Vikram Vedha was a darned good movie; I mean the 2017 Tamil film. And I wondered why anyone in their right mind, especially the makers of the original film, Pushkar-Gayatri, would want to remake it. But remake it they did and roped in two big Bollywood stars to boot.

The trailer of the Vikram Vedha remake made it evident that it would be a scene-by-scene and dialogue-by-dialogue copy of the original but also showed promise that the two stars helming it — Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan — could make a difference with their own interpretations of the characters. And the film delivered on that promise, in good ways and bad.

The question is, have you watched the original?

I know it is not a good thing to draw comparisons and it won’t be an issue if you haven’t seen the original, but if like me you have, then those are bound to crop up, since the film offers nothing new story-wise (why mess with a good thing). There are a few new additions, some that work — the Lucknow setting, the retro-Bollywood songs — and some that don’t — did Vedha have to be renamed Vedha Betal to make audiences understand that it was loosely based on the Vikram-Betal story of yore, even after the opening sequence?

But if you haven’t, then you are in luck because the story is that of a cat-and-mouse game between an honest, virtuous cop and a dreaded gangster that has many twists and turns and manages to hold the suspense right till the end. It uses the Vikram-Betal folklore to explore the concepts of good and evil and the fine line between the two.

Saif gives Vikram a more stoic, broody turn

Neither Saif, who plays trigger-happy copper Vikram, nor Hrithik, who plays his nemesis Vedha, has tried to model/match/outdo the stars of the original — R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi.

Saif has taken Madhavan’s casual cruelty and given it a more stoic, broody turn. It definitely adds to the character of a straight-laced, incorruptible cop who learnt to distinguish good from bad by the lick of his father’s police belt, and for whom there is no moral ambiguity when it comes to killing the bad guys.

But it also takes away from the casual, joking conversations and relationships he shares with his team members because it never feels natural. The only time we see the softer side of Vikram is when he is with his wife Priya, a lawyer (played here by Radhika Apte), or with his cop buddy Abbas. Saif doesn’t seem to be able to work it and, as a result, their chemistry falls flat.

Hrithik gives Vedha his superstar swag

Hrithik had the more difficult job of living up to the inimitable Sethupathi in his role as Vedha. And it is a good thing that he doesn’t even try. He makes Vedha his own, infusing the character with his superstar swag.

If you have watched the original, then you just have to see the epic entry scene — the Hindi one is an exact copy — of Vedha and you will understand what I am talking about. Nothing about Sethupathi sets him apart as he calmly walks through cops to enter the police station. Roshan is a different beast and the swag is visible even from behind — the good thing is this introduction scene to beat all introduction scenes works just as well even if you have seen the original.

Where Sethupathi exuded calm menace, Roshan revels in maniacal glory. The flipside is that he makes everyone else around him fade into the background, which makes the audience care less about what goes on with everyone else.

The Vikram-Vedha face-off is engaging

Together Saif and Hrithik play off each other pretty well, Saif’s stoicism being the perfect foil for Hrithik’s mischievous and slightly manic energy. Most of their verbal spars where they focus on moral dilemmas keeps us engaged and invested. The action sequences, done in South-style slo-mo, also reflect their differences with Saif having the more economical and sedate moves and Hrithik tapping into his natural grace for parkours across rooftops, gun-blasting slides across surfaces and leaping off high ledges.

The supporting cast fades under star power

You must have noticed how the supporting actors hardly get a mention, well that’s because they are almost entirely forgettable. Not because they are bad actors, but because their presence is so overshadowed by the other two. Neither Priya nor Abbas or Shatak or Chanda make the impact their Tamil counterparts did and that takes away from the audience’s investment in the ‘why’.

So, should you go and watch Vikram Vedha in the theatres? If you haven’t watched the original, then definitely. Mass entertainers with strong performances don’t come by that often. If you have watched the original, then a lot of the film’s best appeal — the story and the script — might be lost, but it is still a good film with strong performances and it boils down to whether you like the original’s understated appeal or the glossy Bollywood varnish.