It has been nine years since Vetrimaaran made a remarkable debut as director with the slick thriller 'Polladhavan' and he has made only two films since, one being the award winning, but overrated 'Aadukalam'(purely the reviewers individual POV) and now ‘Visaranai’ which has already created waves in the international circuit and is sure to make the soul of Balu Mahendra dance with joy for his true creative heir has at last risen.
'Visaranai' begins in an Andhra village with Pandi (Dinesh) who works in a local grocery store and stays with his friends (Murugadoss and two debutantes) at the park. Pandi is in love with a girl Shanthi(Anandhi) who is a maid in a police officer's house and hopes to propose to her soon. Pandi and the others are picked up by the police and asked to confess to robbing a police officer’s house and after repeatedly being beaten up they do so and are taken to court. An interesting twist occurs, and with the help of a Tamil Nadu Police officer Muthuvel (Samuthirakani) on duty to nab an eluding political whistleblower K.K (Kishore),they are released. Muthuvel asks Pandi and his friends help to nab K.K. and the grateful boys agree little knowing that they are headed towards a far worse fate than what they just experienced.
It may be clichéd to say that Dinesh as Pandi lives the role, but there is no other way of putting it as he is so natural.The scenes when the Andhra police flog him repeatedly the spasms that his body releases at every gap is testimony to the high caliber of Dinesh as an actor. When the evil looking Andhra inspector challenges with more beating to him and his friends if he lets out a sound the way Dinesh spiritedly bears the pain and takes more and more tiring his tormentor raises goosebumps on the viewer while putting every regular mass hero to shame. Kishore as the wily auditor who ends up in police custody gives yet another splendid performance. If he oozes confidence initially when he has the upper hand ,he cowers down and becomes so vulnerable when he is broken physically and mentally by Samuthirakani and others. His expressions when his shoulders break shifts the pain to the viewer and that is only one example from his repertoire of expressions . Samuthirakani is becoming one of the most bankable character actors in the industry and here he has touched another peak in his career as the corrupt cop who is fighting his conscience which keeps popping up at regular intervals. Aadukalam Murugadoss provides most of the comic relief and the other two boys are adequate. Ajay Ghosh as the bald Andhra Inpsector, Saravana Subbiah as the TN police chief and the other actors who play the cops are all splendid. Yesteryear writer - director E. Ramdoss takes the cake as the aging policeman talking philosophy about life always having a kind word to the boys, but proving to be the most heartless being in the end. Misha Ghoshal the only female character who has a few scenes makes an impression as the kind hearted Andhra cop who helps the boys and Anandhi has just a couple of scenes as Shanthi looks the perfect Telugu maid.
S. Ramalingam's camera is top notch with many perfectly lighted lengthy shots that add to the realism complemented by the seamless editing of the late Kishore T.E. and the non obtrusive background score of G.V. Prakashkumar. This is one more jewel in the crown of Dhanush's Wunderbar Films and Vetrimaaran’s Grassroots Film Company.
Vetrimaaran has partly adapted the autobiographical novel Lock up by real life custody victim Chandra Kumar and cleverly interwoven a few recent political deaths and police encounters to give a well crafted film that deserves the highest praise. 'Visaranai' has only two sequences which have similar incidents,but the masterful screen writing has made them both interesting and engaging. Vetrimaaran achieves the difficult task of making the audiences a part of the proceedings and from the very first frame we are invested and begin to feel every pain and emotion of the characters The director cleverly exposes how the higher powers use the police force and civilians as pawns for their own gains, whether it is an ordinary worker in an alien state or a man with influence in his own state can both be set up and killed with clinical perfection. The real villain is not shown in the film much like in real life too the victims die without knowing the reasons for their deaths or the enemy behind it and that sure sends the chills down the spine. Kudos to Vetrimaaran for boldly taking the stories of falsely accused custody victims to the world and we can be sure that ‘Visaranai’ will at least create an awareness among the public about the unchecket human rights violations that exists if not bring about a change in the police procedures.
'Visaranai' is by no means only an art or docu film, but fits into the commercial arena as well as it has thrills, especially a nail biting climax, humor, action, a little painful love story in the background and above all filled with real life incidents which one can easily relate to.
Verdict : Go for this rare gem which you will treasure in your mind for a long time.
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