Director Vetrimaaran’s duology about the journeys of a police constable and a separatist leader as they find themselves on opposite sides of each other finally comes to an end with “Viduthalai Part 2” (2024). A narrative bursting at the seams with political overtones resulting in a manifesto, “Viduthalai – Part 2” is an important, albeit one of the most flawed movies in director Vetrimaaran’s filmography.
Viduthalai Part 2 (2024) Plot Synopsis and Movie Summary
Who are the central figures in the plot?
The plot of “Viduthalai – Part 2″ follows two timelines, with the past connecting with the present by integrating both the narrative device of Kumaresan (Soori) narrating his events as a constable at E-Company to his mother in a letter, as well as Vaathiyar (Mentor) Perumal’s (Vijay Sethupathi) tale about the events that pushed him into becoming a radical revolutionary.
The central plot begins where the first movie ends, with Kumaresan escorting Vaathiyar after successfully leading a team to capture him. As the movie opens, we see Vaathiyar being interrogated by DSP Sunil Menon (Gautham Vasudev Menon) and him countering Menon’s questions about his identity without any fear of being interrogated buck naked. This is a man so sure of his surroundings and ideology that he is capable of breaking down Menon’s fear about Vaathoyar’s ideology existing beyond caste and uniting every sect of the populace in class annihilation. He is also capable of secretly sending coded messages about his capture through a mole in E-Company—head constable Chandran, under the nose of Menon, by praising a movie he had just witnessed.
Meanwhile, Kumaresan, who is still suffering under the withering gaze of V. Ragavendar (Chetan), the egotistic OC of E-Company, was told to pack up due to having defied orders. Kumaresan, having finally had enough, began to walk away from E-Company but was called back by DSP Menon to transport a cadre of officers (including Ragavendar) and the handcuffed Perumal to the Border Checkpost through the treacherous road in the forest.
Meanwhile, the members of Makkal Padai (The People’s Army) decode Perumal’s message and order Pavel, a photojournalist who had also been present at the train derailment spot, to sneak into the camp and take photos of the brutality inflicted upon the village women under the guise of interrogation. This is something Subramaniyam IAS (Rajiv Menon), Chief Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Government, and PWD Illavarasu do not want to be exposed to the public.
After all, the deaths of police officers and the actions of E-Company without impunity while hunting for members of Makkal Padai are already putting pressure on the government. As the journey begins, Perumal, being the Vaathiyar, begins his subliminal route of engaging the police officers, including Kumaresan, in a narrative about how he became the Vaathiyar and what his ideology ultimately is about.
How does Perumal become involved with the Communist Party?
The movie begins with a cold open, about a sickle being forged and a plan being hatched by young Karuppan (Ken Karunas) to break into the house of the ruthless landlord. Aided by his comrades, Karuppan breaks in. The intent was to rescue his lover from the landlord’s intent to sleep with her, according to feudal rights. Karuppan and his comrades kill the guards with their sickles before Karuppan manages to attack the landlord. As they were escaping, Karuppan and his lover were pushed into the bushes by Perumal, who had followed them to the landlord’s house.
Seemingly, Perumal had saved Karuppan and his lover because his friends and family were mercilessly whipped until the police were called by Perumal. However, the police, complicit with the landlord, manage to temporarily assuage him, even asking Perumal to convince Karuppan and his lover to come to the police and surrender only for the murder. However, the landlord’s son arrives at Perumal’s hideout and kills Karuppan and his lover. In the altercation, Perumal would be knocked out. He would be revived by a leaf blowing in the wind and falling on his face as the rain would come down torrentially and wash the blood away. This small act signified the importance of nature in Perumal’s life, and he would always associate Karuppan as his first “Vaathi” (mentor).
Believed to be dead, Perumal would be left, while Karuppan and his lover’s body would be burnt along with the house they had been hiding at. However, Perumal would be rescued by Comrade KK (Kishore), and the action would convince him to join KK’s political class about the theory and organization of change, becoming an integral member of the Communist Party. Under the leadership of KK, the party began to grow in numbers, an effort to make the public politically literate and therefore arm them with knowledge. Perumal also learns about the unfortunate disappearance of KK’s son and how KK is returning to his old self two years from then due to Perumal’s presence.
How does Perumal meet Mahalaxmi?
Comrade KK would be injured in the field while building the union and unionizing the workers of the Mahalaxmi Sugar Factory. Admitted to the hospital, he would send for Perumal, who, now a political teacher like KK, would instruct Perumal to lead the efforts of unionizing. Effectively making him the leader of the party, Perumal would undertake the journey to the sugar factory, and that’s where he would meet Comrade Mahalaxmi (Manju Warrier), a short-haired, unassuming, courageous woman leading the charge and aiding Perumal in finding a job at the sugar factory.
