Spoilers ahead…
The ancient Greeks probably had it right. According to them, gods were power-hungry pleasure-seekers who got their kicks by toying with human lives. It’s a fancy way of saying shit happens – but how else to explain away the mind-boggling randomness of, say, the recent floods in Chennai? Or the plight of the four Tamilian migrant workers tossed into a Guntur prison in Vetri Maaran’s powerful new film, Visaranai? The gods of this story, partly adapted from M Chandrakumar’s novel Lock Up, are the gods of our time – the powerful people who make up the nebulous, all-pervasive, malignant entity we’ve come to call the System. And they keep hurling lightning bolts at Pandi (‘Attakathi’ Dinesh), Murugan (‘Aadukalam’ Murugadoss), Afsal (Silambarasan) and Kumar (Pradeesh), who are arrested when a local big shot’s house is burgled. The cops don’t care who committed the crime. They just want a confession. Any confession. And who better to extract it from than these four… specks in the cosmic scheme of things? They’re voiceless, dispossessed. They’re sacrificial lambs, and the first act of Visaranai depicts their ritualised slaughter.
It’s ostensibly an interrogation, but we don’t hear too many words. Instead, we hear the thwack of a lathi when it lands on bare flesh, the gasps and coughs when a man is waterboarded, the crrrack of a tooth coming off, and most sickeningly, the fingernails-on-chalkboard rasp from a long stem being shaved and readied for a sustained thrashing. Suddenly, it’s a game. If Pandi buckles and falls, then his friends will receive more punishment. The camera moves in close to capture how flesh vibrates when that long stem falls with sadistic force. The sound design is chilling. You feel the welts on your back.
The violence in Visaranai is… horrifying is too mild a word. But it’s not torture porn. It’s necessary, dictated by the film’s structure. We need to know how bad it can get because there’s a second interrogation, subsequently, and when Pandi (who’s now free) attempts to help the new sacrificial lamb, we remember what can happen if he gets caught. This is the filmmaker as god – Vetri Maaran toys with us. It’s like a horror movie. I could barely watch.
The second interrogation occurs in the second act of the film, which is an echo of the scenes with Pandi and his friends. Another instance of framing. More stripping and beatings to extract a “confession.” Another suspension by rope. Another good soul trying to help with a cell phone. Another cop who appears to be a good man but isn’t. Another time we are thrust in the middle of action, without the facts, which emerge gradually – the who, the what, the why. But there’s a crucial difference. This victim (Kay Kay, played by Kishore) is white-collared. (Quite literally. He wears borderline-white shirts.) He is an auditor, he deals with Swiss bank accounts. He speaks English with a cop who questions him in an air-conditioned room. He hobnobs with political bigwigs, which has enabled him do the occasional good deed, like helping a cop’s daughter get a medical seat. Kay Kay may be corrupt in many ways, but without his influence, the cop’s daughter would be staring at a very different future. And yet…
Part of Visaranai’s agenda is to show that the System is truly egalitarian. The gods can toy with anyone. But the film isn’t a wail, it isn’t melodramatic (except during snatches of G V Prakash Kumar’s rather redundant score; the screams, the silences are their own music). Vetri Maaran doesn’t catch us by the collar and demand empathy. His is a cool approach, almost like a procedural – first the beatings, then the re-enactment of the “crime” in a house whose shelves have (auteur-geek alert!) DVDs of City of God and Cinema Paradiso, then the happenings in court, a pause, and then it begins all over again.
Visaranai is an adult movie – not just in the sense of its content being thoroughly unsuitable for children but also in its refusal to treat the audience like children. A cop asks a question, gets an answer, and remains silent, turning that answer over in his mind. We can almost hear him think. There’s jargon, and there’s no spoon to feed us. They refer to “A1” and “NBW” – it’s left to us to figure out that they’re talking about the prime accused and non-bailable warrants. The language, too, is refreshingly grown-up – though not in the censored version you’re seeing in theatres now. The first time I saw Visaranai was at the Mumbai film festival last year, and it was exhilarating to see people salt their speech with swear words – fuck, dumb cunt. The beeping out is grim affirmation that the Censor Board is another avatar of the System. They hurl lightning bolts at art.
We get glints of characterisation. We know Pandi and his friends stay in Gandhi Park – that name is surely one of the more ironic touches amidst all this blood. They haven’t bothered to learn Telugu (which some Telugus despise them for; finally, the court case has to be conducted with the help of an English mediator, a blackly funny reminder of the many Indias that might have remained islands were it not for the British). There are glimpses of a hero-archetype in Pandi. He stands up for his friends. Despite what he’s endured, he goes out on a limb to help someone like him. He’s a hard worker. He wants to make something of his life. He even gets a sort-of heroine (Anandhi) – but there’s no love angle. She’s a domestic help who’s being sexually abused – another victim of the System. (She works for a… cop!) In the film’s most startling touch, she vanishes without a trace. This movie tells us that happy endings happen only in the movies. Ultimately, it’s the suffering they endure that truly defines these characters.
Visaranai, thus, showcases a range of villains. Some of them, like the top Guntur cop Vishweshwar Rao (Ajay Ghosh), are obviously evil. Under his watch, the police station is treated like a temple, people are asked to remove their slippers before entering, prasadam is distributed – but the man is the devil himself. Other villains are subtler, like the cop named Ramachandran (the astonishingly subtle E Ramadas). He’s been in the System so long that he’s seen it all. He’s scarily practical, an amoral science teacher spewing toxic wisdom. (“If someone dies, then that death should be of use.”) Note the way he slips handcuffs on Pandi, like a father soothing a child dreading an injection. A similar parent-child equation is glimpsed between the cop Muthuvel (Samuthirakani) and Pandi. The film resounds with these ghastly echoes.
Muthuvel is the third kind of cop. We’ve seen the cop who relishes being bad, the equivalent of a lip-smacking masala-movie villain. We’ve seen the cop who doesn’t advertise his badness, who we don’t even realise is bad until he does bad things. And now we see a cop who wants to do the good thing, the right thing, but is forced by the System to become another bad guy. Samuthirakani is terrific – he shows us a man torn between salving his conscience and saving his ass. (The all-round good guys aren’t too many. We get Pandi’s employer, who offers money and asks him to flee. We also get the judge who dismisses, with contempt, a corrupt policeman’s offer to help with court proceedings. I smiled. I also wondered how long he’d last.)
Visaranai is a classy film. Despite the many layers, it doesn’t have a message – at least not overtly. You could say it seeks to open our eyes to the violation of human rights, given the statistics at the end stating that 30 per cent of cases in India are closed this way. You could say it brings up a discussion about caste, that Pandi and his friends belong to marginalised communities, which is why they are treated so – and that caste plays a part even in the police hierarchy. (The point is hammered home through dialogue. The overly expository tone of a few lines is the rare misstep in an otherwise impeccable film.) You could say it’s about how no one is safe anywhere, not in another state, not even in your own state – the System is everywhere.
