a false case to justify the encounter. Later, we meet Vikram’s wife, Priya (Radhika Apte), a professional lawyer. Soon we find that the method followed by Vikram’s team has raised some concerns with the higher authorities. However, the IG backed them up, and then he informed them about Vedha finally coming out of hiding. Vikram had led the operation, and as a result, everyone was ready to grab hold of Vedha. But it was a surprise that Vedha walked into the police headquarters and turned himself in a while; so much was being done to catch him.
Vedha does not speak a word to any police officer until Vikram comes to question him. Vedha tells him that he wants to tell a story about his life. Then Vedha shares the information about how he became what he is now. Vedha used to work for a gangster named Parashuram. He was a tiny person in comparison with Parashuram and the people close to him. One day, another gang member kidnapped a boy, the son of an influential man in Parashuram’s area. Parashuram’s reputation was at stake. Although Vedha had tried to help him in that situation, Parashuram neglected him. Later, Vedha rescued the boy from the kidnappers and spread the good name of Parashuram everywhere. Thus, he became really close to Parashuram. However, he made an enemy named Ravi, whom he had replaced as Prashuram’s close man. After a series of events, we see Babloo Vaiya (Sharib Hashmi) punishing Vedha’s brother ‘Shatak’ for blabbering about the weed business in front of the police. Shatak’s hand was marked as a punishment, and Vedha, on returning, saw his brother’s hand-marked. Vedha was furious and was eager to kill. Through a jump cut, we are back to the present sequence, where Vedha asks Vikram whom he should kill. Babloo or the person who had told him to put a mark on Shatak. Vikram says that Babloo was just a mere weapon, and he should kill the man who had ordered him to do so. Babloo’s life was spared by Vedha as he killed the person who ordered Babloo to punish Shatak. Vedha understood that Vikram was a good policeman, and soon we saw Priya coming to the station to bail Vedha out of jail. Vedha had already prepared for the bail as he had hired Priya, Vikram’s wife, as his lawyer before surrendering to the police.
After several events, Vikram finally discovered that Vedha was seeking revenge for his brother’s death. It was Vikram who had shot him in Shivgarh. The unidentified boy with no weapon was Shatak, Vedha’s brother. Vikram knew that this would kill the head of the operation, Abbas. Because, as he had already mentioned, he killed the one who gave the order to torture his brother. So, anyway, Vikram arrived late, only to find out that Abbas was lying dead. However, after some twists and turns, Vikram discovers that Vedha is merely trying to find answers; someone else is making use of the police to remove Vedha from the equation. Vikram starts an investigation to find out the person behind all this. He finds out that it is Babloo who is behind the plan of removing Veda and his gang members. Abbas’s son suffered from some chronic disease, and Babloo had offered him an enormous amount of money to get rid of Vedha’s gang. Later, Vikram learns that everyone in his team is involved in this mess. Abbas later gained some conscience and wanted to help Shatak’s lover, Chanda. Chanda was kidnapped by a gang, and when he came to rescue her, both of them were shot. Chanda died on the spot; later, the IG and the rest of the police officers killed Abbas. They used the same method as used by Vikram to justify their claim that Chanda had killed Abbas. In the end, Vikram and Vedha put together a team in a gunfight against the police officers. Vikram asked Vedha not to kill anyone as they were his former colleagues. However, Vikram killed the IG as, according to him, he was the one who could have prevented it but didn’t. The film ends with Vikram and Vedha pointing their guns at each other.
See more: ‘Vikram Vedha’ Review: Pushkar-Gayatri’s Film Is A Clever Reinvention Of The Thriller Genre
‘Vikram Vedha’ Ending Explained: What Caused Abbas to Develop a Conscience? Did Vikram Kill Vedha?
Vikram’s friend Abbas was a very dear one. They had shared many memories since their days at the police academy. It was Abbas and his wife who first introduced Vikram to Priya. They had a deep sense of brotherly connection within them. But Abbas had a major family issue. His son was suffering from a chronic disease. The salary he got for his service was not enough for his son’s treatment. Abbas was a very good person and an even better police officer. But the need to save his son’s life defied his ideology. At that moment, he (maybe through the IG) came into contact with Babloo. He had offered him an amount he could not refuse; it was just to kill some random thugs who, anyway, were criminals. He put his feet in the mud, and the mud engulfed him sooner than later. The goodness he carried within himself started to provoke his willingness to do the right thing. He had even shared with Vikram that he feared the sins of the father might affect the son. He knew Chanda was being kidnapped by a gang, and Shatak had come to town to rescue her. Only after seeing Shatak in Shivgarh did Abbas realize, he was innocent. Shatak was never a part of Vedha’s gang. He was a bright student and used to help independent businessmen grow with the help of Vedha’s money. Shatak could not shoot Abbas, but Vikram, without knowing Shatak’s true identity, shot him dead. This triggered Abbas even more, and he was rigid in saving Chanda. But there he failed too, as Chanda was shot dead. However, Abbas was shot too in this process since his colleagues knew that if he had survived, he would blabber everything to the commissioner of police. Did they assume that? They did not have to, as rescuing Chanda was never their plan. If Abbas had not grown a conscience, he wouldn’t have tried to rescue her. So, the IG and the rest of the police officers could not risk letting Abbas live as they, too, were gaining a massive amount for cleaning up Vedha’s gang. Hence, they were left with no choice but to kill Abbas and blame Chanda for his killing.
To answer the second question, well, we will focus on the line at the end of the film. On one side stood Vedha, and on the other stood Vikram. At that moment, in binary terms of good and evil, none of them could be termed as bad. However, compared to Vedha, Vikram had killed an innocent boy, Shatak. Vedha never killed any innocent man. So, was Vikram at fault? For one thing, Vikram did not know back then that Shatak was innocent. The hands that Vikram used to kill Shatak were all cut off. So, there is no chance that Vedha will kill Vikram. Also, Vedha followed the concept of “one crime, one punishment,” so Vikram passed on Vedha’s book of justice quite comfortably. But, the twisted part is: will Vikram kill Vedha? Vedha is accused of murdering 15 people. Vikram is a decent police officer. He will not let anything come in between him and justice. However, if it wasn’t for Vedha, Vikram wouldn’t have been alive and would’ve faced the same destiny as Abbas. But, if we follow the concept of good and evil, life has already punished Vedha for all his wrongdoings. Vedha’s only brother, Shatak, was killed by Vikram, probably Vedha’s only remaining friend in the world. When you chase a criminal long enough, you tend to develop a connection with them. Vikram had had a soft corner for Vedha since the time he had seen his brotherly affection. One of the reasons why he entertained his stories every time until the very end was that he was certain that Vedha’s crimes were indirectly punished by him on the day Shatak was killed. So, without a moment’s hesitation, we can assume that they need each other to survive; they thrive for each other; hence, Vikram and Vedha live on… for each other. In mythology, we also have the never-ending saga of Vikram and Vedha, with one telling the stories and the other helplessly answering questions.
“Vikram Vedha” is 2022 action thriller directed by Gayatri and Pushkar.
