Crime is one of the pet subjects of film makers.As humanity has imbibed criminality from its genesis,narration of the crime zone has been popular ever since the inception of world cinema. Film makers resort to crime depiction either as a direct course of narration or as an indirect presentation with suggestive and intertwined layers of scenic coherence,focusing on flash back techniques or subtle link shots,calling for a close watch of the development of events,through an off the track mode of dialogue delivery.Crime portrayal on the screen can be in the form of a thriller,or a horror demonstration,or simply an action promotion.Tamil films have successfully touched upon these varied patterns of narration,depending upon the director's aptitude and imagination.
Vetrimaran who began his dedicated thrust and focus on the inhuman side of humanity with his critically rated first film Pollaadhavan starring Dhanush,has successfully continued his directorial journey on this favoured path,giving us three more hits such as Aadukalam, Visaaranai and Vada Chennai*.{*Specific titles of this kind seem to disturb the psyche of those who are personally related to such titles.The Metro Plus Supplement of the Hindu dated 10th December 2018,has recorded the views of some people who feel that the pride of their identity is very much hurt by titles focused on localities,without an understanding of their present environment and life style}
Dhanush has remained as the steadfast partner of most of the films of Vetrimaran both by joining the production process and by acting as the protagonist in three of the four films excepting Visaranai.The same way G. V. Prakash Kumar has composed music for three of these four films leaving Vada Chennai in the hands of Santhosh Narayanan.The frequent inclusion of actors like Kishore,Daniel Balajee and Samuthrakani has also reinforced the film making base of Vetrimaran.
Knives,Swords,pickaxes,blades,guns and even tiles have been the tools for Vetrimaran's gangster characters,to thrive as perpetrators of pain.Rivalry,beastly targeting of the prey,betrayal for personal aggrandizement and uncouth revenge are the four pillars on which the gruesome structure is raised.There is absolutely no sense of belonging,because nobody knows who will betray whom and there is ever a weapon dangling behind everybody,to raise a back stab.But the charm of Vetrimaran is rather insidious,driving the audience glued to the screen, to surprise destinations,all of a sudden. Vetrimaran is a born celebrator of the spirit of rivalry,romance and sportsmanship,blending them all as integral segments of his ghastly celluloid chart,so as to lend some charm to the chillness of brutality.
A bike or a cock or the carom will transmit a kind of enchantment either by travelling along with the criminal agenda or by even surpassing it if necessary.It is stark realism that determines the quality of a Vetrimaran film,through an underplay of roles by most characters including his heroes.Who else can fit into this natural garb of role play other than the most natural actor Dhanush,who eases himself through casual,breezy delivery of dialogues and fixes himself in the minds of the audience,like an unassuming next door guy.Hence,he becomes the most appropriate choice for Vetrimaran to deliver heroism without engineering any extra effort of a blow up or image cult.
Vetrimaran's dark world does not exclude the crime belt of a section of the cops that exercises its police belt,to serve itself at the expense of the criminals,or to transform innocent youths into criminals by a hook of its strategic police brain.This is what we sadly witnessed in Visaranai. Vetrimaran's narration has never been direct or transparent.It is as much hidden as the dark criminal nexus,so that the narration can flawlessly percolate into the interiors of crime designs and cull out characters in their original form.
Though a place for women could be called redundant in a crime cast,Vetrimaran has made the presence of women justifiable,by adding delight to the dryness of many diabolic death plots besides squeezing out heavier emotions harbouring untold revenge programmes,as seen in the character of Andrea Jeremiah,neatly etched out in Vada Chennai.As far as delight formula is concerned,Divyaa Spandana,Tapsee Pannu and Aishwarya Raajesh have compactly created fascinating sparks,by their controlled display of glamour,in Polladhavan,Aadukalam and Vada Chennai respectively.
Where violence alone prevails there is no scope for waste of words.Hence crisp and cutting dialogues echo the mind frame of men who spill blood more,than spelling words.Brevity is not only the soul of wit,but also the mark of violence.The concluding statement of a cop in Visaranai,will beautifully endorse this assessment,when the cop says"both are done"to mean that both the honest police officer and the innocent youth have been done to death.
The goon space has no room for comedy or humour.But at times any character will generate humour through their spontaneous utterances like the ones made by some of the jail mates in Vada Chennai.When one of the prisoners on hearing the news of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi,calls him the C M of Tamil Nadu,it subtly brings out the fact that ignorance never matters for those who excel in crime.All things happen naturally in the negative world of Vetrimaran be it the alluring lungi dance of Dhanush in Aadukalam,or the stealthy kissing episodes of Dhanush and his lover Aiswarya Rajesh in Vada Chennai.
Perhaps it is such relieving scenes that retrieve the audience imagination at least for a while,from the gripping sequences of heart rending heartlessness of the aggressive promoters of thuggery and criminality,reigning an arena of the underprivileged.The worst part of all this macabre violence is that they they kill for sport,money, power and above all for the self.There is politics.There are cops both honest and corrupt.There are hardcore criminals and soft ones.All in one bundle.That is Vetrimaran's vision of the bleak side of life.Whenever I watch a Vetrimaran film the following famous maxim of William Shakespeare strikes my mind.
"As flies to wanton boys are we to Gods.They kill us for sport"
By the way,there is a particular scene in Vada Chenna showing Rajan{ finely performed by Ameer} getting brutally stabbed and killed by his trusted lieutenants in a restaurant,which would instantly bring to one's memory,the gory death of Julus Caesar in the Roman Senate Hall, in the hands of his silent rivals and trusted friend Brutus,in Shakespeare's wonderful historical tragedy"Julius Caesar"
In Vetrimaran's crime world,thugs kill one another like flies and they kill with a hunter's instinct and killer's arrogance.That is why all characters plunge into a stream of blood, leaving a minuscule of good elements to survive.Even these good elements seem to be waiting for the right moment to wreak vengeance and vendetta.It is this nagging back force of revenge that makes Vetrimaran's film skit sustain,with distinct vigour and virulence.May be that is why all his films stand critically reviewed and his Aadukalam won several national awards, including the best director's award. for him.
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Hope give more good crime base movie for us, his film making knowledge is good in some movies.
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