Walter Vetrivel is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by P. Vasu, starring Sathyaraj, Sukanya and Ranjitha in lead roles. The film had musical score by Ilaiyaraaja and was released on 14 January 1993. It completed a 250-day run on theaters and became one of the highest-grossing films for Sathyaraj during the 90s in terms of revenue. The movie released to extremely positive reviews and became a blockbuster. The film was later remade in Telugu as S. P. Parasuram, with Chiranjeevi, in Hindi as Khuddar, with Govinda and in Kannada as Dalavayi, with B. C. Patil.
Plot
Walter Vetrivel is an IPS officer. Sumathi is a dancer and a witness to a gang who film people being raped. Walter falls in love with Sumathi after seeing her helping disabled children. Their marriage gets fixed. But Walter's younger brother worries that Sumathi has seen him taking the photo while villains try rape to rape her. She tells the villains the place where Walter hides Sumathi. The villains beat Sumathi severely and she becomes blind. Walter and Sumathi get married. Rayappa was a policeman under Walter and 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 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 movie ends with Walter carrying his brother's dead body.
After the success of Rickshaw Mama, P. Vasu decided to make another project with Sathyaraj under his production banner "Kamalam films" named after Vasu's mother. Vasu narrated three stories and asked Sathyaraj to select any one story. Sathyaraj selected the story with Police backdrop as he was impressed with the story. At the launch of the film, Rajinikanth clapped the shot, Vijayakanth directed the first shot and Prabhu switched on the camera.
Soundtrack
The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Ilaiyaraaja. The soundtrack, released in 1993, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Vaali.
Reception
Walter Vetrivel received acclaim from the critics as well as the audience. 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". K. Vijiyan of New Straits Times gave a positive review praising Vasu's direction and Sathyaraj's acting. The film had a slow opening initially, but then went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters in Sathyaraj's film career at that time. It has developed the status of a cult classic among Tamil audience over the years.
