Prabhu Deva's directorial path in Tamil started off successfully with a superhit in Pokkiri but the going since then hasn't been smooth with his subsequent films in both the action and the romantic genres - Villu and Engeyum Kaadhal - not doing very well. Vedi sees him try to replicate the Pokkiri success by remaking another commercial masala film from Telugu. The film has all the necessary ingredients but almost all of them feel familiar, resulting in a film that seems assembled together from the leftovers of other masala films.

Balu(Vishal) arrives in Kolkata and joins a college as a Physical Education trainer. That's where he meets Paru(Sameera Reddy), in whose house he ends up staying, and Aishwarya(Poonam Kaur), an orphan who is Paru's neighbor. There are quite a few goons gunning for Balu. Meanwhile Easwaramoorthy(Shayaji Shinde), who is out after being in jail in Thoothukudi for a long list of crimes, sends his son after Aishwarya.

Vedi compartmentalizes its masala aspects quite cleanly. So romance and comedy dominate most of the first half while action and sentiments are reserved for the second. The romance is rather low-key and one-sided with Sameera being quite brazen in revealing her feelings and Vishal not quite expressing his. So its not really cute or passionate. The comedy rests on a rather unbelievable foundation with an artificially pumped-up Vivek showing up as the head of a the PE department in a college in Kolkata. The track also raises a sense of deja vu with Vivek pining for Sameera and cracking jokes about exercise and physique(he did the same two things in Dhool). But it does contain a few laughs.

In most masala movies, the hero-villain encounters provide periodic bursts of energy that drive the movie forward and culminate in a climactic clash. Since Shinde, the main villain, is in jail for the entire first half, Vedi misses out on these sequences. Before the climax, the only clash between Vishal and Shinde is the one long sequence where the former makes the latter pay for all his crimes. Though this reminds us of a similar sequence in Vettaikkaaran, it is interesting until it inexplicably injects comedy by introducing Sriman and Urvasi.

Thuough Shinde is in jail, Vishal does get a bunch of his henchmen to go up against. In keeping with the trend these days(Rowthiram was another recent example), the fights are completely one-sided and violent as Vishal swats them down and throws them around as is they are toys. Still they are nicely choreographed and picturized in some good locations. The climactic fight though feels long-drawn since there's the nagging question of why Shinde didn't just bring a gun to end things quickly.

Vedi answers questions and presents some twists via a few flashbacks. Like the other aspects of the movie, these too give us a sense of deja vu as we see orphans on the street(with the scene of a tea-stall owner throwing tea on a boy's face), brother-sister affection and a good cop who pays for his honesty. Bookended by such familiar scenes and scenarios, the film's surprises are predictable and so the flashbacks just serve to fill in some blanks.

Vishal as always looks convincing beating up the bad guys. Like Vijay in Pokkiri, he gives a less flashy, understated performance and considering his ill-advised attempts at comedy in Thoranai, this does sit better on him. Sameera looks pretty and is able to romance Vishal rather cutely while Poonam Kaur appears with a sad look for most of the movie. Enna Aachu... is the best number in the soundtrack and is picturized in some nice locations while Ippadi Mazhai Adithaal... also features some picturesque locations. Ichu Ichu... is a pretty catchy number too while the item number Bombay Ponnu... reminds us of Dabaang's famous Munni... number in picturization.