Theri, the 2016 Atlee directorial, followed the story of an honest cop named Vijay Kumar. After the director announced that a Hindi remake of the same would be made, there were speculations about him wanting to extend the franchise. Firstly, I believe that Baby John, directed by Kalees, won’t deviate from the original storyline, though the creators might end up taking a few creative liberties here and there to suit the current time. So I believe now is the best time to quickly recap the events of Theri and find out what the basic plot of Baby John could be and in what direction the creators could take the franchise.
Spoiler Alert
How did Annie come to know about Vijay’s past?
Joseph Kuruvilla lived with his daughter in a small village somewhere in Kerala, and he led a very normal life. Nivi, Joseph’s daughter, fondly called him Baby, as she probably felt that he was a timid guy who couldn’t even raise his voice against somebody. Joseph loved his daughter, and from the beginning of Theri, it was apparent that he wanted to lead a hassle-free life. Nivi’s teacher, Annie, was fond of the kid, and eventually, she took a liking to Joseph. Joseph’s innocence, his love for his daughter, and his sensitivity really attracted her to him. There were times when Annie felt that there was more to Joseph’s personality than what actually met the eye, but she never tried to question him about those things. One day, Annie, Nivi, and Joseph were standing next to a church when a goon bumped into Annie.
Nivi, being the fierce little girl that she was, didn’t like his rude behavior. She shouted at the goons, and when one of them retaliated, Annie came in his way and warned him to stay away from the little girl. Now, Joseph was the kind of man who would have just apologized to the goons, even if it was the latter’s fault. He just didn’t want to do anything that could cause trouble for him and Nivi. But I believe that after what Annie did, he didn’t have much of a choice but to get involved in the matter. Joseph was never able to drop Nivi off at school on time, and so the next day, Annie decided to take Nivi with her. On the way, those same goons came and intentionally hit Annie’s two-wheeler with their car. Annie and Nivi both sustained injuries, and Joseph came running to the hospital in a state of shock. Joseph lashed out at Annie when he learned that she had filed an FIR against those goons at the local police station. Joseph didn’t want the matter to escalate, so he went to the police station and retracted the FIR.
Annie was not happy with what he did, and she didn’t understand why he was so paranoid about everything. Now, at the police station, something strange happened. One of the officers present there told Joseph that he recognized him and addressed him by the name of Vijay Kumar. Annie’s suspicion grew even stronger, and she knew that Joseph was hiding something about his past. Though Joseph took his FIR back, the goons came to his house late at night to teach him a lesson. Joseph tried apologizing to them, but they had made up their mind to hurt him and his daughter. That’s when Joseph unleashed his real side, and he wreaked havoc on them.
Meanwhile, Annie did some research on her own, and she figured out that Joseph’s actual name was Vijay Kumar, and he used to be a DSP back when he went by that name. Up until then, she thought that he just ran a bakery, and he had done that his entire life. Annie reached his home to confront him, and she saw him thrashing the goons. Annie couldn’t resist her impulse, so she went to Joseph’s bakery, aka Vijay’s bakery, and asked his employee, Rajendran, what Joseph’s story was. What Rajendran told Annie surprised her, as she hadn’t imagined that this timid-looking man was once a fearless officer.
Why did Vijay have to go into hiding?
DSP Vijay was an honest supercop and he made sure that justice was served to everybody in his jurisdiction. One time, an elderly man came to his police station, and he told him that his daughter had been missing for the past few days and that no police officer was ready to let him file an FIR. Vijay deployed the entire police force to search for the girl, named Raji, and he ultimately found her after a lot of effort. Raji had been raped by the son of the sitting minister, Vanamaamalai, and though she was taken to the hospital and given proper medical care, she succumbed to her injuries. Vijay took a vow to find the perpetrator, Ashwin, and teach him a lesson. Vanamaamalai had also lodged a missing person’s report for his son, and when Vijay met him, he pretended that he had no clue what his son had done and where he had gone. Vijay took the challenge to find Ashwin, but he knew that he couldn’t do so using legitimate means. He knew that if he arrested Ashwin, within ten days, Vanamaamalai would make sure that his son was out on bail, and Vijay didn’t want that to happen. Vijay found Ashwin, and he took the law into his own hands. Before Vanamaamalai could arrive and save his son, Vijay killed the perpetrator, and he didn’t hide that fact from the former. That was a turning point in Vijay’s life, and he probably underestimated what Vanamaamalai was capable of doing. Vijay had met the love of his life, Mithra, a few days prior to this incident.
