Walter Vetrivel

{{Infobox film

| image = Walter Vetrivel.jpg

| caption = Poster

| director = P. Vasu

| writer = P. Vasu

| producer = Shanthi Vasudevan

| starring = {{unbulleted list|Sathyaraj|Sukanya|Ranjitha}}

| cinematography = M. C. Sekar

| editing = P. Mohanraj

| music = Ilaiyaraaja

| studio = Kamalam Movies

| released = {{Film date|df=y|1993|01|14}}

| runtime = 150 minutes

| country = India

| language = Tamil

}}

Walter Vetrivel is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by P. Vasu. The film stars Sathyaraj, Sukanya and Ranjitha, with Vijayakumar, Goundamani, Nassar, Gandhimathi, Mohan Raj and Raj Chander in supporting roles. It revolves around a disciplined police officer who turns against his brother who has turned to crime.

Walter Vetrivel was released on 14 January 1993 and became a commercial success, with a 200-day run in theatres. The film was later remade in Telugu as S. P. Parasuram, in Hindi as Khuddar,{{Cite web |date=16 June 2022 |title=Tagore to Godfather: A Look at Telugu Remakes Starring Chiranjeevi |url=https://www.news18.com/news/movies/tagore-to-godfather-a-look-at-chiranjeevi-starrer-telugu-remakes-5384491.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230727090310/https://www.news18.com/news/movies/tagore-to-godfather-a-look-at-chiranjeevi-starrer-telugu-remakes-5384491.html |archive-date=27 July 2023 |access-date=27 July 2023 |website=News18}} and in Kannada as Dalavayi.{{Cite news |last=Gowda |first=Aravind |date=19 December 1999 |title=DALAVAYEE (Kannada) |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec19/entrevs.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000712165959/http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec19/entrevs.htm |archive-date=12 July 2000 |access-date=27 July 2023 |work=Deccan Herald}}

Plot

Walter Vetrivel is an IPS officer. Sumathi is a dancer and a witness to a gang that films people being raped. Walter falls in love with Sumathi after seeing her helping disabled children. They are engaged to be married. But Walter's younger brother worries that Sumathi has seen him taking the photo while villains try to rape her. He tells the villains the place where Walter has hidden Sumathi. The villains beat Sumathi severely, and she goes blind. Walter still goes ahead and marries Sumathi.

Rayappa, a policeman under Walter, helps the villains escape from jail. Walter finds out that Rayappa is a liar, but Rayappa resigns from the police department. Rayappa becomes a minister later. Sumathi becomes pregnant and says that she will be unlucky to be able to see the child. The doctor says that she will see an expert doctor, and her sight will be restored. But Walter's brother is worried and adds poison in the milk to kill Sumathi, but Sumathi gives the milk to the child, and it dies.

Walter is appointed as special security for Rayappa for a stage speech. While Sumathi's operation is getting done, Walter knows villains will attack her again. He tells Rayappa that his wife's life in danger, so he needs to go to the hospital, but Rayappa starts a speech in the stage and humiliates Walter. Walter, instead of saluting in front of the public, beats Rayappa and tells of Rayappa's previous life as a corrupt police officer who now became a corrupt politician. Rayappa's coolie rowdies set fire to the stage, where Walter openly tells of Rayappa's previous life. After hearing everything, people support Walter.

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Sumathi's eye operation gets over. Before Sumathi's eye dressing gets opened, the villains come again to attack Sumathi, but Walter saves her after a big fight in a dark room where a villain tries to attack Walter with a torch. Finally, Walter throws the villain onto an electric panel in the room and kills him. Sumathi's eye bandage gets opened, and she regains her eyesight. She looks at a family photo and identifies the photographer who took a photo of the villain as Walter's brother.

Though Sumathi is sad knowing Walter's brother is on the villain's side, Walter is full of anger and tries to chase the brother. Enters the villain Swamy. Walter knocks down the fake Swamy and his henchmen. At the same time, Rayappa also gets a note from Walter. Walter gets hit on the head with a bar by the brother. Walter again chases the brother to the top of the building, where he holds a child hostage. Seeing no other way to save the child, Walter, being the honest cop as he is, shoots his brother in the head. The film ends with Walter carrying his brother's corpse.

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Sathyaraj as Walter Vetrivel IPS
Sukanya as Sumathi
Ranjitha as Meena
Vijayakumar as Viswanathan
Goundamani as Royal Ramasamy
Nassar as Rayappa
Gandhimathi as Lakshmi/Periyamma{{Cite web |date=9 September 2011 |title=Tamil actress Gandhimathi dead |url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/tamil-actress-gandhimathi-dead/134472 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228080314/https://www.mid-day.com/articles/tamil-actress-gandhimathi-dead/134472 |archive-date=28 December 2020 |access-date=13 November 2020 |website=Mid-Day}}
Rocky as Duraisingam
Mohan Raj as goon sent to kill Sumathi
Ponnambalam as Kabali
Raj Chandar as Sundar
Prabhu Deva as special appearance in the song "Chinna Raasaavae"{{Cite news |last=Anantharam |first=Chitra Deepa |date=20 August 2018 |title=I taught Salman Tamil, says Prabhu Deva |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/interview-with-prabhu-deva-on-lakshmi/article24737464.ece |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200717170340/https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/interview-with-prabhu-deva-on-lakshmi/article24737464.ece |archive-date=17 July 2020 |access-date=13 November 2020 |work=The Hindu}}