But the only thing the film is about, really, is the terrifying arbitrariness of how the powerful prey on the powerless. Visaranai plays on our deepest cynicism, our deepest fears about the System. You could be coming home after a late show. You could be stopped by cops who ask your name, and when you say it’s Afsal, they’ll ask if you belong to the ISIS or Al Qaeda. It’s about how you think the worst is over, and then you realise there’s worse in store. Witness Pandi’s terror when asked to (symbolism alert!) “clean up” the police station for Ayudha Pooja celebrations the next day – and he thought he was done with the cops. Call it fate, destiny, gods toying with humans.
Visaranai is beautifully filmed, though this isn’t a film with much room for beauty. Save for a shot of light spilling through the slits in a door (and some distracting switches between colour and black-and-white), there’s very little of what’s usually hailed in these parts as “cinematography” – the frames appear to have been snatched from the back alleys of life. The verité illusion is aided by the utterly lifelike performances – even if the word “performance” seems wrong. No one seems to be acting. Dinesh, especially, does extraordinarily physical things – watch him at the end, whimpering like a cornered animal. At this point, he’s knee-deep in a morass – it’s another symbolic touch. Muthuvel is in the morass too. We’re all stuck in shit. The film’s early portions are set in places we identify with the System (the police station, the court), and by the end, the action opens out to a middle-class neighbourhood, the kind of place we live in. That’s the chilling takeaway. There’s no escaping the System. It’s all around us.
KEY:
- Visaranai = interrogation
An edited version of this piece can be found here. Copyright ©2016 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Prasanna Ramachandran
February 6, 2016
I’d love to watch this movie in a theater, but here in Houston, Texas, there’s little hope for a small budget movie to play on the big screen.
While I wait to watch it, I wonder: why wait until theatrical release to review this film, if you first watched it last year? Did you wait to publish so a larger audience can benefit from this review upon theatrical release?
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brangan
February 6, 2016
Prasanna Ramachandran: Oh, long story. The team went back and forth on this. Finally decided that it was best to publish the review during the actual release.
PS: It’s interesting how they cut movies for festival audiences vs mainstream ones. The version I watched today was not significantly different, but the tweaks and the audience energy made it quite a different movie.
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Yossarian
February 6, 2016
@BR: Haven’t seen this movie yet (and like Prasanna I have no hope of catching it on a big screen), but I am curious to know what you mean by audience energy in the context of this movie and if you meant that note as a positive or negative experience while watching the movie.
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Prasanna Ramachandran
February 6, 2016
brangan: thanks.
I can’t speak about the cuts, but audience energy is definitely why I will regret not watching this in a theater. It’s not quite the same at home. Walter Murch elaborated on this “energy” in his foreward to ‘Reel World’.
“..In a large theater… you might find an audience of six hundred with an average age of twenty-five years, which works out to fifteen thousand years of human experience sitting there in the dark waiting for the film to begin. Fifteen thousand years is twice the length of recorded human history. Fifteen thousand years of hopes, dreams, tragedy, success, pain, pleasure, and so on: all jumbled into the theater waiting for a thin beam of light, and a stream of vibrations from the paper cones of audio speakers, to reorganize the audience over the next two hours into a semicoherent entity.”
Beautifully put, resonated strongly with me.
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apala
February 6, 2016
Hi BR-ji, Terrific review for what seems to be a fantastic film…… Hope to catch it on a theater when available here.
I have seen Vetrimaran talking about the raw film that was shown in last years Mumbai Film Festival and also in Venice Film festival and the changes he has made (about 8 minutes total length) for the mainstream release. He just brushed away from talking about those “muting” on swear words from Censor board! (Isn’t it just a certifying board?!).
I am really thrilled with such efforts in Tamil film industry and very very happy for Vetrimaran for all the accolades it’s bringing him. Hope this wins at the B.O. too like Kaakka Muttai!
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Iswarya
February 6, 2016
Why doesn’t the mail feed version contain the full review? We would come back here to leave comments anyway! But putting up only one paragraph on display and making people click and wait till the blog page loads is just plain cruelty!! 😦
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Ram Murali
February 6, 2016
I look forward to watching this film because I have tremendous respect for Vetrimaaran.
It’s interesting how they cut movies for festival audiences vs mainstream ones.
–> Just curious since you have written quite a bit about editing (both film editing and otherwise like in your “Moodar Koodam” review). Were there any instances in K2K where you thought of an editing choice and said, “Wow!” I am asking since you were a co-writer and was wondering if there was something that happened at the cutting table that helped shape the flow of your material in a certain way that took the writer by (pleasant) surprise.
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Aravind
February 6, 2016
Don’t want to watch the movie now. . . reading this made me dreadful
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Anu Warrier
February 6, 2016
Wow. That was an intense read. I can only imagine the effect on screen. Only, like Prasanna, I wonder whether this will get a mainstream release here.
But you once wrote, about another film, that it’s ‘too much reality for a Friday night’. And I wonder if I, secure in a rather-cloistered existence, am ready for that dash of cold water, whether I’ll eventually watch the film – violence on screen, the ‘real’ kind, makes me cringe.
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Varsha
February 6, 2016
I was going back and forth between wanting to watch it and afraid to, but your review made it easier to decide. In other news, would you be reviewing Aranmanai? I’m sure it would be hilarious considering the kind of movie it is!
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Jagajaga
February 6, 2016
@Brangan:
Tongue-in-cheek (Don’t ask me whose tongue in whose cheek though!): Indeed you seemed to have learned your lesson after omitting the “caste angle” in Madras! So did those lines dedicated to caste, find a natural entry or did you deliberately include them to ensure that your don’t receive a similar type of criticism to your critique of “Madras”?
Will see the movie later tonight, but kind of-sort of get a feeling that with these Tamil film makers, whenever any issue related to “class” has to be depicted, invariably it should allude to “caste” too. Those at the top of the caste hierarchy have to be horribly bad (unless they happen to be women willing to copulate with those at the bottom), and those at the bottom have to be angels who have escaped the wrath of the box opened by Pandora! Would love to see an alternate version too!
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kk
February 6, 2016
Like prasanna iam also not able to watch this movie because the movie did not get a wider release here in usa.Vetrimaran talked about releasing an uncut netflix version.Guess i have to wait for that.It breaks my heart that rajini murugan got more theaters than visaranai in USA.
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Meghnath
February 6, 2016
Vetrimaran is in a different league isn’t he ? he has only made 3 films so far. But the standard is so different. @BR: how do you see Vetrimaran as a film maker?
