Weekend watch: Vijay Sethupathi delivers a bear hug of a film in ‘Baththa’

Some filmmakers can get the best out of Vijay Sethupathi, the Tamil actor whose talent for slyness sometimes evades grasp. Among them is Balaji Tharaneetharan, who directed Sethupathi in one of his breakthrough films, Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012), and then in Seethakathi (2018).

Tharaneetharan has given Sethupathi fans who have been worried about the actor’s recent choice of roles something to celebrate in the form of Baththa. Out on Netflix after a successful run at the box office, Baththa is a bear hug of a movie that perhaps only Sethupathi can carry off.

The title of the Tamil-language film is also the name of Sethupathi’s character – a rowdy who frightens anyone who has the misfortune of watching him in action. Among the witnesses to Baththa’s gangster ways is Sabari (Sai Prithviraj), a young boy from Baththa’s neighbourhood.

Sabari is also the one who accidentally locks up Baththa in his school toilet and then quietly releases him. Baththa emerges out of his temporary hell keen to hunt down his jailer while also practically adopting Sabari for rescuing him. Sabari’s young shoulders sag under the burden of his secret.

Baththa is one of those hangout films, whose humour-laced screenplay (also by Tharaneetharan) is in no hurry to reach its finale. Baththa’s relationship with his...

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