Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/gangs-of-madras-movie-review-priyanka-ruth-cvkumar-baradwaj-rangan/
In his first film, Maayavan, the producer-turned-director CV Kumar aimed for the moon. He had a high concept. He tried to get high on the filmmaking, too, and the result was a bit of a mess. In Gangs of Madras, he sets his sights lower and ends up with a much better movie. The premise isn’t new. We’ve seen it in the films the director names at the end: The Brave One (where Jodie Foster goes after the men who killed her fiancé) and Kill Bill (where Uma Thurman goes after the men who killed her fiancé). But go back further, and you’ll find films like I Spit on Your Grave, where the revenge wasn’t as important as the gruesomeness of the revenge. Gangs of Madras has that thrilling exploitation-movie vibe, aided by the lurid pulp-neon tones of cinematographer Karthik Kumar. If you like the idea of a lustful villain meeting his end by blood-splattered dis-ball-ment, you know you’re in the right movie.
The film feels fresh because it filters the vigilante angle through the prism of a gangster saga. Jaya (a steely Priyanka Ruth) is the wronged woman. She falls for Ibrahim (Ashok Kumar), who works as an accountant for a drug lord (Velu Prabhakaran), and the way Ibrahim meets his end shows that some research has gone into the writing. It has to do with people being “planted” for encounters, something I haven’t seen before. Jaya — who became Razia after marrying Ibrahim — finds out what happened, and she wants to go to the cops. When she learns why this isn’t a practical idea, she doesn’t hesitate for a second. “Can you get me a gun?”, she asks the informant. Had her name been, say, Japan, the theatre would have been filled with hoots and whistles.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
abishekspeare
April 14, 2019
Anyone still waiting for kesari review hoping BR would do it some time this week xD?
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Srinivas R
April 15, 2019
Good to see such attempts in Tamil cinema within the mainstream.
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e221
April 16, 2019
Wow…What a viewer/people engagement. People will make a huge noise when in film say “Ratchasan”, a female character is portrayed in a bad way and complaining why there are no female-centric films. And now this is the level of engagement from audience. The movie might have some flaws but its a pretty decent attempt and a fresh take on the genre. Wow, people..Wow. Next time.When Vijay or SK swings an iron rod, Please don’t complain probably that’s what we deserve.
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krishna prasad
April 16, 2019
I think for me kahaani and Vidya Balan would always b the benchmarks in this genre.
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brangan
April 17, 2019
e221 raises an interesting point. Does anyone want to talk about why audience engagement (in terms of the comments section here) is so high with the big star movies — even if they are bad — and so negligible when it comes to ‘flawed yet interesting’ efforts like this?
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Anantha Padmanaban R
April 17, 2019
The engagement is low perhaps coz these movies are watched only after a month or so later after they are up on streaming platforms or torrents? In my case, I watch a petta or a super deluxe in cinemas but wait for these movies to come on streaming platforms..dont just have the time to spare for many movies
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amrutha97
April 17, 2019
The engagement might be low because the audience knows to suspend disbelief when it comes to male characters, no matter how ridiculous the arc or the stunts. When a female lead is the protagonist, the audience does not suspend disbelief to the same extent, or at all. So they end up noticing all the flaws they wouldn’t really care about if the protagonist was male.
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amrutha97
April 17, 2019
I’d like to clarify that in the previous comment I’m talking more about the general audience, and the reason as to why a film like this might not go over so well with them. I don’t know much about the comment section here.
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Srinivas R
April 17, 2019
Most people, cinephiles or not, prefer viewing only the big star, big ticket movies in cinema hall. As long as that attitude doesn’t change, small movies have to depend on streaming platforms. Occasionally you will have an outstanding movie like pariyerum perumal that breaks through the barrier, but that’s going to remain a rarity.
