Spoilers ahead…
This is Jeyamohan’s finest work as a screenwriter (the screenplay is credited to him and Gautham), and the writing takes us through the protagonist’s journey in small, incremental, incredibly detailed steps.
When I reviewed Gautham Vasudev Menon’s last feature film, the imperfect but also very underrated Enai Noki Paayum Thota, I called it a fine romance that slides into a generic action-thriller. It’s the reverse in Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu. Despite a nice bit about consent, the romance track is among Gautham’s weakest, mainly because Siddhi Idnani, who plays Paavai, is little more than a pretty face. Not a single line reading or facial expression is convincing, and you need conviction when you are making a decision about a man who’s about to tell you whether or not he has killed people. You need conviction to play a girl who’s literally on the ledge, thanks to a dysfunctional family. None of that inner pain comes through. Thankfully, she’s the only inauthentic aspect in a gangster drama that feels authentic to the core.
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/tamil/movie/review/vendhu-thanindhathu-kaadu/
And you can watch the video review here:
Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.
vijay
September 15, 2022
what does this film have to offer that say a Pudhupettai or a Vada chennai or even a Jagame thandhiram does’nt? (Apart from a different lead actor, of course)
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karzzexped
September 15, 2022
@vijay : This is akin to asking what difference does Gangster A’s career/life trajectory offer compared to Gangster B. The why, what and how may differ, but the beats are always the same. Origin, Rise and Fall; I guess. Some movies paint a terrific picture – Nayagan, Pudhupettai, Vada Chennai etc and some don’t.
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vijay
September 15, 2022
Karzz, my question was about whether this film mines any new material in this area or at least cinematically how is its treatment different..I did’nt get much from the reviews apart from STR’s acting ..of course the plot is going to be slightly different but is that it?
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H. Prasanna
September 15, 2022
Oh my God, is this the movie that will bring home the Jeyamohan-BR masterclass?
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madhusudhan194
September 15, 2022
Glad to know that the director GVM’s move of kicking out the writer GVM has produced good results.
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Prakash Alagarsamy
September 15, 2022
@BR, no mention about GVM. Has he did what he said he will do in the interview?
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Rajesh Arumugam
September 15, 2022
Are we going to get Deep focus with Jeyamohan and GVM by Baradwaj Rangan ??
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Rajesh Arumugam
September 15, 2022
GVM – evanachum solluvaan yen pulla vetti oor suthraanu… Yen pulla hero honda vela paakraan
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Rajesh Arumugam
September 15, 2022
Baddy and Jeyamohan deep focus on writing session will be like Two dhaadhas (Don s) coming together to cut a cake and deliver to the audience..(Kamal pitching in with an Arivaal from virumandi to cut the cake (like he cut ribbon in Nala Samayathil. GVM might do Kamal’s job though)
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Bala
September 15, 2022
You say, “let’s forget the metaphorical meaning, Muthu is literally a small spark”. I am trying to wrap my head around this statement!! Is this not a metaphorical meaning?
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AlterEgO (@skc89)
September 15, 2022
Looks like a movie I would enjoy. The general reviews seem to sort this as a OTT movie. Have we reached a point where we segregate movies that are slow paced as OTT movie?
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Caesium
September 16, 2022
When I see the posters of this movie, Uriyadi song of Agni kunjondru kanden running in my head..
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brangan
September 16, 2022
AlterEgO (@skc89): Have we reached a point where we segregate movies that are slow paced as OTT movie?
Worse. Someone told me it was “like a documentary”. I told him that was the whole point of the film, to “document” the rise of an innocent man – step by unremarkable step – rather than give us big “mass” narrative leaps.
Even in the parotta kadai, we are shown “the rise through the ranks”. He first clears the leftover leaves. Then he serves food. Then he makes parottas in the kitchen.
This small clip is a sample of the whole movie, and I like it a lot more after thinking about it last evening. But no, the heroine still does not work and she kills some of Gautham’s best writing.
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Kay
September 16, 2022
I’m glad for both GVM and Simbu (Atman?) that the movie is terrific and I hope it does well commercially (my husband disagrees). At the same time, I’m wondering how the movie would have worked with a different heroine. GVM heroines are perfect castings for the most part. I don’t think there was a movie where the casting felt off but this time I couldn’t help thinking ‘if only she could act’ every time she came on screen. Another thing I couldn’t buy was the age of the protagonist. It’s only from the interviews I knew Simbu is supposed to be 19. It might seem like I’m nitpicking but that’s only because the rest of the movie is so good that I can’t help thinking idhu nalla pannirukalame. Oru athangam.
On a different note we have got back to back excellent movies – Thiruchitrambalam, Natchathiram Nagargirathu and now VTK. Curious to see if the run continues with PS1.
