Veerasamy is a pretty much a collage of everything that is wrong with Tamil cinema today. Horrendous acting, bad dialogs, regressive themes, distasteful romance, unfunny comedy, unbelievable stunts, vulgar song sequences... you name it, you can find it in this film. Like with Nagalingam, that other shining example of just how bad a movie can be, the only positive aspect of the film is that it is easy to pinpoint the blame for the two and a half hours of torture inflicted on us.

Veerasamy(T.Rajendar) is a lawyer and MLA and the saviour of the people of his locality from dadas and corrupt policemen alike. Sarasu(Mumtaj), a woman who is constantly tortured by her family (whose members trying to force her into prostitution) and sells black tickets as a way of bringing home some money, pines for Veerasamy. Veerasamy is a thorn in the side of the Health minister(Bobby) and his wife Rani(Padma), who run a number of illegal activities by the side. But Veerasamy is in a quandrary when his sister Thamizh(Sheela) falls in love with the minister's wife's brother Arun(Ajis).

The movie's biggest liability is ofcourse T.Rajendar. Responsible for most of the important aspects of the film like story, script, direction, music and lyrics, the self-proclaimed all-rounder(though the term takes on a whole a new meaning considering his girth) makes us wish he'd stayed behind the camera. With a large percentage of his face covered by facial hair (though, on second thoughts, that might be a blessing), I don't think there's been another actor in the history of Tamil cinema, whose face was less suited to be a hero. And his performance doesn't make us overlook his looks either. After so many years in cinema, its a miracle that he still can't act and his expressions during romantic or sentimental scenes make us break into laughter. His coarse voice and lack of voice modulation ensure that his lines, full of those rhyming sentences (he actually rhymes Viagra and Manohara! Sivaji must be turning in his grave!) are irritating. And his girth makes his dances and fights unintentionally funny too (when he jumps and sits on a car during the first fight, it is definitely the first time I've felt sorry for the prop in a fight).

Though TR claims to be a lawyer and an MLA, he never sets foot in a courtroom or the Assembly in the entire film. Instead, he spends his time fighting with the local thugs and dancing on the streets! The sequences where he sets right some of the corrupt officials are amateurish in both concept and execution.

Like in all his movies, TR makes himself the target of affections from the heroine but the romance between him and Mumtaj doesn't get even a single thing right. Every conversation between them seems to start with her flirting or trying to seduce him and ends with her crying and complaining about her family! Talk about an abrupt change of tone! Her actions, ostensibly inserted to convey her love for him(she sleeps on his poster!), are ridiculous and one particular action in a song sequence actually made me cringe and avert my eyes. As always, TR follows the hands-off policy and never touches Mumtaj(though I've always thought that the policy was the result of a clause demanded by the heroines) but this leads to some very awkward and funny poses from both of them in the romantic scenes. The romance between Ajis and Sheela isn't as distasteful but that doesn't make it any more convincing or interesting.

There is an unexpected plot development in the second half(though it is never clear why TR doesn't take any steps to stop it from happening) but the result of that plot development erases all the gains from its unexpectedness. In grand Tamil cinema tradition, one of the characters endures an insane amount of torture simply because of her thaali and this attitude earns her(and TR, who remains a mute witness to the goings-on) our irritation rather than our sympathy.

I think the cast's acting credentials should be pretty clear when Mumtaj gives the best performance in the movie. She manages the ups and downs of her character convincingly enough. Ajis is another hero in the Kunal mould - one who makes us wonder if he is the hero or the heroine! Meghna Naidu is stiff except in the song sequence while Sheela and Padma fare a little better in cliched roles.