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e221
April 17, 2019
@BR The counter-argument would be “Aruvi” was a female-oriented interesting movie but a far superior. So if it’s a good movie we support”..But what people tend to forget is we are living in the most trendy time ever. There is a reason even why the mightiest of the mighty movie like Avengers started the social media campaign a month back. To keep it trending and keep people talking. That’s what happened in Aruvi. and then people want to be part of that trend so they can be part of it. Recent Example, Super Deluxe.
The audience group for this movie should have been college girls and working woman between 18 and 25. But again let’s face it. Woman are not going to watch it. I am sorry to say this but in Hollywood studios makes movies exclusively for that demographics and reap a huge harvest in box office even with ordinary movies like captain marvel. But If you make “Captain Prabha” here and that would be the biggest disaster ever. The other possible possibilities would be maybe women are still dependent on men in making their movie choice or they are not allowed to make their own choice or it’s just that our woman still doesn’t accept a woman as a protagonist. I don’t know. If the same people who are the torch bearers for movies like 90ml could have engaged for this movie as well, it would have been a decent hit. Its this strange ridicule, unfortunately, is the current trend.
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V
April 17, 2019
e221: Since you brought up 90ml & since I did bear a torch for the film, I felt I should comment here.
You had given the answer to BR’s question in your same comment – this film did not get any plug-in on social media (Twitter especially) from the trackers or Influencers. I did not know the film was a female centric one and that it was from CV Kumar. To be very very honest the reason I came to the comment section is to see why there were so many comments on this unknown film.
Plus the summer vacations have begun & now all movies would be with the family – so a fancy Captain Marvel gets precedence over something like this.
A very valid point you have raised – and my response would be that the timing for this release is not conducive to many lone watchers of good films (like me). But yes, I found that Peranbu wasnt liked by the women who flanked me in the theater, but got a decent response from the men around – though it was a film about one of us womenfolk. But I do remember the reception a Vyjayanthi IPS got in Chennai despite starring a relatively unknown Vijayshanti and in a dubbed format. So….cant generalize or have times changed?
Thank God for streaming platforms I can still watch Gangs of Madras when it gets there (and that would also contribute to the revenue of the film right?)
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Varsha
April 17, 2019
Personally, I wouldn’t equate audience engagement for a movie with the number or types of comments in a blog that reviews/discusses a movie. I did watch this film and I did read BR’s review of it. Why I did not comment was simply mostly because I agree with BR’s view of this particular film. If I think something that I noticed was being left out in the review/comments, or if I strongly disagree with BR or some commenter on some aspect of the film, then I comment on that. At least, in my case, e221’s conclusion w.r.t audience engagement would be way off the mark!
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shaviswa
April 18, 2019
Not sure about the others, but I do not have the time to go and watch films at the movies. I watch all films at home – streaming platforms have made this possible.
But even with OTT platforms, there is just too much content. And if you are the type to watch multiple languages – for me they are Tamil, English, Hindi, Malayalam and Telugu – it becomes overwhelming and you start picking and choosing what to watch. The smaller films generally do not even show up in the recommended list unless they are hugely popular – like Naduvula koncham pakkatha kanom.
I tend to choose my films based on what I hear from friends, BR’s reviews (and audience reactions) and also the film summary (if I have not heard about it at all).
BTW I do not watch most big star films. I keep a safe distance away from Ajith and Vijay films (it is a conscious decision after I saw few of theirs 4-5 years back and decided enough was enough). I do not watch films that are known to have foul language – for some reason I get extremely annoyed to hear such words even if mouthed by the antagonist.
Despite the above restrictions, I still feel that the content generated these days is huge and you dont get the time to watch everything. So films like Gangs of Madras are likely to be skipped. TBH I did not find this film interesting enough to watch after I read this review.
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soundaryasrinivasan
April 18, 2019
Surprised that you havent mentioned the ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’. Though I haven’t watched the movie, I just read you’re review and the story line is exactly likes the one from the book. I don’t see any credit or reference given to the book(that is based on real life mafia queens of Mumbai btw). I thought you would like have read the book!
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