Gritty gangster movie is compelling fare
Chennai. KOLLYWOOD movie fans have recently been spoilt for choice at the large number of superb and critically acclaimed movies that have been released. I have been rating the recently released movies quite highly and this includes Dhanush’s hard-hitting and realistic gangster movie Vada Chennai which is directed by four times National Film Award winner Vetrimaaran.
It is without any doubt that he is going to bag another one too for Vada Chennai.
North Madras is portrayed vividly in Vada Chennai with its many lanes and gullies, its people, dialects and politics. The movie spans from the late eighties through to the millennium on a wide sweeping canvas with a smorgasbord of flavours to titillate your filmy taste buds. The film starts in 1987 when an unnamed victim is murdered and the perpetrators are not apprehended.
Fast forward to the new millennium and we find Anbu (Dhanush) in prison. There is no grand entry for Dhanush as in his previous movies.
He plays Anbu who lives in a slum which is inhabited by many gangs who survive by dabbling in drugs, alcohol and violence.
Anbu is a competitive carom board player and yearns to be a national champion. He meets Padma (Aishwarya Rajesh) and falls in love instantly.
The movie takes on many layers. Kudos to director Vetrimaaran, who shows his ingenuity in unravelling the layers to lay bare the heart of this highly engaging movie.
A large portion of Vada Chennai’s storyline is set in a prison which has its gangs. There’s Senthil (Kishore) who with his men rule over Block 7 while Guna (Samuthirakani) and his men
Vada control Block 11. Vetrimaaran does not flinch in exposing the viewer to the sordid life inside a maximum security prison like hiding contraband hidden on inmates’ bodies, a close-up shot of a stained toilet where a hidden cellphone wrapped in plastic is fished out.
Anbu enters this environment as a docile youngster and you wonder if he will ever survive in there. Survive he does, through sheer determination and cunningness.
Cinematographer Velraj works his magic with the camera and takes the viewer right into each and every frame. Vada Chennai moves effortlessly through the eighties, nineties and early millennium. There are many characters and their factions that the viewer has to contend with but the master director breaks it into manageable morsels for the mind to comprehend.
Stunt choreographer Dhilip Subrayen deserves special praise for the highly entertaining bone crunching and tissue tearing action sequences. Dhanush does pack a mean punch. Ameer, Daniel Balaji, Samuthirakani and Kishore play their roles convincingly. Dhanush appears in the role of a teenager and grown young man and I can say without a shadow of doubt that there is possibly nobody in the Indian film industry who can portray such roles with utter realism.
The impressive set design and costumes are authentic.
Santosh Narayanan’s music adds to the brooding atmosphere of the movie.
Vada Chennai is a bold movie which speaks of current issues of land politics and human rights which South Africans can easily identify with. The movie ends with uncertainty in the mind of the viewer which means that Vada Chennai will return to the big screen in more parts than one.
If you are a Dhanush fan who enjoys gritty stories and bone-crunching action then you must watch Vada Chennai, which is now showing at Cine Centre Sun Coast daily.
Lachimiah is an ex-presenter on Radio Phoenix and two other community radio stations. He is a seasoned MC and motivational speaker and has a deep interest in Kollywood movies and music.