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Swatkat
February 6, 2016
I really want to watch this movie. But I lack the courage to do so 😦
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Srivatsan
February 6, 2016
I loved the way Vetri Maran showed the dichotomised investigation of Pandiyan and K.K[Kishore].
If the novel ‘Lock Up’ was based on a true story, the possible time-frame could be during the regime of Chandra Babu Naidu? Couldn’t resist noticing his picture, just a hunch.
While Dinesh’s acting was effortless in Cuckoo, one actor who was intriguing to me with an effortless performance as a sub-inspector was actor E.Ramadoss of Yudham Sei fame, just effortless.
Although, I felt that the hair cutting scene in the first half was a bit odd.
Vetri Maran’s role in the film was apparent or should I say his voice? He gave a voice-over for Samuthirakani’s boss if I’m not wrong. A bit of director’s touch?
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satishkvasan
February 6, 2016
I too want to watch the movie, just a bit scared. Not wrong to say that, I require some “Sahaasam” to watch Visaarnai , but definitely no question of any Visaarnai if I want to watch Sahaasam! Hope to catch Visaarnai tonight!
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
February 6, 2016
At last! Is the film meant to be a tribute to his mentor’s Un Kannil Neer Vazhindhaal? 🙂
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venky
February 6, 2016
Un kannil neer vazhindhal is dogshit.. visaranai is fucking great
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Arsenal Man
February 6, 2016
I watched this at cinepolis bangalore night show, It was spine chilling, intense, film making at its very highest level, – The initial few sequences were sufficient to warrant our mind that we are in for some real, gritty tale about the lives of few innocent immigrants.
Even an incredible work of art aka Visaarnai can sometime be ordinary when you dont watch it with the right audiences. A few iconic section of mrns were promoting “Theri” teaser during half time using their smart A** phones and a few thought they were watching Attakathi part 2.
A movie like Visaarnai doesnt need great music instead an ambience sound capture – GV screwed up a few portions (the biriyani portions) – but made up for it in the last hour! – Watch it with dolby atmos
The Madurai triumvirate (Bala , Ameer and Sasikumar) now has a challenging counterpart in north madras (Vetrimaran, thiagarajan kumararaja and Ranjith)
what a brilliant film!
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Sam spurjen
February 6, 2016
Superb review sir. Way u describe the each characters like treat to read. And the venkateshwar rao as ajay ghosh was the best character for me in the whole picture. finally climax will speak for long time
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Karthik
February 6, 2016
Cop bashing. As per the director he got the science right and the commerce superb. And it doesn’t go well when everyone praises something which can be not more than good. The beatings may be horrific for some but that may be for someone who may not got caned in school. I could never empathize with these 4 people because getting beaten by someone who you don’t know is better than getting thrashed everyday in school and at times at your home. Its just another blown out of the ordinary. But somehow the makers sure making money and that’s good for the trade. I wonder how the Europeans would have felt as its their policing and judicial system which put our people into so much.
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Iswarya
February 6, 2016
BR: Just curious – Do you have a general tolerance for the ‘splice comma’ or do you do it for effect? (This is, of course, about the auditor line.)
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sabharinath
February 6, 2016
What a film!!!!! Probably the only film after subramaniapuram which made me shiver and question my beliefs…. Thank God driving is a sub-concious thing…. Or else, I would have met with an accident on my way back home…. I don’t know how am i gonna react the next time i see a cop on the road…. or my cop relative…. Guess its only upto Theri vijaykumar IPS to cure me of my policephobia…. O sorry i forgot Sethupathi…. Awaiting its release already…..
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Reuben
February 6, 2016
Could feel the knot in my stomach as I was watching the movie. The movie and the characters refuses to leave my head. After a long time feeling such an impact after watching a movie.
Feeling happy and proud that guys like Vetrimaran are working in the Tamil Industry
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Prakash Balasubramanian
February 6, 2016
The movie travels between three real life incidents and the only connection between all the three is Pandi, who THINKS at those brutal situations!, It’s beautiful dialogue when he says he’ll not have food and at climax he is ready to sacrifice himself for a cause. I heard somewhere a good movie gives hope, this movie does!!!!!
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Manikandan
February 6, 2016
Visaaranai sleek reality minimal movie good to watch. Having chosen not to play morality games movie risks its own Judgement on Police and System which a composite movie would have handled with more artistic room.
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ida
February 6, 2016
The last tamil film that affected me the same way was Mahanadhi.
Visaranai somehow felt heavier probably because of the realism, pace and GV Prakash’s score (Illayaraja’s music in that film is so good that it allows the mind to float for just a bit, while GVP makes sure there is nothing of that sort :p)
The scene when Muthuvelu slaps KK and comes out of the room for a smoke while the other cops “interrogate” KK is similar to the scene in Aadukalam where Pettaikaran is manhandled by Naren in the police station when he comes by asking permission for the tournament.
I agree with you on E ramdas’s performance, but I dont think he’s the one who slips the handcuffs onto Dinesh (He is still trying to fix his gun after taking the shot). I maybe wrong and its still a great scene.
The Lady cop’s smile at the end of the court scene was so good. The women in the Andhra station walk in and out without batting an eyelid and her reaction then and in the scene where she helps out with a phone is wonderfully subtle, showing their inabilities in spite of a conscience .
Samuthirakani had a solid role and he did justice to it.
Great review BR. I was a tad disappointed that Aadukalam didnt get much of a review from you back when it came out.
“Censor Board is another avatar of the System. They hurl lightning bolts at art”.
Gold.
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vijay
February 6, 2016
I remember commenting here or somewhere else a few yrs back that Vetrimaaran and not Bala/Selvaraghavan would be the real student out of the school of film-making that Balamahendra envisioned. Visaaranai might not do well as our audiences would rather flock to see Rajinimurugan, but I hope he makes movies more frequently and not at Terrence Mallilk’s frequency. He has to just get rid of GVP and find somebody better.
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Hames Guerra
February 7, 2016
@vijay Luckily for us, Vetrimaran has roped in Santhosh Narayanan for his next film with Dhanush
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Jagajaga
February 7, 2016
@Brangan,
Just came back after watching this movie! Some very salient features, as I saw:
By the way, alert, alert, spoiler alert if you read!
The name “Afzal” is a glaring reference to Afzal Guru – perhaps V. Maaran makes it clear which side of the Afzal Guru -hanging-debate he is on.
The subtle use of gods being toys in the system is highlighted repeatedly. The picture of Srinivasa in the AP police stations, the more secular TN police station with a picture of HIndu, Muslim and Christian gods, the final encounter taking place in Srinivasa Nagar, and the car which transports us to the final encounter beaming with “Murugan Tunai” – all echo the futility of gods as the director sees!