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sridharvisu76
September 16, 2022
the movie fills me with a big What-if. I will come to that later
I like Simbu as an actor – very natural – and in my limited interactions with GVM I always heard that Simbhu is who he is most comfortable with – he mentioned that in your interviews as well. I liked his role and his acting.
I had read Jeyamohan’s short story that covers just the first part till he goes to Mumbai. (Jeyamohan and Nanjil’s writing about traveling in unreserved compartment from Nanjil to Mumbai are most fascinating. I was expecting movie to spend sometime there 🙂 not realising it is not a Jemo or NaNa story)
In the short story, you will actually feel the thorns while reading the story. Even though GVM staged exactly how I had imagined while reading the story, something is amiss – there is a bit of grandeur in GVM’s frame (a good thing mostly today’s cameras make everything ‘look good’). But sequences work in the movie.
Much like Mesrine – Part 1 this movie works hard to make it grounded. ARR score however is always somewhat a hit-here-miss-there (Even in Malayankunju – also he made the same grand score). I think they should have gone for sound effects more than Music (a place where even small Malayalam movies like Jo&Jo work really well – again a fight between tamil technicians vs Mallu technicians in ‘who shoots better’ )
Mumbai they showed the barber shop exterior etc was promising. I wish more such sequences exist.
Finally coming to What-if -> I am more interested in further grounding – am interested in Arjunan and Masaanam (the guy who has a family in TN and who is killed) stories more. In fact those actors also looked more natural – Why can we not have a film with not-well-defined looks. Just a regular KalliKaattu payyan as the protagonist. Much like how we enjoy spanish(mexican) / chinese Korean / italian / French protagonists unknown actors -> (Narcos / TriadElection / Gomorrah / Mesrine (actor is popular actor)
Why cannot they be well grounded. Also heroine – she looks good and acted well. but seems an opportunity missed -> Angadi theru Anjali / Rhythm Meena worked so well in those movies. That is an interesting Paavai
Jugalbandhi kind of lyric exchange even though I didnt like it at first worked well – sheerly due to Thamarai ! Oh what a wonderful lyricist who made us fall in love with “nathigalile neeraadum sooriyanai naan kanden’
Few more things that were a miss -> whole Rawther character. I think that actor should come out of Vikram mode – And Last 5 mins of film felt like KGF-Simbu as ‘succesful’ gangster.
Delhi ganesh didnt work at all. needless reference.
Overall, movie has a great ‘Satya’ level cult possibility – barring a few misses it did chug along like a Mumbai Mail and made it to VT -VictoriaTerminus. It will get to VTK later.
Can be viewed multiple times. Thankfully less profanity just for the heck of it. Also liked Sapna character taking things into her hands ala Agent Tina mode 🙂
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brangan
September 16, 2022
Brought over comments from that temporary page...
Rajesh Arumugam
September 15, 2022
@Baddy – what is the earliest time you watch a movie ?? Say for highly expected movie / review ?? – 5am or 8am or 12am ?
Ananth
September 15, 2022
@Severus Snape I blame baddy lol. GVM was finally self aware and wanted to be less self-indulgent and baddy was like I actually liked ENPT’s voice overs. 😀
There is a telugu dub with a Life of Muthu title but its been promoted terribly. Kinda hope that WoM is decent.
madhusudhan194
September 14, 2022
There’s hardly any buzz around this film. Looks like it is getting lost in the noise that Brahmastra and PS have been creating. I hope this film works as GVM hasn’t made a competent enough film since Yennai Arindhal.
Sushila Ravindranath
September 8, 2022
Why am i getting this
Severus Snape
September 8, 2022
Considering that GVM apparently did away with voiceovers in the film, I have no idea why he went with narration throughout the trailer. It was interesting for a few seconds, then got boring after he said, “It’s a mad dance,” and became redundant at the end(We know ‘Part-1’ means there will be a ‘Part-2’, why an extra sentence and ‘Thodarum’?). I also hope there’s enough meat for two parts; I’m not a fan of directors splitting films into two parts just for the heck of it(Pushpa comes to my mind). I wonder why there’s no Telugu dub, though – there was a time when he’d make bilinguals, and now he’s not even dubbing them into Telugu. I loved the songs, though. I like GVM’s style, and I’ll be happy if the movie is good.
Srinivas R
September 8, 2022
Very low expectations for this movie. Songs are good. Trailer just seems tepid. Sort of rehashing old themes kind of vibe.
Sam
September 8, 2022
Glad to see you started this! Could you potentially open up pages for films released earlier this year that people wanted to discuss (Shamshera, Ante Sundaraniki, etc)?
brangan
September 8, 2022
Also, do let me know if you want to open a page for any other film (even if I am not reviewing it) — but provided there ARE enough people interested in talking about the film
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Madan
September 16, 2022
sridharvisu76: lol, what a comparison, Madras Mail! Sounds like you speak from experience.
