Spoilers ahead…
Uriyadi, set in the 1990s, begins with four youngsters in an engineering college in Trichy. At first, they appear to be fairly typical boys. They’re from smaller towns and they’re enjoying being free, smoking and drinking and celebrating birthdays by smushing cake on the face. Slowly, we see there’s a bit of a social conscience in them. When an old man is denied entry into the hotel they frequent, they stand up for him. When a girl is teased on a bus, one of them beats up the guy. What’s refreshing about first-time writer-director Vijay Kumar is that he doesn’t glamourise these guys, he doesn’t make them saints or heroes – not even vigilante heroes. They’re just boys who don’t believe in rulebooks, and who know how to fight back. Two of these fights are superbly choreographed. In our action sequences, you see only the choreography, but here you see the chaos, you see people scrambling, slipping, falling – not people executing perfect punches.
Things take a political turn when a caste-based outfit decides to erect a statue for its martyred leader. Vijay Kumar shows us – even if not in great detail – how these small outfits form a party whose mission is (apparently) to represent that particular caste, get votes from people belonging to that caste, get elected to power, and trade this power for favours from bigger parties. They’re not all noble either – one of them is in the fake-liquor racket.
The rest of the film is what happens when the boys keep running into (accidentally and on purpose) and antagonising party underlings – but Uriyadi isn’t just a political film. It’s an adult film as well, a film that doesn’t try to shield the viewer from drug use and brutal violence. The storytelling is adult too, using flashbacks and flash-forwards. In other words, there’s no spoon-feeding, no “commercial” compromise. Even the love angle is a small flashback – this movie is all male, with one transgender who returns to the story in a way you don’t expect. A furnace, too, is repurposed in a surprising way. If you’ve wondered about the effect of 1000-plus degrees on the human head, your wait is over.
There are some rough edges – both in the making, and in the performances by a bunch of newcomers – which I suspect is more an issue of the budget. And some of the plot points seem rushed through, if not borderline incomprehensible. But to compensate, there’s texture and a ton of detailing, When a man is beaten up, he isn’t just oozing fake blood. He finds it difficult to speak because his mouth is swollen. An incidental touch like this says a lot about the sensibilities of a director. Uriyadi isn’t just something you say good things about because it’s from a first-time filmmaker. Vijay Kumar doesn’t need a condescending pat on the back. He’s a solid filmmaker, and he’s made a gritty little film.
KEY:
- uriyadi = see here
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Arun
May 27, 2016
Went in purely because I loved the trailer and a fan of Masala coffee the band. Absolutely loved the film. Smashing writing and detailing and the way the silence and the small sounds of a dhaba is used in the first big fight scene for the buildup , it actually makes you anticipate with a sort of glee that only cinema can give. Also the two flash forward scenes were immaculate.
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Arun
May 27, 2016
BR – Do you think we are also witnessing the subtler shades of a political operative’s life in the bigger screen with this film and Pugazh?
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Sirish Aditya
May 27, 2016
The review feels cobbled up and though the film might’ve been made on a tight budget, it sounds jarringly condescending, especially from you, to be calling it a “little” film.
“The word “epic” in recent years has become synonymous with “big budget B picture.” What you realize watching “Lawrence of Arabia” is that the word “epic” refers not to the cost or the elaborate production, but to the size of the ideas and vision. Werner Herzog’s “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” didn’t cost as much as the catering in “Pearl Harbor,” but it is an epic, and “Pearl Harbor” is not.” – Ebert
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brangan
May 27, 2016
Arun: I’d say Pugazh was more the political operative’s life, no? Here, we only get glimpses as the story is about the four guys and their POV — in the sense that it’s more of a revenge drama with the political characters as the “villains.”
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sachita
May 28, 2016
” how these small outfits form a party whose mission is (apparently) to represent that particular caste, get votes from people belonging to that caste, get elected to power, and trade this power for favours from bigger parties. ” – every day story in Tamil nadu, isnt it?
I like it when movies capture the general mood of the society ofcourse in an interesting and engaging manner. Guru did it. Hazaaron khwaishein aisi captured a by gone era.
For a country that has gone through so many changes, we have very few movies of this nature.
Now, I need to somehow find a legal way to watch this mvoie.
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Priya
May 28, 2016
Sir, any plans to review the malayalam film Kammattipaadam? Please do 🙂
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SlimShady (@An_Bhaisteach)
May 29, 2016
Excellent film from Vijay Kumar, if only he had more money, it would’ve been a milestone film in tamil with more finesse on the technical side too. Still this is the best film after Aaranya kaandam.
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dpacsaml
May 30, 2016
Nalan Kumarasamy talking about you and referencing this review at around the 11 min mark. You’re welcome 😊
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brangan
May 30, 2016
dpacsaml: Thank you for the link. Thank you, also, for the comment. Commenters come and go, so it’s always good to be reminded that an older commenter is still a reader 🙂
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dpacsaml
May 30, 2016
Thank you BR! You made my day!
I’ve been a fan and a regular for about 10 years now.
What can I say? Life has changed a lot over this period. But then, you always have those little rituals that never change right? Your blog, for me, is one of those things that I have to do every weekend 🙂
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Vighnesh Hampapura
May 30, 2016
Oh, your blog is so addictive (what can I call you now? Sir? Rangan?). No one would want to leave!
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praneshp
May 31, 2016
@sachita: Waiting for you to find out ….
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Nari
June 3, 2016
I loved the movie. The hostel scenes and the atmosphere reminded me of my college days in interior Tamil nadu during early 2000s. I loved the way director brought in the influence of caste based outfits on college students. The 2nd half was top notch. The dhaba interval scene and the lodge scene were conceived impeccably.This movie is great example of how to bring in western filmmaking into local milieu. Excellent movie and review. Really disappointed by the number of screens this movie has been playing.
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venkatesh
June 21, 2016
This is an astonishingly good film. What an absolutely stand-out debut.
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