Samudrakani being told “quota la vandudutu system ah patti teriyaadavanaa irukaan” was a brilliant brilliant brilliant line. No explicit preaching, but incredible subtlety. The best part about the line is the multitude of interpretations it gives rise to.
The court scene when Pandi and co remove their shirts drew instant applause from the audience. A very sweet moment of optimism, even if only fleeting, does have its presence felt, in this otherwise macabre tragedy.
Pandi and co cleaning the police station is a well crafted innuendo.
The long shot of Samudrakani and Dinesh in the climax scene sums it all beautifully – . the system will make an arse out of you. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll be the elephant’s arse (the top cop), with a little less luck maybe a human arse (Muthuvel) given the job of cleaning up the load coming out of the lucky holes, and with no luck, you’re just going to end up as a rat’s arse providing the opening for all the experiments done on you.
Actually, per me, the film could have taken more time to better elucidate the KK mess. I felt it was made to look like done in a hurry – could have definitely had a few more audiences swooning over the movie.
I was exceedingly disappointed with the climax of Aadukalam. That one made me realize that even a feast has to end only in a toilet. But this one here is an outstanding tragedy, crafted very poignantly.
Whoever is that heroine , she is exactly what they call in LKG lingo as “oppuku chappani”, She was unnecessary to this film, and no she does not help in illustrating that pandi is “that naive”.
Lastly, Brangan mentioning caste here, does not seem to me to be a natural entry here – would bet my money that he added it, so that the system doesn’t toy with his blog too!! .
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praneshp
February 7, 2016
brangan/ida: E Ramdas was great, but he didn’t slip on the handcuffs. That was the other policeman who cleans up crimes. He had a great line too: “nee ellam eppo thozhil kathukaporiyo”. It was like watching a realistic version of the cleaner from the Bonnie situation.
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newbie
February 7, 2016
Kudos to Vetrimaaran and team for making such an unapologetic, realistic and gritty (albeit disturbing) movie on the multi-headed monster of an issue that is human rights (or the lack of it). I don’t know if the movie will get theatrical release in the UK where I live, but I do look forward to watching it (online or otherwise) even if its with a bit of apprehension. I, like some of the other commenters here, prefer to avoid watching movies or at least movie scenes depicting realistic violence but I am moved by this film for some reason and find myself willing to make an exception (watching Vetrimaaran’s interview below only has increased the desire).
And I don’t know whether that’s because for now I am seeing it as more than a movie. It genuinely appears to be an honest voice – speaking for the plight of man against ‘The Man’ or ‘The System’. And more importantly its a ‘visual’ voice and we all know the power of imagery in revolution. For e.g., photos impacting children in war / refugee scenarios have helped humanise such crises and have triggered drastic changes in response to such crises. Changes not just at government level, but importantly at individual level too. And I think this movie could have the potential to be one such impactful voice too and take us that one step closer towards a better world.
Spoilers ahead;
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Hari E
February 7, 2016
BR – Great review as usual. The system in this movie is so much real, It reminded me the Netflix documentary ‘Making of Murderer’ – about the so called ‘System’ in US – Which is also more or less scary but built under the pretense of Check and Balances.
As you said there was no performance here, just as if these events were happening in front of our eyes. There were none of ‘I am the director, can you see me’ kind of labored and staged scenes.
Really liked that even a smallest details were take care with no fuss – like the red window screen covering the A/C in the background tossing up and down. Downer for me were – the Why and How part of the second event was little hurried and jumbled ( IMO) – and the predictable gun jam at convenient time in the end.
Aadukulam was a good movie, but with this one – Vetrimaran has gone few notches higher.
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brangan
February 7, 2016
Yossarian / Prasanna Ramachandran: What a coincidence. I was going to write about this and quote that exact bit from Murch. 🙂 The column hopefully will elaborate more.
Ram Murali: Hmmm.. can’t recall right now. It was so long ago…
Anu Warrier: About, “it’s ‘too much reality for a Friday night’.” — fair enough.
While I think people should watch and encourage films like this one and Masaan, I also understand when they say they cann’t make the trip to the theatre for something so depressing. I do that with books — because I have to watch (and like watching) all kinds of movies, I am a little selective about books. I just won’t read some types of books. Though I guess this is more of a time-availability thing.
All films aren’t for everyone, but I hope these films interest enough numbers of moviegoers to make them at least break even.
Jagajaga: There was no lesson to be learned after “omitting the caste angle in Madras!” I have missed so many cues in so many other films. I have also noticed many things in many films that others have missed out on. It’s all part of the game. This happens with critics all over the world. It’s not a critic thing. It’s a human thing. (I spoke about this at length in a subsequent piece I wrote after the Madras review, where I discussed “why” this happens).
I have seen the film a few times, and I still feel that — unlike films like Fandry or Chauranga or even Thilagar and Thevar Magan — the “caste angle” doesn’t colour Madras as much as it colours these other films. I’m not denying that I missed those cues. I’m just saying that those cues don’t radically alter the narrative to make this an especially “Dalit” movie. In the sense that Madras is a rather archetypal narrative that can be seen (and more importantly “read”) as the story of any oppressed lower-class people, not specifically Dalits. For ME, the film is more a success of filmmaking than issue-based storytelling.
And why should this experience dictate the caste mention in this movie? I have mentioned Dalit-caste issues in films like Aarakshan (made long before Madras, see review here). The line here really distracted me. The bunch of cops are sitting around. Suddenly, out of nowhere, we get this line: “Avarum namma caste dhaan.” I found that line very artificially inserted, and it stood out for me — but it also told me that the director wanted to raise this point. And hence the mention in the review, in the para that talks about the many things this film is about.
Meghnath: how do you see Vetrimaran as a film maker?
I see him as a very good filmmaker. Craft-wise, too, I see him doing more interesting things in each films.
Arsenal Man: A movie like Visaarnai doesnt need great music instead an ambience sound capture
I know. Isn’t it time we got rid of violins and cellos and “musical” scores in favour of “sound”? Rahman did this so brilliantly in bits of Highway. Just the occasional burst of a sound or tone to punctuate the proceedings, as opposed to underlining already horrific happenings with more “look how sad this all is” music. This approach worked in the Ilayaraja era because the films were inherently more melodramatic (like the Mahanadhi example ida gave), and could accommodate all this “music” — the scores became a part of their very being. But with these stark, minimalistic films today, this style of scoring sounds really weird and overblown.
Iswarya: I think I like it 🙂 Are you going to cane me now? 🙂
ida: Yeah, I think I was writing about the scene where he locks the door, not the handcuff scene. Sorry.
Hari E: Yes, the second interrogation details were tossed out rather hurriedly — but this doesn’t violate the nature of the film. This is not the kind of film that slows down so we can catch up. This is the kind of film that asks us to walk faster if we want to catch up. So even if we miss a few details, the overall takeaway is that “these are murky high-level dealings”. That’s all we really need to know.
For me the (few) downers were more the lines like when Kishore talks about the System and says “We are all pawns.” Wow. Did that really need to be spelt out? And so gracelessly?
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Iswarya
February 7, 2016
BR: Er.. What do I say now? Well, there are lesser mortals, and then there’s you! 😉
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pp2chillax
February 7, 2016
BR,
I am amazed how every-time you can find so many insights in a single viewing.
Coming back to the film, I somehow did not like the film. I mean its all depressing and disturbing and all that but it did not have an emotional impact on me. It was more of my response to the horror. What I felt missing is actually the narrative driven by character progression. In this film I cannot travel in anyone’s point of view completely. This narrative form is something like a novel presentation where the novelist do not use the first person and take liberty to describe in 3rd person. This kind of approach to film narrative limits the impact. In novel the narrator can explore the characters feelings as inner monologues but this is limited in films.
I know the film narrative is young (100 year old) and still we can tell a story in different forms. What I am trying to say is this.. The prime character study in this film is Samuthrakani (the good cop in a bad system) and narrative should have moved in his point of view. Consider Onaayum Aatukuttiyum, the narrative moves in the point of view of Wolf (Myshkin) compared to other characters. Or to put the other way is to make the whole narrative driven by the fourth character who survived. I can imagine (guessing) that the real novel written by Chandrashekar should be in first person narrative. In film this would be something like how the friend character in Annayum Resoolum takes the place of the narrator though he is explored less. I mean we see Anna and Resool through him and additionally through our own eyes of the moving images.
I don’t know if I explained it properly. The problem here for me is I did not know with whom I have to invest my emotions and travel. You don’t travel with them privately. Say, there is not a single scene of what Samuthrakani feels outside the police station. We are not invited to see how he interacts with his family and all those additional ties to explore him better. Nor we see Dhinesh and his guys having private moments. (Private moments – what the character is seen only by the viewer and not by other characters in the movie). Even the abstract film maker like Kubrick showed long private moments scenes of Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) walking in the New York streets in Eyes Wide Shut. There is no character study(arc) here. It is a documentation of events. If Vetrimaran did this intentional then he did something remarkable and took the hard way of story telling.
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Jagajaga
February 7, 2016
@Brangan:
Your points are very fair! But somehow I had(ve) a feeling after seeing visaranai that there was no casteist angle at all here. That is why, I felt(el) that by introducing that aspect in this review, you’re being politically correct.
This movie is all about the repression and suppression of the oppressed (pardon the digression, I have managed to accomplish the ridiculously tough job of making sense of a TR dialogue!) and yet VetriMaaran has made an amazing job to not bring in caste here. Linguistic rivalry yes – he could have avoided that dialogue by that bald headed policeman – “Tamils are like this blah blah” but again there is no casteism at all here. In fact even that quota statement was left so open ended and was so full of chutzpah that, any one can make anything out of it.
These sir, are the reasons why I harp on why I felt you had to only forcefully introduce caste in this review – when that was not even a talking point (per me) in this movie!
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brangan
February 7, 2016
Jagajaga: So what do you make of the “Avarum namma caste dhaan” line? Doesn’t it imply that people from the same caste will help each other (and by extension, against other castes)?
It’s certainly one of the many things in the film. Is the film ABOUT caste? No. But it’s in there, all right. Otherwise that line of dialogue would not have been there.
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Jagajaga
February 7, 2016
@Brangan – I am sorry, I failed to mention this one. “Caste” is THE system in India. The more we move away from it, the more it keeps showing up. Thus, I felt that it was just an honest exposition of yet again, the system itself. However, it doesn’t do any caste bashing – which you take as an extension. So, I feel that dialogue was more a matter-of-fact, than anything else – and doesn’t make it a “discussion of caste”!
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Jagajaga
February 7, 2016
Pardon the spamming, but here is yet another observation. This time I am harping on Vetrimaaran’s political correctness. The auditor “hanging himself” I reckon is a deft touch on the 2G spectrum scandal too. And how did Vetrimaaran do this in a politically correct way? By making the auditor a proxy for the opposition – not the ruling party. Just correlate it with the actual events of the 2G spectrum, and see if it makes sense!
Could this be an over-interpretation? Oh yes a 100%. This is me attempting to be politically correct!
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brangan
February 7, 2016
Jagajaga: I, on the other hand, think there is an implicit bit of caste bashing, which is why the mention is there in the review. The very fact that a cop says “someone will help us in these shady things (simply) because he belongs to our caste” suggests, to me, a certain kind of ganging up (and ganging against).
I don’t know why you seem to think this is the crux of the review. It’s one of many small things that make up the movie for me. Anyway, you can choose to read my review however you want. This is how I read that scene in the film.
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Jagajaga
February 7, 2016
@Brangan – “I don’t know why you seem to think this is the crux of the review”
Definitely not! It is just that I am on the other side of your other hand on this, and thus feel it need not even be mentioned here. But to each his/her own!
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pradeepmphector
February 7, 2016
bad writing. It seems the reviewer is more fond of dictionary.
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Jagajaga
February 7, 2016
@pradeepmphector: What crap! Try writing a few coherent sentences together, first. Also if possible, start the first word of a sentence with a capital letter.
Very democratic of Brangan to have such spam posted.
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Anand
February 7, 2016
“The bunch of cops are sitting around. Suddenly, out of nowhere, we get this line: “Avarum namma caste dhaan.” I found that line very artificially inserted, and it stood out for me — but it also told me that the director wanted to raise this point.”
But there is also a dialogue which says later when Muthuvel kind of revolts – the AC tells him to follow the lead or face the consequence – and adds,” Quota-la vandhuttu uyira vaangaraanga”.
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Sabari
February 8, 2016
Where did the film ever say or even minutely represents Pandi and his friend’s caste. Pandi and his friends names are all common Tamil names which belong to all communities. The only name that explicitly states the character’s community background is Afzal. Migrant Tamil labourers in Andhra come from all Tamil castes and religious backgrounds. Mr. Bharadwaj Rangan you have been a repeated offender in terms of trying to paint or misrepresent a film with caste shade or so called “marginalised community” shade. Even the person who wrote this novel “Lockup” which the movie is based comes from a community that many you fake SJWs would call as a powerful politically dominant community in TN. So please stop seeing such wonderful artwork with caste shades. Members of all castes, ” marginalised” or ” non- marginalised” have been victims of Police brutality in TN. The author of that novel is an example for that.