The next day, he learns that Mahalaxmi is the daughter of the owner of the sugar factory, but she is clearly acting against her father and her family due to her staunch belief in her ideology. Their relationship slowly blossoms, with the viewers learning about how her short hair becomes a symbol of her resistance against men ever having the capability to use her hair to hurt her again, like her ex-husband. Perumal’s hesitance to marry her is assuaged by KK’s acceptance of the relationship, due to which the two get married, with their vows resembling statements from the manifesto.
Why does Perumal break away from KK’s party and form his own?
Perumal’s attempt at unionizing the workers as well as convincing the villagers to band together against their landlord and take 30% of the harvest itself rattled the landlords. Because, as Perumal believes, even a small act of talking back would force the landlords to see things differently, and thus the landlords finally have a target—KK and his gang. And what is interesting is all these landlords uniting as a “capitalist union” against the Communist Party.
Meanwhile, a Naxal leader from Bengal (Anurag Kashyap) is brought in, whereby the leader is successful in radicalizing Perumal and a group of party workers into strongly believing in annihilation—to liberate the oppressed by taking down the oppressor. This comes in sharp contrast to KK’s own methodology, where negotiation is paramount. What breaks the camel’s back is the refusal of the upper-caste villagers to let a funeral procession of a lower-caste villager pass through their village. Perumal breaks away from KK’s party and forms his own—the Makkal Padai (The People’s Army).
However, this rift between KK and Perumal is the opening the capitalist union had been looking for. They kidnap KK and torture him before leaving him for dead. Perumal tries unsuccessfully to save him. Consequently, his rage leads him to organize the Makkal Padai into an armed attack against all the landlords, including Mahalxmi’s father and brother, whose death she gives the green light for.
The Makkal Padai manages to push the remaining landlords to a cornfield, where Perumal successfully kills them. Mahalaxmi would soon deliver their first child, but more importantly, she soon grows her hair back, signifying her confidence in Perumal as the man she has trusted in sharing her life and family with.
What was the confession?
The trek through the forest towards the checkpoint was already a treacherous one, as had been shown in the first film. The entourage risked being lost, with Ragavendar even having to be rescued from slipping down the hilly slope to his death, only to be pulled up by the handcuffed Perumal. That perilous incident finally pushes Ragavendar to accept and confess—in the altercation that had acted as the first domino against the Makkal Padai by the E-Company, Ragavendar had been the one to shoot the young driver Raghu, partly by mistake, and also partly because his accidental discharging of the bullet would have led to embarrassment in the camp.
Also Read: Viduthalai Part 1 (2023) Movie Ending Explained: What Happens to Perumal?
In return, Perumal reveals the first time they had tried making a bomb and how devastating one slight change in the mix had led to the deaths of his comrades. Thus even after having built multiple dirty bombs, Vaathiyar Perumal only wanted to plant the bomb at the bridge and inform the authorities about it to express their anger. But they soon realize to their horror that the authorities aren’t interested and instead want the accident to occur as retribution against the Makkal Padai.
Thus Perumal orders his cohorts to rush back and try to warn the station authorities, but even there they are faced with hard luck as the authorities believe it’s a prank. Finally, the cohorts are advised to disconnect the bomb, like a shirt sleeve slowly being removed. They defuse the bomb but miss the connection of the wires with the battery, which results in the bomb being blasted irrespective of their efforts.
This does two things. On the one hand, this entire journey through the forest would also show us Vaathiyar Perumal teaching them about the communist ideology and the adverse effect of the “greater good” phenomena, leading to a disillusionment within an already disillusioned Kumaresan. On the other hand, the confession by Vaathiyar shows the cracks within the idealized perspective of the movement, as mistakes would lead to large losses along the way.
How was Perumal rescued by the Makkal Padai?
The Makkal Padai, under the leadership of TA, a young party worker and Perumal’s right hand, manages to follow the tracks of the entourage and intercept them. This leads to a shootout, and within that shootout, Ragavendar goes on to execute his own agenda—removing any officers within his own force that could reveal his failures in the mission. His ego further jeopardizes an already perilous situation that Perumal is trying hard to defuse by convincing the Makkal Padai members to not kill the officers. However, Ragavendar’s intervention leads to a stray bullet hitting Perumal in the leg.
What steps does the Chief Secretary take to minimize the fallout?
From the beginning, we see the Chief Secretary make plans to ensure Vaathiyar Perumal is arrested and kept under custody. A major event like this would actually convince the center to release their political fund, which the secretary could funnel towards development ostensibly but more covertly could be used for lining their pockets, which wouldn’t have been possible if a proposal had been sent to the state government via official channels. Thus the arrest of Vaathiyar Perumal is a big counter for the secretary to the photos of the torture being published in the Tamil Seithi by photojournalist Pavel. But their wins were short-lived when Ragavendar, arriving at the checkpost, informed them about Perumal’s escape.