Mithra was smitten by the man Vijay was. She was impressed by how he took a stand for justice and made sure that the voice of the underprivileged didn’t go unheard. Vijay was meeting Mithra’s parents when Vanamaamalai ’s goons attacked him. Even after that incident, Vijay wasn’t scared, and he went straight to Vanamaamalai ’s house and hurt his ego once again. Vijay and Mithra got married to each other, and they had a beautiful baby girl whom they named Nivi. One day, out of nowhere, Vanamaamalai and his goons (including a police officer named Karikalan) came to Vijay’s house. They killed Mithra and Vijay’s mother, but somehow Vijay survived, and he made sure that he saved his daughter’s life, too. The entire house was burnt to ashes, and the world believed that DSP Vijay and his entire family had died in the accident. Vijay changed his identity and moved to a village in Kerala, and the entire incident changed him as a person. He turned a blind eye towards corruption and injustice as his daughter’s safety was paramount for him. Vijay had no clue that his past would return to haunt him, and he would once again have to wear his police uniform and fight his arch nemesis, Vanamaamalai.
Was Vijay able to take revenge on Vanamaamalai?
After the entire incident where Vijay thrashed Shakeel’s goons, he apologized to him as he didn’t want the matter to escalate any further. But Shakeel, assessing the way Vijay had thrashed his boys, knew that Vijay was not who he was pretending to be. The news of Vijay being alive reached Vanamaamalai’s ears, and he once again came after his life. Vanamaamalai tried to kill Nivi by orchestrating an accident where he made her school bus fall off the bridge into the water, but Vijay was able to save his daughter. Vijay knew that the only way to keep his daughter safe was to take a stand against Vanamaamalai and finish what he started. Vijay first went and killed Karikalan, and though there were rumors about his return, the police made it very clear in front of the media that there was no truth behind it.
There was a lot of speculation happening, and people made all sorts of absurd theories, but Vijay’s superior, Commissioner Chakravarthy, negated every theory and assured the public that Vijay was long gone, and they would find the real perpetrator. Before the police could do anything, Vijay killed Ratnam, Vanamaamalai ’s brother, who was one of the perpetrators who had killed his wife and mother. Ratnam had become a big builder, and over a period of time, his relationship with his brother, Vanamaamalai, had deteriorated. After Ratnam’s death, the public believed that Vanamaamalai had killed his brother since he was his rival. Vijay didn’t waste any time, and he made a plan to kill Vanamaamalai. Vijay told Rajendran to let Vanamaamalai take him into custody so that it could lead them to him. Rajendran didn’t understand what his boss was up to, but he did what he was asked to. Vanamaamalai caught Vijay eventually, as the latter wanted, and that’s when he unleashed his wrath and taught the man a lesson. Vijay killed Vanamaamalai, but till the end of Theri, nobody had concrete evidence to prove that the former was still alive, and everyone assumed it was his ghost or maybe somebody from the police force who had taken the responsibility to clean up the city.
Will Atlee create a Cop Universe?
In Theri’s ending, we learn that Commissioner Chakravarthy had conspired with Vijay, and he knew that his best cop was alive. Chakravarthy reinstated him back in the police force but kept that fact a secret. In the last scene, we see that Vijay is somewhere near the Indo-China border, where he is assigned a special task as a covert agent. He had once again changed his identity, and people there knew him as Dharmeshwar. Annie, Nivi, and Rajendran were still with him, and Vijay was once again doing what he did best, i.e., serving his nation and fighting for justice. I don’t think that the makers have any plans to extend the Theri franchise as Thalapathy Vijay has decided to retire from acting, but surely, they would like to make multiple installments of its Hindi remake, Baby John.
Baby John, I believe, will follow pretty much the same storyline, and the makers have every intention of expanding it into a vigilante-cop universe. I think the Varun Dhawan-starrer will also end in such a cliffhanger, and he will start leading these covert operations and working together with other honest police officers. The character of Vijay, who corresponds to Satya Verma in Baby John, will face many challenges on his way, and this time around, I don’t think that he will be able to handle everything on his own. When the mission will become too high-profile and the security of the nation will depend on the mission, then I believe the country will need somebody like Azad Rathore (Shahrukh Khan’s character from Jawan) or Narmada Rai Rathore, Azad’s wife and head of Force One. I won’t be surprised if Atlee and his entire creative team decides to link the Jawan Universe and that of Baby John. Also, there have been rumors about Salman Khan having a guest appearance in Baby John, which makes things even more interesting. Probably, he, too, plays the role of a cop or somebody who mentors Baby John and supports him on his quest to fight injustice. I believe that we will see our Pathaan and Tiger once again together on the silver screen, though obviously in a different universe.
Instead of dealing with domestic issues, I believe that the Baby John Universe will expand to an international space. Let’s assume that the Hindi remake film, too, ends on a similar cliffhanger and Satya Verma is posted on the Indo-China border. In that case, it has to do something with the infiltration of Chinese covert agents or some mission where he has to enter Chinese territory and fight for his country. There are multiple theories now, and it would be interesting to see how the creators shape the narrative and build the entire cop universe. Additionally, Atlee’s next film, tentatively titled A6, will probably star Salman Khan, so let’s see if these two films come under the same umbrella.
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