Aaranya Kaandam

I have seen many gangster movies in Tamil and other languages. Some of the good movies i watched so far is Nayagan, Pudhupettai,God father series, City of God.

But this movie is something different from others. How it differs? By making? or by acting? or By Screen play. No.. No... No.. It differ by its nature of theme. It deals different kind of persons attitude in this film. Director hardly worked for the very good outcome of the product.Each and every character in the film lives its own. They are real.. Still Such a kind of peoples lives with us.

I don't want explain much about this movie. Go and Watch.. or Buy the DVD. Feel the Every character described in this movie...

My Rating 10/10

I usually don't write reviews, because I feel, the reviews of a film I have watched which are already available are true and I couldn't write better.

But this time, I've decided to step it up and write a review because I feel, this movie deserves one and the reviews out there are good but very few indeed.

So, Aaranya Kaandam written and directed by first timer Thiagarajan Kumararaja and produced by S.P.Charan's Capital Film Works is an experimental gangster flick to say the least. But that's just the style of the film but to state the goodness of the film, I think it should be among the top films of the year because it keeps you entertained till the very end. For those who have been following this film from the time it won the grand Jury award at the South Asian Film Festival, you would know the difficulties this film had undergone pre-release. Frankly speaking, I was not surprised to see the vacant seats in the theater because this film is clearly for mature audience and lover of pure- cinema and not for the masses.

To start with the plot, it is a simple story about a gangster head Singaperrumal, played with class by yest year heartthrob, Jackie Shroff on a conflict which arises with his senior henchman, Pasupathy,once again played superbly by Sampath Raj on a dealing of cocaine and several other parallel tracks and motives. As the trailer correctly stated, it is about the decisions each of the six protagonists make and how it affects the plot.

There is no single-hero in this film, but if I were to select a hero, I would definitely give it to the superb script by the director. The director has avoided all clichés and given us a somewhat unpredictable film. The dialogue especially is very simplistic, at the same time realistic and humorous at times. The climax is hard hitting and definitely not expected.

I am not sure if You can call this film as a noir, but the lighting and camera suggests so. Commendable camera work by P.S.Vinod and editing by Praveen and Srikanth keeps the film's raciness and edginess to it.

One of the biggest advantages of the film is the music by the always dependable Yuvan Shankar Raja which has a Kill-Bill feel to it. Avoiding Ear impairing background and giving us a more mature score, Yuvan has not disappointed us and coping up for the lack of songs(i dint want them though).

This film has Tarantino written all over it. With the quirkiness, Dark tone and the parallel story lines, this film takes its time to unfold which is sort of an advantage and disadvantage at the same time. I had a lot of expectations for this film and I wasn't disappointed. Though it gets predictable at times, for the most part its ahead of you.

In the acting department, everyone has an important role to play and everyone has done a neat job with special mention to the son played by the Master Vasanth who has done his role without any hesitation.

In the words of my idol, I'm going with 3 and a half out of five for Aaranya Kaandam. It is only for the mature audiences and it puts Tamil Cinema back on track at the global stage.

Not great stars, no big names..and bad marketing too; Yet a simplistic trailer, profound enough to attract anyone to watch the film....How else could the show have been full?

Aaranya Kaandam refers to the 14 most testing years of Rama in the forests, in exile, in despair for love and in grave danger too. The forest turns into the battleground, here North Madras-known for it's dark nature and it's abusive form of Tamil.

Singamperumal (Jackie Shroff), supreme controller of drug trade through Chennai, has his own share of competitors in the form of Gajendran and his aide Gajapati, who could turn as mad as elephants, that could crumble anything across. Pasupathi (Sampath), on Singam's side, aspires to stand on his own, thus incurring the wrath of Singamperumal.

Meanwhile the old mafia has an other side, the despair of not satisfying his 'wife' Subbu (Yasmin Ponnappa), who had been tricked and brought there under the promise of making her a star. Just as the trailer precisely describes-"Raavanan kulathila oru Vibheeshanan'a madhiri", there is Chappa (Ravi Krishna) , an innocent deer in the midst of lions. He has a soft corner towards Subbu and she woos Chappa in a motive to escape from the lion's clutches.