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
February 8, 2016
Can somebody please explain the ‘caste’ and ‘quota’ scenes?
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Jagajaga
February 8, 2016
@Brangan – Look at how strange the world is! In “Madras” you did not mention caste, and you were welcomed with brickbats. Here you mentioned “caste” and @Sabari is calling you a “repeat offender”!
This was precisely my point when I said “Caste” is THE system in India. The more we move away from it, the more it keeps showing up”!
And I entirely disagree with @sabari. Petulant comment, as I see.
But in a very strange way, his comment actually echos with the much deeper comment (deeper w.r.t Sabari’s comment) @Brangan made “someone will help us in these shady things (simply) because he belongs to our caste” suggests, to me, a certain kind of ganging up (and ganging against).”
It echoes because both these comments imply (to me at least) that people are offended by the mere mention of the phrase “caste”. What’s worse, people are also offended by not mentioning the phrase “caste”!
So there you go, “repeat offender”! haha.
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sharan
February 8, 2016
Mentioning of caste and quota is very common during convestions among government employees. I think in modern India caste is more visible in government institutions and central universties than in society in general.
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Ragenikanth
February 10, 2016
In previous vertrimaran’s movies there was something missing but visaranai was superb
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Anu Warrier
February 10, 2016
Read the most awful news – the film is being remade in Hindi. By Priyadarshan! 😦
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Sabari
February 11, 2016
Jagajaga: My friend!, you are obviously entitled to your opinion. But I truly believe the politics in TN is such that people belonging to non – Tamil backgrounds have been long using this “caste” card to profit by fueling hatred among different ethnic Tamil communities. Media has historically been very much complicit in this process. “Caste is something that leaves you intoxicated even hearing the name of it” said E.V.Ra. The more you speak of it, the more hatred it spreads. This is the reality in Tamilnadu.
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Sabari
February 11, 2016
@jagajaga I forget to mention how wonderful you are such a sweet little fan boy trying to defend his master sorry reviewer idol with all that fancy vocabulary. Well done little buddy.
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anandkrishnanb
February 11, 2016
Hello World! Long time follower.
@BR sir, your reviews are the IMDB/RT/MC equivalent for Tamil/Hindi movies for me, to decide on whether to watch a movie or not. Thanks a lot, and please keep them coming.
I am one of the few lucky ones in US who managed to catch the movie on the big screen. Can’t wait for the uncut Netflix version.
I have an observation here – do you think with just the three films Vetri Maran seems to have a few “Director Trademarks”
Taking the story to an altogether different angle right around the intermission stage, to the extent that they could be two different movies. Staging the pivotal scenes at night, in dark alleys/street corners. Holding off on the information about the real bad guy(s).
Could be more!
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Rav
February 11, 2016
Just now came back from watching the movie. IMHO a single line of review ‘unreviewable because its so good that it will haunt’ would have been truly emphatic. actually couldn’t figure how you managed ? 🙂
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Rm
February 12, 2016
“The long shot of Samudrakani and Dinesh in the climax scene sums it all beautifully”
This is not a feature film. This is something else..
There is another beautiful long shot scene where Muthuvel climbs up the stairs, meets KK in the interrogation room, slaps and yells at him and comes out of the room asking other policemen to continue the interrogation with him. Even as the other policemen ‘interrogate’ him, the screams of KK and the ‘thud’ as he falls down seem very well timed. It looked like the other policemen handle the good cop bad cop strategy as well, but Vetrimaran doesn’t allow the camera to venture into this. It just happens back there and we are only allowed to see Muthuvel diverting his attention temporarily to his other chores in the police station. And we finally see KK crawling shirtless out of the room. All this amidst the continuous cackles from the microphones of the walkie-talkies. What a scene !
Spoiler alert:
On the ‘political correctness’, despite all the ‘system screws you anyway’ overtones, Vetrimaran indeed seems to establish the balance of political correctness in the end. You cannot easily get away with a ‘police system in other states are devilish’ portrayal. Balance it out with a ‘policemen in our state are mean devils as well’ narrative. Look at the character of MuthuVel played by Samudrakani. In all of his brief stints in his film career so far, have you ever seen Samudrakani not playing a “selfassumingwisejudgingpreachyhellbentonspeaking therightthing character’? The guy just had a one minute scene in Pasanga 2 and what does he do? He goes on to liberally judge people who educate their children In English medium and establishing his own standards of ‘political correctness’ by educating his own children in a Tamil medium school.
When you cast Samudrakani, rest assured nothing can go wrong in the end, morally. When the cops hand over a gun to him, I remained with an absolute conviction that he will not pull the trigger. And for all we know he might have certainly saved Pandi’s ass had he not been shot dead in the first place. (Another beautiful scene nevertheless, you just see 3 guys pointing their guns and two shots fired in the end).
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brangan
February 12, 2016
Rm: For me, the point of Muthuvel’s character is that even if you are a good person, the System can make you do bad things. So it very much is in sync with the rest of the film.
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Ram Murali
February 12, 2016
In all of his brief stints in his film career so far, have you ever seen Samudrakani not playing a “selfassumingwisejudgingpreachyhellbentonspeaking therightthing character’?
–> Rm, yes, with a striking exception – “Paayum Puli.” I thought his character and the casting choice (of having him play that character) were both very impressive. But too sad that it got lost amidst some truly horrible scenes with Kajal Aggarwal who always seems to, in every movie of hers, play the same role and essentially say to the audience (to borrrow your style), Iamanalabasterautomatonwhocantactorlipsyncbutiwillactunbearablycute.
Having said that, I can’t wait to watch Visaranai this weekend.
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Nee
February 12, 2016
Don’t read your regional reviews, but read this one.
“But the only thing the film is about, really, is the terrifying arbitrariness of how the powerful prey on the powerless.”
I love this line. It always boils down to this. Under various garbs or labels.
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Prasad
February 12, 2016
“Visaranai is a classy film. Despite the many layers, it doesn’t have a message – at least not overtly.”
Absolutely agreed. It’s been a long time we’ve witnessed a movie like this. Hope am not jumping the gun, for two things, am remembering 2001 oscar winner “No man’s Land” after seeing this movie.
1) Even though the premise and Plot of “No man’s Land” is entirely different , the ending is so similar. There is no value for a human life and you’re survival chances are nil when you’re against the system. In “No Man’s Land” The UN high command tries to save face: they lie, saying that Cera has been saved and they leave the area, along with the reporters and everyone else. I know in “Visarani” the consequences are even brutal but still.
This movie struck the same chord even though the premise is entirely different.
2) Already this film has been screened in Venice Film festival and Can’t this movie be nominated for oscar for best foreign language film also? Doesn’t have songs and I will rate this movie so high rather than some of this year oscar best picture nominees this year.(Have seen all the 8 movies ) Hands down. This movie has a excellent chance for Best Foreign picture next year if it is nominated!
Am not comparing it with “No Mans Land” but just saying it had a similar effect for me.
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R
February 12, 2016
For those of you who can read Tamil, read this review…
http://www.vikatan.com/cinema/tamil-cinema/pokkisham/58778-anandha-vikatan-review-team-brakes-visaranai-mark.art
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Ram Kumar
February 12, 2016
Who ever said Visaranai is steeped in unpalatable violence has done a great disservice to the society, because it would have discouraged many normal people like you and me to see the movie. There is so much gentleness and compassion that you see through-out the film, it freaks you out. Each person you think is the villain is eventually not the villain and you will be surprised to find out who the villains really are at the end.
The Guntur inspector who gives thirupathi prasadam to the accused, the officer who ensures that they eat well, before starting another beating session, the constables, the grocery store owner, the advocate all of whom who patiently and with genuine concern and care convinces the accused to fall in line and do what the “system expects them to do”. Watch how the telegu judge who like a caring teacher, admonishes and punishes the wrong doings of the police inspector.
And then when the story shifts to Tamilnadu,– see how each one of the players – gently nudge and push and cajole each other to ensure that the flock stays together and the system works as it is intended to do. – In fact the only violence you see in the second half is like the violence you see in a chess game.
..See the love and compassion oozing out of the constable’s voice when he is guiding the toilet cleaners to get in to the car..
You may say that this compassion and love is of the variety that we show to goats and chickens before they are killed for the day’s meal, but it is compassion nevertheless.
For a Tamil industry that is used to One Hero Wins One Villain template, here is a story where there is no villain, no cruelty. Just action after action with a deep heart felt sorry while doing it. Here is a story that points the accusing finger right through the screen towards us – the audience sitting there as if we have no role to play in this – But when the last frame has gone blank, and a voice tell us the contours of the next days’ Newspaper headlines and TV images and talk shows – it finally dawns on us – that we the naïve, gullible public, are really the villains.
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Jagajaga
February 12, 2016
@Sabari – I am very glad that I used the exact phrase to describe your comment – petulant!
I’ll address both your points. It is precisely this EVR-Periyar fan club members who are offended by the mere use of the word caste! Did this reviewer even say that “people of so and so caste are horrible”? But wait, I’ll comeback to this point a little later – actually implicating the reviewer.
On the contrary, the EVR-Periyaar fanboys DO keep claiming – even today that the the Brahmins are the root-cause of all disasters known to man-kind, mice-kind, and also amoeba-kind. Also who exactly do you mean by “people belonging to non – Tamil backgrounds”. The only such guy I know is EVR Periyaar himself, who has a non-Tamil Telugu background. He belongs to the same set of guys, who tortured our innocent Tamil heroes in the film Visaranai. So going by your logic, can I say that EVR periyaar is the root cause of all of Tamilzhans’/Tamizhacchis’ problems???
Next, I have nothing to do with being a fan of Mr. Rangan. Both of us seem to have opinions about movies. He seems to make a living out of it, I seem to waste my time with it! More seriously, if you notice, and can comprehend, Mr. Rangan and I have been having a discussion about precisely he mentioning “caste” in this review. My view was that this movie did not even have an iota of casteism in it, and so I was actually surprised by Mr. Rangan mentioning that phrase. (and here we concur buddy!). Then I thought, it was for political correctness – after all the crap he received (as I see it – he may have not even felt that he received crap!) for omitting the phrase from his review of “Madras”.
Then, Mr. Rangan replied that no no by mentioning caste, he clearly meant, casteism had a trivial role in this movie (note clearly what I am saying – I am not saying that, he said that this movie is entirely casteist, I say here that, he said that caste is playing a trivial role here). I still find this argument not entirely intellectually honest – of course I can be wrong here.
So, there you go Mr. Sabari, Mr. Rangan was perhaps piqued (or may be offended), by that one scene where caste make it appearance – he (Mr. Rangan) clearly has said that that was casteist, by his standards, whereas, I keep saying – “Dude, caste is the system in this nation. Merely mentioning it is not offending anyone.” Now, you, Mr. Sabari are offended (may be piqued) with Mr. Rangan that the one or two sentences where the phrase “caste” appears is clearly “casteist”.
Thus, both of you seem to have the same view – this is what I mentioned in my previous comment! And I am opposed to both of your views. Now you tell me who is casteist here, you, me, or Mr. Rangan?? Or who is whose fan here??
Kindly understand in entirety what I’ve written properly, and please adhere to the same standards of scholarship so that a healthy discussion ensues.
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Rm
February 12, 2016
” the point of Muthuvel’s character is that even if you are a good person, the System can make you do bad things. So it very much is in sync with the rest of the film”
Oh, I am not saying Muthuvel’s character is out of sync here. It’s just that he is not shown bad all the way. When the other cops decide to finish off the ‘eavesdroppers’, he is the only person against it. And then when the cops force their decision on him, he clearly expresses his vulnerability “Apo neengale senjudunga sir” or something to that kind and prepares to leave before he is threatened with consequences. ‘The good person turning bad’ scenario could have been shown still with Muthuvel firing a bullet point blank onto Pandi in the closing scene and moving on (with heartfelt regrets ofcourse). Or the entire film could have been still Muthuvel’s narrative about how the System forced him to even resort to such an extreme measure, especially after earning the trust of these guys but with his ‘survival’ becoming necessary.That would have turned out more realistic IMO.
@Ram Murali. Thanks for the reference. I knew today ‘Mass’ was another film where he played the villain.
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brangan
February 13, 2016
Jagajaga: IMO, saying that “You could say it brings up a discussion about caste” is not at all the same thing as saying that the film is casteist. (ref. your point about “he (Mr. Rangan) clearly has said that that was casteist, by his standards”)
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Sabari
February 13, 2016
@jagajaga “Standards of scholarship” that is quite a humorous note to end with in a blog reply post. I certainly “concur” or rather agree with you my little buddy, that you seem to be wasting your time in this “scholarly” journey of yours. But I wish you all the best. Haha.
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Jagajaga
February 13, 2016
@Brangan, I felt that you were mild, in the review. But in the comments section, you clarified it clearly enough.
“I, on the other hand, think there is an implicit bit of caste bashing, which is why the mention is there in the review. The very fact that a cop says “someone will help us in these shady things (simply) because he belongs to our caste” suggests, to me, a certain kind of ganging up (and ganging against).”
“So what do you make of the “Avarum namma caste dhaan” line? Doesn’t it imply that people from the same caste will help each other (and by extension, against other castes)?
It’s certainly one of the many things in the film. Is the film ABOUT caste? No. But it’s in there, all right. Otherwise that line of dialogue would not have been there.”
I’ll also clarify what I meant in my line “he (Mr. Rangan) clearly has said that that was casteist, by his standards.”.
“that” in this sentence refers to that dialogue/scene. Not the entire movie. I insist yet again that, I (jagajaga) never said that you (brangan) said that the entire film is casteist. However, I (jagajaga) feel strongly that this film had absolutely nothing to do with caste (like my big buddy Sabari), and thus, found your point about even that one dialogue to be odd.
@Sabari – Of course you’re right!
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Karthik
February 13, 2016
If BRs review shows an angle then these comments bring several angles. The caste factor was very implicit and only after reading these comments I could decipher them. When Pandi says he’s from Paramakudi and the guy Afzal its a well known fact that for the past 20 years in Tamil Nadu police excesses have been on particular group. The police men are also named in a way they are from the oppressing group. So in a way the police are the remnants of caste hierarchy. When in some other state help comes to the quartet as Tamilians, Pandi is also happy seeing Tamil, Afzal says he’s Tamil and Linguistic affinity weathers as soon as they reach shore. The Tamilian cover is just an excuse to hide the inherent ill feeling that the police possess, seeing that Murugan candidly talking about the meal he had with the Tamil constable and the subsequent sequences was to make clear that there is no such natural affinity we have for you. I think this movie has very strong political undertone. They have made a movie on police excesses but this is actually something else which can be uncovered layer by layer. This movie is already out of most of cinemas in smaller towns as our people do not want such films with strong notions on social structures (But they have already made their money). I hate to see movies which are prejudiced and harping on the past. Things are changing with time and people would want to move forward but at times things like these keep on popping. In a way it’s a fashion nowadays for an artist to take a political stand. This makes movie watching a activity devoid of fun which I suppose is more injurious to health.
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Ravi K
February 14, 2016
What a fantastic film. Every minute was gripping.
The character of Shanthi wasn’t strictly necessary, but her presence does show that this is a world in which innocent people, besides the main characters, get exploited and abused. She expands the world of the film a bit beyond the film itself.
Not to harp on this whole caste thing, which is a rather small part of the film, but would the cops use the word “caste” instead of “jaathi?” Maybe a better line would have been “Avarum namma aalu thaan,” which is more ambiguous.
One shot in particular that stood out to me was the shot of the mosquito floating hear KK’s face.
BTW, it seems that Dhanush is not just interested in producing films in which he stars. Thankfully he also produces films like Visaaranai, Naanum Rowdy Thaan, and Kaaka Muttai, which are quality films that he’s not even in. Maybe he’ll turn out to be the Aamir Khan of Tamil cinema.
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SUNDAR
February 15, 2016
Nice review. Terrific movie. But GVP’s BGM killed the movie experience for me. After hearing the script he probably thought he is scoring for a misery-porn bala film. But this film is light years away from such movies where the intention is to just milk the audience’s emotions. Despite that and the extremely poor audio quality in the theatre i watched (i just couldn’t make out most of the dialogues) came out of the movie feeling ‘haunted’.
@BR sir: Since you have also seen film festival version curious as to whether the loud BGMs (especially in the early portions)existed in that version as well.
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navin
February 15, 2016
“At this point, he’s knee-deep in a morass – it’s another symbolic touch. Muthuvel is in the morass too. We’re all stuck in shit. The film’s early portions are set in places we identify with the System (the police station, the court), and by the end, the action opens out to a middle-class neighbourhood, the kind of place we live in..”
brilliant point. wow.
brangan, thank you for always pointing out things no one else does. movies become better viewing after your reviews.
please stop reviewing foreign films and review jil jung juk :p
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anttales
March 9, 2016
I rather found Attakathi Dinesh a poor choice for that role. In all his movies I feel as if someone took a cloth and wiped the expression off.
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Amit Joki
March 28, 2016
Yay! Dhanush and Vetrimaaran win the Best Regional Film in Tamil for Visaaranai.
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Honest Raj formerly 'V'enkatesh)
March 28, 2016
Vetrimaaran should’ve really won the ‘Best Director’ award. 😦
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thulasidasan17
June 24, 2016
Mr. Rangan, in the comments for your review of Aadukalam, you mentioned that you view Vetrimaran (at that time) a writer better than a director.
Considering the period of post-Visaranai, where do you think Vetrimaran stands now -considering the fact that Vetrimaran himself declaring that he never wrote any forms of screenplays for Visaranai?
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Aditi
September 22, 2016
@brangan – Just wondering what your thoughts are on Visaranai being India’s entry for the Oscars in the Foreign Language category. Haven’t watched the movie (not into gore and violence), but I was curious to know what you think.
PS: I usually think a lot before I hit “Post” anywhere, and maybe this is a lame question because it’s obvious you liked the film – but I’m putting it out here anyway, in case you have some thoughts that haven’t been explored already (are you pleasantly surprised, do you think there was a better contender, do you not care too much about the Oscar nominations, etc 😀 )
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Kid
September 22, 2016
I found Visaranai an outstanding film. I think this might be the finest Tamil film since Hey Ram (though that was a bilingual..restricting myself to “purely” Tamil films, Iruvar and The Terrorist might be the last such efforts). It’s easily the best Indian film I have seen this year (I am yet to see Chauthi Koot, Island City and Ozhivudivasathe Kali, but I doubt any of these works would match upto the sheer power of Vetrimaran’s film) and, in all probability, will end up being one of the strongest films in its genre from anywhere around the world in 2016. I certainly haven’t seen a better Asian film than Visaranai this year (though I certainly haven’t everything important yet).
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brangan
September 22, 2016
Aditi: I think this is a brilliant choice. Not only is it a very good film, it also speaks an international cinematic language that Oscar votes can understand. Thithi would have also been a great choice.
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Aditi
September 22, 2016
Was just reading up about Thithi. Sounds interesting. I know it’s too much to ask of you to write a review of every good film you watch, but do you think it would make sense to add a section/list of noteworthy films that you haven’t had a chance to review (with maybe a line or two describing your thoughts)? I think that would open up some offbeat/not-so-well-known movies to your readers.
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brangan
September 22, 2016
Aditi: Wrote about Thithi here:
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Aditi
September 22, 2016
Ah. Thank you.
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
September 27, 2016
http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report-why-visaaranai-is-a-terrible-choice-for-the-oscars-2258863
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
December 17, 2016
As always:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tamil/movies/news/visaranaifalls-out-of-the-oscar-race/articleshow/56014548.cms
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blurb
January 13, 2017
Curious about the metadata statistics on this post, especially post the Oscar nominations.
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