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Madan
September 17, 2022
What does this blogerati think about the songs? Thought it was a lovely little album. Maybe nothing that’s ‘instant fire’ but very pastoral, melodious and, mostly, soulful. The duet with Shreya surprised by somehow accommodating Rahman’s – should I say Raja-like – fondness for jazz of late within this rural-ish backdrop. Even the more uptempo Mallipoo is really a very nice Sindhu Bhairavi. How refreshing to have dance songs (well, of a sort) with sumptuous melody again rather than robotic 1-2 phrases!
Rahman is now 55, around the same age as Raja was when he entered his late 90s slump and it may be that he too is tiring of somehow forcefitting his music to be ‘with it’ considering that ‘with it’ means autotune, hypercompression and generic, wannabe and loud ‘rock’ riffs that have very little to do with the real McCoy. It did feel like listening to a Raja album (though the melody, the chords, the meter et al are all unmistakably Rahman) in the way that it was so effortlessly beautiful and timeless and managing to surprise even while sticking very much to well worn film music traditions. May be an unpopular opinion, but I think this easily beats PS-1.
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KayKay
September 17, 2022
Madan, I concur. Am loving and preferring this soundtrack over that of PS. This and Cobra is a pleasant ARR throwback to the “90s sounds” of Rhythm, Kandukondein Kandukondein,Alai Payuthey, Kadhalar Dhinam, En Swaasa Kaatre etc etc.
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therag
September 17, 2022
@Madan, I don’t think it is an unpopular opinion as such. But certain moods, and songs composed for those moods just have better staying power. Between a Thalli Pogathey/Ennodu Nee Irunthaal and AlaiKadal, I don’t have the music knowledge to say which one is technically better but I’m going to guess Thalli Pogathey will have better staying power.
I think PS1 is just a much harder assignment and the moods that you have to compose for in a 10th century film do not lend that reach.
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Madan
September 17, 2022
PS1 like Raja’s Nadodi Thendral is the kind of project that sets up the composer for ‘failure’. No matter what he does, people are going to say the music doesn’t sound apt for the era. But how do we even know exactly what the music of the Chola era sounded like? This is not like setting the music in 40s or 50s where we have audio recordings to refer to, to actually hear what it sounded like. I think Naushad would have got roasted had he done Mughal-e-Azam today.
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Anand Raghavan
September 18, 2022
With Iravin Nizhal, VTK and PS-1, this has been ARRs best year in Tamil in years. PS-1 is a challenging album and it seems a deliberate to keep it unconventional for a period film to reach masses, even lyrics are not in classical Tamil .
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Caesium
September 19, 2022
Just saw the movie. Master class in difference between character driven and plot driven stories. This movie finely splits its two halves into these two genres of story telling.
Small bits that surprised me:
Not doing a black screen “5 years later”. Instead showing a normal scene, pausing when Simbu’s face comes into screen and then showing “5 years later”. I imagine it probably came from the editor. Smart twist.
Placement of Mallipo was unexpected too.
GVM’s self-reference of Paavai’s boss singing Zara Zara..
Questions:
Muthu spotting paavai in that star hotel seemed to be too convenient. If Paavai was in a different hotel, was it end of road for them?
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Madan
September 20, 2022
Madan: Love VTK soundtrack and rahman’s singing in Marakuma Nenjam is much better than Ponni nadhi, which needed a much stronger voice. I also love the stripped down quality of the VTK sound. Without overloading my senses with 12 other things in the background.
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R. Kailasham
September 20, 2022
Album has a minimalistic feel and I liked it. Is it just me or does “Enna Nenachadum” feel like a rip-off of “Kodi Asainthathum Kaatru Vanthathaa?” Not the seismic upheaval that Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya caused, but I like this direction that ARR has chosen.
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Madan
September 20, 2022
Madan: Agreed and nice to meet a namesake on this blog.
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Srinivas R
September 20, 2022
@R Kailasham – Kodi asaindhadhum was what came to my mind too. Really love Unna Nenachadhum song.
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brangan
September 20, 2022
I love the album, too. My favourite song is “Mallippoo”. It’s a sad song (lyrics wise) converted into a beats-y celebratory number.This contrast is just lovely.
That “tring tring” refrain, the sudden switch to a big male chorus… everything works.
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lurker
September 20, 2022
I see ‘Unna Nenachadum’ as a tribute to ‘Kodi Asaindadum’ , not a ripoff.
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shaviswa
September 20, 2022
@lurker
Nice way to term a copy. There are other words too – inspiration, ode, etc. 😂
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lurker
September 20, 2022
@shaviswa – By that definition there’s no contemporary work of art that can be called original.
