“The Greatest of All Time,” is a new Tamild language cinema action show which speaks about the eternally young superstar, Vijay. There is a sudden shocking twist around the middle that I would like to bring up. I will have to spoil you a bit, but let me assure you it is for the greater good as I want to also explain to you how much in depth Vijay went in to substantiating his self praised versatility and his cinematic title. What makes this movie so great, and why Vijay is the most important part of this film. This plot twist is however revealed in the first third of the movie which lasts three hours and has been brought up in multiple reviews, so I can assume it is fair game. If you wish to remain unsullied and to virgin, please stop reading from here.
Vijay turning 50, seems one could safely say, Now, as he performs a backhanded brag on his ‘multifaceted’ range during the songs of Beast, an unabashedly entertaining 2022 Die Hard Reboot. In “The Greatest of All Time”, yet another one of the often overused phrases, he fights a younger version of himself, apparently de-aged by horrible computer graphics or maybe A.I. software.
In any case, Vijay also plays the widely loved super spy, Gandhi or rather, Vijay the more timid son, Jeevan. As Amitabh Bachchan’s fans will know, this sort of plot twist is not innovative in Indian mainstream cinema (I have only watched two out of the many six or so movies that Big B is in where he portrays his own father). Neither Vijay nor The Greatest of All Time has impressive innovation. Instead, the strength lies in matching their chipmunk-cheeked star with a love for melodramatic cliches and pairing him with the zeal with which director Venkat Prabhu and his team infringe upon his sensibilities.
In whichever Part of the Junior Gandhi, the victim of Dayanand Srivastava’s dubious artistry, appears during the particular scene is his father lured into prominence.
In the preliminary scenes, it seems like a combination of Ethan Hunt and an unstoppable force that is Papa Gandhi. This is evident from the scene where he fights terrorists on a train in Kenya while using complicated voice changing technology and a mask. He is also a generic father who tends to be absent from his children’s life too and manages to lie in a ridiculously poor manner to his wife Anu, who is heavily and anxiously pregnant and suspects him of cheating.
The two worlds of Gandhi come together during a failed excursion to Bangkok that leads to the abduction and supposed death of Gogand’s son, Jeevan. Akhil, who has been cast as the young version of the character in initial scenes, gives the performance of a lifetime. Fast forward 16 years and Gandhi is covered with grey hair, his dimples gone, and his wife is no longer on speaking terms with him. To make matters worse, he is also sadder, or wiser, depending on the perspective, and a reunion with his spouse during an unplanned brawl at the Indian embassy in Moscow does not help the situation. Suddenly, someone catches Ghandi’s eye on the other side of the street and everything comes to a sudden halt. That frame of a second feels like eternity. Could it be a second version of Vijay?
Jeevan’s comeback alters this back story with the goriness of terrorism, child trafficking, and corporal punishment, that is sure to take the audience’s breath away setting us up for a dull but astonishing pre- intermission twist. The unusualness of the scenery soon transforms into thrilling grey cubed blankness during an unrestrained version of look-ma-no-brakes. From there, the story flows into a normal chain of post-intermission flashbacks.
Prabhu and the rest of the crew do not shy away from intricacy when it comes to the screenplay and this in turn alters the promise made to cover more thematic ground. After Vijay has dived head first into the character of his child, everything spirals out of control.
While he is not quite a seasoned performer, his Jeevan character, as described in the script, is the reason why there’s a highly entertaining song from the movie. It has the greatest group dance and the best sounding song in the movie – the animation which shows Vijay’s best dance, too. This is why the song “Matta” or “Drunk”, and most of his recent films are a must-watch. Just perfectly, the ‘inevitable’ Vijay vs. Vijay battle sequence rises to the occasion and gives you everything you expect and so much more with a bomb scare, cricket-related issues, and an airborne bike chase.
“The Greatest of All Time” is an interesting flip Mr. Vijay singing about himself from the past which seemed funny. Same with him referring to his older movies like “Thirumalai” and “Ghilli,” which was re-released this year in India and broke records. Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with these references as there’s well annotated subtitles to set you straight. Vijay was able to ride a wave of success during the pandemic, The Greatest of All Time makes it seem like he doesn’t take that for granted. I guess that’s how he’s able to deliver the best in dance, set the bar for acting skills, polish his fighting scenes, and take divergent routes to build up the tension. Even better than ‘Master’ which was extremely good as well.
It is self-evident that “The Greatest of All Time” is a highly competitive title, and it only increases the argument by targeting an audience that makes it difficult for the average Joe to comprehend.
While dealing with romps, comedies, and over the top dramas, I normally expect the filmmakers to milk every single possible idiom or trop onto which they’re applying their skills. “The Greatest of All Time” is as close to that ideal as he can hope to be, and he delivers on that expectation on an all too regular basis.
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