}}

Production

After the success of Rickshaw Mama (1992), P. Vasu decided to make another film with Sathyaraj under his production banner Kamalam Films. Vasu narrated three stories and asked Sathyaraj to select any one; Sathyaraj selected the story with a police backdrop which became Walter Vetrivel. At the launch of the film, Rajinikanth clapped the shot, Vijayakanth directed the first shot and Prabhu switched on the camera.{{Cite news |date=27 February 2015 |title=பி.வாசு இயக்கத்தில் சத்யராஜ் நடித்த வால்டர் வெற்றிவேல் |trans-title=Sathyaraj starred in Walter Vetrivel under P. Vasu's direction |url=http://cinema.maalaimalar.com/2015/02/27233729/Cine-History-Sathyaraj.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150301140902/http://cinema.maalaimalar.com/2015/02/27233729/Cine-History-Sathyaraj.html |archive-date=1 March 2015 |access-date=28 June 2019 |work=Maalai Malar |language=ta}} The title character was partly inspired by a real policeman named Walter Devaram.{{Cite web |last=Prakash |first=M. |date=30 November 1992 |title=Tamil Nadu supercop Walter Isaac Davaram objects to his reel image |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19921130-tamil-nadu-supercop-walter-isaac-davaram-objects-to-his-reel-image-767207-2012-12-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228080317/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19921130-tamil-nadu-supercop-walter-isaac-davaram-objects-to-his-reel-image-767207-2012-12-26 |archive-date=28 December 2020 |access-date=13 November 2020 |website=India Today}} In 2020, Devaram said Vasu approached him seeking permission to use his name, but "there wasn't any need for such permission, as they didn't use my full name".{{Cite news |last=Subramanian |first=Anupama |date=1 February 2020 |title='Really happy', says Walter Devaram |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/kollywood/010220/really-happy-says-walter-devaram.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225022556/https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/kollywood/010220/really-happy-says-walter-devaram.html |archive-date=25 February 2021 |access-date=27 May 2021 |work=Deccan Chronicle}}

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics written by Vaali.{{Cite web |title=Walter Vetrivel (1993) |url=http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/moviedetail.asp?mid=T0001900 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912163155/http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/moviedetail.asp?mid=T0001900 |archive-date=12 September 2012 |access-date=10 December 2011 |website=Raaga.com}}

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;" ! Song !! Singer(s) !! Duration
"Chinna Raasaavae"	Mano, S. Janaki	4:57
"Mannava Mannava Nee Mannadhi"	Sunanda{{Cite news \|date=11 April 2009 \|title=My first break \|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/My-first-break/article15928696.ece \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228080320/https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/My-first-break/article15928696.ece \|archive-date=28 December 2020 \|access-date=13 November 2020 \|work=The Hindu}}	5:02
"Ovvoru Pakkam"	Swarnalatha	4:59
"Pattu Nila"	S. Janaki	5:08
"Poongaatru"	Mano, Uma Ramanan	5:03

Release and reception

Walter Vetrivel was released on 14 January 1993.{{Cite web |last=Sundaram |first=Nandhu |date=27 June 2018 |title=From 'Gentleman' to 'Amaravathi' : Revisiting popular films which released 25 years ago |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/gentleman-amaravathi-revisiting-popular-films-which-released-25-years-ago-83756 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228073451/https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/gentleman-amaravathi-revisiting-popular-films-which-released-25-years-ago-83756 |archive-date=28 December 2020 |access-date=19 December 2020 |website=The News Minute}} Malini Mannath of The Indian Express wrote, "Vasu's screenplay is etched to give maximum shock value [..] But the film is worth watching in the sense that despite flaws Vasu has managed to give a film that is different and gripping".{{Cite news |last=Mannath |first=Malini |date=17 January 1993 |title=Different, gripping |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-4llAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nJ4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=443%2C1465190 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228080322/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-4llAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nJ4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=443%2C1465190 |archive-date=28 December 2020 |access-date=13 November 2020 |work=The Indian Express |pages=7 |via=Google News Archive}} K. Vijiyan of New Straits Times gave a positive review praising Vasu's direction and Sathyaraj's acting.{{Cite news |last=Vijiyan |first=K. |date=30 January 1993 |title=At last, a story about an honest, dedicated cop |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GtlOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QhQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4232%2C2880160 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228080316/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GtlOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QhQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4232%2C2880160 |archive-date=28 December 2020 |access-date=31 January 2020 |work=New Straits Times |pages=20 |via=Google News Archive}} C. R. K. of Kalki wrote that the sequences move at fast pace which makes viewers forget certain flaws.{{Cite magazine |last=சி.ஆர்.கே. |date=14 February 1993 |title=வால்டர் வெற்றிவேல் |url=https://archive.org/details/kalki1993-02-14/page/n61/mode/2up |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230126154738/https://archive.org/details/kalki1993-02-14/page/n61/mode/2up |archive-date=26 January 2023 |access-date=2 December 2022 |magazine=Kalki |page=61 |language=ta |via=Internet Archive}} The film was a major commercial success, and ran for over 200 days in theatres. At the 14th Cinema Express Awards, Sathyaraj and Sukanya won in the Best Actor – Tamil and Best Actress Special Award categories respectively.{{Cite news |date=13 March 1994 |title=Kizhakku Cheemayile adjudged best film |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=v2FlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=G5QNAAAAIBAJ&pg=339%2C511626 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408054633/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=v2FlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=G5QNAAAAIBAJ&pg=339,511626 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |access-date=22 February 2021 |work=The Indian Express |pages=3 |via=Google News Archive |agency=Express News Service}}