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Madan
September 20, 2022
Unna Nenachadhum is emphatically not a copy. Vennum na I can play every note on a keyboard and show why the notes are different from Kodi Asainthathum. It simply has a similar meter and beat. Even identical beat – or even riffs /chords – does not constitute a copy. Only identical or near identical melody is a copy. That’s why Iommi could get away with nicking the riff of Hendrix’s Purple Haze for the song I.
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shaviswa
September 20, 2022
@madan
It is not a musical copy in the literal sense. It is a conceptual copy. The musical idiom is exactly the same.
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shaviswa
September 20, 2022
For example, Sairat songs by Ajay-Atul can be termed as an inspiration. While the arrangement and melodic patterns evoke the Raja feel, they are different songs both at the conceptual and musical level.
However, this song does not evoke the same feeling as an MSV song. It actually reminds you of exactly the same song. There in lies the difference.
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Madan
September 20, 2022
shaviswa : Copied has a very negative connotation in music and you yourself said homage is like a euphemism to avoid saying it is copied. So you implied it is plagiarized which it is not. It evokes that same MSV song because the meter is the same. But that’s all. The melody is different, the chords are different and when I say different, they are way different. It’s a much more sophisticated song, thus not a second rate imitation of the MSV song in any sense.
What is happening is simply that because film music listeners latch on to the pallavi lyric as the hook, the identical meter reminds them of the MSV song. And then some, like you, insist it is a copy. But it is not. One is allowed to write however many songs in the same meter. There is nothing like MSV kittendhu thirudithan about this.
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anonymousviolin20
September 20, 2022
The main thing that puts this in ode/tribute territory for me is the fact that the lyrical pattern resembles that of the old song (but with different lyrics).
That makes it feel like they’re deliberately trying to evoke or remind the audience of that song. Why would a plagiarist draw attention to the work they stole from?
Also apparently the makers have credited MSV in the end credits of the movie according to a comment on YouTube (for what it’s worth)
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Madan
September 20, 2022
Exactly. This is somewhat like Oho Megam Vandhadho gently evoking Singing In The Rain. It doesn’t copy the melody but you can hear the original somewhere in it nevertheless.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
September 21, 2022
Hanumatodi right? What other such upbeat-sounding songs are there of this raaga? I do remember Malik’s Redemption piece as a similar but more operatic one
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Nagalakshmi Sivakumar
September 21, 2022
Use full of video editing
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therag
September 23, 2022
I have to say I went in with low expectations and came out very very happy. Except the last 10 minutes or so, I enjoyed every bit of this movie. Reminded me of Vada Chennai.
A very different GVM, a very atypical (and enjoyable) Rahman score. Lots to love here.
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therag
September 23, 2022
Also, special mention to GVM and the action choreographers (and ARR for the Malayalam rap). I was afraid there was going to be a lot of blood and gore but the very impressive choreography and direction made this one a pleasure to watch.
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brangan
September 24, 2022
Thamarai has a lovely tweet about the song and yes, Rahman himself suggested “Kodi asaindhadhum”…
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hari prasad
October 3, 2022
Out of context , but have to ask you , did Gautham bought you the ice cream that he promised in that food companion interview , if you gave a nice review to vtk?
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brangan
October 11, 2022
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Thupparivaalan
October 14, 2022
Movie of the year for me. What a performance by Simbu, man is just absolutely fire on screen. The cinematography, writing, stunt choreography, music everything just clicks. The first half of the film is GVM’s finest hour as a filmmaker. The second half suffers a little because of the heroine’s utterly unconvincing portrayal, and also GVM’s tendency to have the actors mouth the lines in the song. Mixing montage and old school singing approach might work in a film like VTV, but in a ultra rooted environment this film operates in, the decision to have musical like song is a bad one. But for those two missteps, this is GVM’s finest movie.
I’m surprised how lukewarm the response has been for this film, like why aren’t we talking about this more?
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karthik299
October 16, 2022
A very fine film with Simbu in top form, but zero chemistry between the leads because of the actress, just like GVM’s Navarasa segment.
Also, the movie seemed funny like a spoof every time the actors were lip syncing to the songs. It seems just too passé. The songs were all beautiful and could just run in the background instead of them mouthing the lyrics.
The second part seems a little generic through the glimpse though. Hope GVM has something better in store and it matches upto the Kindling!
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Daisy
November 8, 2022
Watched the movie and really like it. Sim u was able to pull the character transformation and looked like a 20 yr old from a remote village moving up the ranks. Wonder which actress they could have picked for the female lead? Worst was lip syncing for the songs. Please GVM if you read this blog, PLEASE STOP IT. IT LOOKS AWFUL.
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