At the same time, a yesteryear zamindaar, who had lost all his wealth foolishly arrives at Chennai with his acid-tongued ten year old, Kodukkapuli. They are in an emergency to find money, fearing the loaners might put his wife into a brothel on non-payment of credit. This is where they come across a huge bundle of cocaine smuggled in a hotel which is supposed to reach Singamperumal, which they take in a bid to amass wealth. And there starts the butterly effect...a war between Singamperumal, Pasupathi and the Gajas meanwhile Chappa plans to escape with his newfound love. All these lead to a spellbinding climax, deciding the fate of the three stories.

Performances from all quarters have been fabulous, notaby from Sampath, the Zameendaar and the girl, Subbu playing a powerful role impresses big-time. As she majestically walks at the climax accomplishing what she wished, one would feel like clapping, the climax has that surprise ingredient!

Yuvan Shankar Raja is yet again fantastic. The trick of ensuring a marvelous BGM seems to have been transmitted via blood into him. Very experimental score, very much that when you would be expecting blaring rock guitars in a chase, he surprises us with soft violins. Essentially, the mood is conveyed. The cinematography is sufficient and otherwise not much to pat on the technical side.

Kumararajan Thyagaraja..??..er sorry! Thiagarajan Kumararaja(thanks to Wiki)....Oh your the director right? It is your film?? Oh it is your first film?? That would be the array of questions If i got a chance to meet the Dir. Very impressive screen writing; and puts in emotions of various dimensions into the script. Comedy isn't forced, and no duets crap.

The biggest victory of the film is in etching the characters-not polarized to extreme goodness as a Rama nor to extreme evil as a Raavana, all have their lighter and darker sides, and that is what reality is all about. Though the film has its shares of flaws in the form of a slightly slow screenplay and the very fact that the film is experimental in every aspect, we can refresh ourselves for something new rather than re-tuning time and again to the paisa vasool formula.

Three stories, 24 hours and a Chennai we haven't seen...

Aaranya Kaandam (2011) : Brief Review -

The Biggest Achievement of Tamil Cinema and Indian Cinema in Neo-Noir-Crime-Thriller Genre. Equally Classy as those Famous British Crime-Dramas. This crime thriller genre was mixed into anthology by British Cinema and all those known films from 90s and 2000s decade enjoy cult following. Many Filmmakers from different film industries in India have tried to adapt the those Classics but could only manage to make sort of watchable films. I remember watching 'Ludo' recently, which recieved overwhelming praise but actually the film was nothing great. It's just that the mass audience in India haven't seen classy crime dramas made in foreign cinema so even mediocre stuff sounds great to them. I experienced the same with extremely popular 'Vada Channai' but i don't understand so special about that film. Maybe the same reason again. So, basically my point was these overrated films have recieved immense praise undeserving and then we have film like 'Aaranya Kaandam' which isn't even watched by sensible audience, forget mass audience. What the heck is wrong with our audience? It's not just about this film but there are so many low budget films which are far better than those so called big budget classics. Watch Aaranya Kaandam and you'll forget all the crime anthologies/noirs made in India, i guarantee that. It is such a brilliant piece of filmmaking. What an intelligent crafting and top quality execution it has. All the actors have done their best, the theme dark and interesting, the screenplay is engaging, cinematography and editing is top class and there are few unpredictable turnarounds too. What else do want from one film in 115 minutes? Kudos to Thiagarajan Kumararaja for proving that even Indian cinema can make high quality crime thrillers like British Cinema. Don't Miss It!

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

A bizarre trailer, a debut director, award-winner of an international film festival, a battle with the censor board and a college dropout- these elements being attached to the film made me hope for nothing short of great. If a person believed so much in his craft, he was probably an anarchist who followed his own set of rules and that kind of a person obviously wouldn't be restricted by the boundaries of Tamil Cinema.

Aaranya Kaandam's director Thiagarajan Kumararaja uses his technical crew in all possible ways. Being the competent crew that they are, they comply. The film is so unconventional that despite the excellent work of the cinematographer (Vinod), editors (Praveen K L and N B Srikanth) and the music director (Yuvan Shankar Raja), none of their individual contributions stand out. It was teamwork and you praise the man who has directed them into completion. Thiagarajan has a clear-cut vision- the characters, their quirks, their looks and their distinct speech styles. Lacing terror with scornful humour, Aaranya Kaandam leaves its viewers with mixed emotions. The gang wars that are shot in stop-motion have classical music playing in the background giving them the poetic touch intended and bring out the beauty of the scenes, even though they're blood lusted. The low-key lighting and the dubious backdrop make Aaranya Kandam the morbid labyrinth it wants to be.

Full review- http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/6425/tamil/aaranya- kandam/3150/review.htm