They required a scapegoat, and the plan is to remove Ragavendar as the OC and install someone far more competent and yet open to following difficult orders. Sunil advises the appointment of ex-Sub Inspector Amudhan, who had been let go in the previous movie on account of being on the bad side of Ragavendar and being kind enough to Kumaresan.
Amudhan, appointed under emergency conditions but welcomed with open arms by E-Company, takes charge, and soon after arriving at the checkpost with a cadre of officers of E-Company, excuses Ragavendar from OC duty and arms the officers. They would be taking the war to Perumal and the Makkal Padai.
Viduthalai Part 2 (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
What happens at the gunfight between Makkal Padai and E-Company?
With Vaathiyar injured, the Makkal Padai’s journey through the foggy forest would reduce considerably, leading to E-Company catching up. Through the fog and the foliage, the soldiers on both sides begin their guerrilla warfare, leading to major casualties. On the side of the E-Company, Ragavendar, who is effectively useless in the shooting but still stinging from embarrassment, shoots one of the officers who had been with him the whole night and knows about the truth of his involvement.
The confusion of that event leads Amudhan to shoot every one of the young revolutionaries he had taken as prisoners. As Ragavendar begins to take his next kill, Kumaresan stops him and almost threatens to choke him out, only stopping him when Amudhan orders him to. On the side of the revolutionaries, Vaathiyar tries to convince them to stop the gunfight, so as not to incur any more bloodshed of young revolutionary blood.
While the young fighters refuse to give up, Vaathiyar finally convinces them that leading ideology is more important than individuals, with the right ideology resulting in the right leader among their generations. But for that right leader to propagate ideology and not fanaticism, the young comrades need to live, even though Vaathiyar knows what the chief secretary has already done—confirmed their arrest. By allowing him to be arrested, Vaathiyar would have a chance to talk about his politics.
What was Perumal’s final instruction to Mahalaxmi?
Vaathiyar always had a streak of belief in the people, that surrender would actually entail a safe escort. Unfortunately, Amudhan had other plans, as he shot Vaathiyar point-blank. Not satisfied with that, he orders further gunshots to be fired, which all the soldiers of E-Company, except Kumaresan, comply with.
The vision of Vaathiyar’s body thrown back by the recoil is almost symbolic of the “statue” of the mysterious monolith “Vaathiyar” being destroyed and the fragile human “Perumal” revealed underneath. But even as that symbolic decloaking occurs, Perumal has a final trump card to play. His final instruction to Mahalakshmi, his wife, had been to not claim his body, on such an event occurring. His intention is to steer away from the conversation of Perumal the human and rather become the identity of an ideology.
It’s a harsh decision, but one that, in hindsight, works, because the chief secretary has to spin a new story to spare the government the further embarrassment of admitting that they had killed Perumal, instead bringing to light the narrative of Perumal’s escape. It would, in essence, allow them to control the narrative of the Vaathiyar still being alive and like a messiah coming forward to save them, rather than allowing for new leaders to rise from the ranks on the eve of Vaathiyar’s death.
What does Kumaresan decide?
Almost relegated to a background character in this film, Kumaresan is the one most affected by Vaathiyar Perumal’s speeches. Already disillusioned by the work culture and the unjust system at E-Company, Perumal’s speeches and teachings in the forest lead to further disillusionment on his end towards the larger system itself.
Thus, when Amudhan—ostensibly the best among them, according to Kumaresan—shoots Perumal to have his name immortalized, his actions lead to further promotions and a rise in rank. Additionally, this ensures that Ragavendar avoids the punishment he deserves for killing his own soldiers. At this point, Kumaresan finally takes charge.
As the resident jeep driver, who is the only one able to navigate the rough terrain of the mountainous road without losing the balance of the jeep, Kumaresan drives the jeep straight toward the edge of the road and keeps it hanging. Amudhan tries to take care of the gear from letting the car go overboard, but Kumaresan drops his hat and his stripes, essentially resigning from his post, and walks down the mountain. As the camera pans away, we hear him say to his mother that history might be hijacked by the victors, but their tales would be propagated as stories until the time comes for the truth to be revealed. He also reveals that this would be his last letter, as he would never return, presumably on his way to join the cause.
Read More: The 10 Best Tamil Movies Of 2024
Viduthalai: Part 2 (2024) Movie Trailer:
Editor’s Note: Viduthalai Part 2 (2024) also started streaming on Zee5 Global from March 28th, 2025
Viduthalai: Part 2 (2024) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia, Letterboxd
The Cast of Viduthalai: Part 2 (2024) Movie: Soori, Vijay Sethupathi, Chetan, Rajiv Menon, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Manju Warrier, Ken Karunas
Viduthalai: Part 2 (2024) Movie Genre: | Runtime:
