Visaranai

Visaranai (Interrogation) captures the harsh truth behind Police department corruption, thirst for Power, urge to close cases and how it affects the life of four runaway youngsters in a non-native state. It is just not that actually the plot traverses to the native state to show that no mercy is left in the department on handling the poor guys. It is based on true incidents which became a novel named "Lock Up" by M. Chandrakumar. Well that explains the crux of the tale but what makes it more solid and interesting is the chilling screen play and 100 % pure cinema type of handling where there was no absolute space for commercialism. Hats off to Director Vetrimaran who has dared to experiment this genre which reflects the ruthless, impolite, merciless, callous nature of some police officers. The plot gets enhanced by the performers like Dhinesh, Samuthirakani, Kishore, Adukalam Murugadoss and some more actors whom we hardly know by their names. The thrashes that these boys take up looks so vivid, raw, brutal, inhuman and clearly I understand this movie will be a hard to digest fact for soft or weak hearted audience. So people of this sort you are warned better try some comedy in the next screen. On the technical front the cinematography and BGM also shows the pain. This movie is a clear warning that there is a corrupt system out there waiting for innocent prey and if we are caught it is like the hell's hole and no escape. I didn't find anything as such which ruins the flow or script. So pure award category no scoring required.

Verdict : "Watch it if you can take it"

-Sivakumar Balachandran

I was eagerly waiting for this movie for ages and it has finally arrived after getting several laurels around the world. I won't reveal the story much but it is all about the scapegoat technique handled by the cops. Right from the start, the screenplay was very gripping and there was no clue about what is about to come next.

The performance of the whole cast is very surprising as everyone acted to their core and brought the very best in them. Although the movie is very intense, there are some humor elements through some body languages and silly comments. It may take some sweat off our head but another scene will be right behind to take you to the edge of the seat.

I haven't watched such an intense movie with so much quality content in it, delivered in a very grippy manner.

Easily, this is the most impactful movie of this decade!

I sincerely thank Vetrimaran for making such a masterpiece!!

Cast-performance-BGM-screenplay-content = Visaranai.

Another sensational movie from Dhanush K. Raja, the producer of 'The Crow's Egg' that I recently reviewed in this site. This time he joined the hands with the writer, director who bought him a best actor award at the Indian Academy Award for the movie 'Playground'. The film was based on the novel 'Lock Up' that loosely inspired by the experiences of the author who is an autorickshaw driver now.

I already mentioned that Indian cinema is waking up, knocking the doors of the international film critics, films festivals and film buffs. Thanks to the young generation in the film industry, looking for the international market expansion. It's time for you to check it out some of the Indian parallel cinemas, not the masala films. If you think you're totally in an unfamiliar territory, then it will be good to you start with this one.

India is like the European Union, where each nation speaks a different language and its own culture, likewise each Indian state has a different language and culture. That's why it might be called the Indian subcontinent. This story begins when three Tamil labourers who are illegally living in a city park to save rent money from the work in the neighbor state Andhra, will be taken to the police custody without letting know them the reason. The rest of the film exposes the law enforcement agency's brutality on these young innocent men to force to accept a crime that is not committed by them which is a violation of human rights.

"The influence is more important than skill when it comes to promotions."

The film has two phases and they were not focused on any particular characters. It is a couple of different events based flick that connected to each other by the characters. But everything is about corruption in the police force and common people who affected by that. Kind of unpredictable scenes with the decent twists. The first half takes place in Andhra Pradesh with the backdrop of some robbery case and then in the next half it moves to Tamil Nadu with once again a cop tale, but different scenario.

Welcome to the Indian police's torture chamber. The dark side of the Indian police force. Not all about the bad cops, but also involves those honest ones caught between dishonest ones from the higher power. There was a small romance plot in the opening, later it vanished when entire story focus shifted to police interrogation. The pace had many up and down, that helped to turn things around like transforming from one state of condition to another.

This theme was exactly opposite to the old saying 'lightning never strikes the same place twice'. You can call it a bad luck, but for some people like the youngsters from this movie who came from the poor families from the rural without proper education, it is a matter of life and death and injustice. I won't be surprised if international remake are made. It won this year's Indian Academy Awards in the three categories including the supporting actor which was one of the important cop roles. So I won't be surprised either if it was picked to represent India for the 2017 Oscars.

This is a Kollywood film, but watching it feels like a some dark tone Korean crime-drama- thriller. I have seen some of Indian cop films, but so far this one was the best when it comes to the realism yet not depicted them in a good way. I highly recommend it, but don't expect a genuine screenplay with a grand twist. It makes you feel how the innocence was taken away from the poor by the people with power, really heartbreaking.

9/10

There comes a movie like Whiplash once in a while where there is lot of action primarily due to intensity of performances and absorbing screenplay. Then there are movies like Haider where the movie atmosphere is dense and disturbing that you are left cold and horrified at the very end. Visaranai is a movie that has successfully blended both these aspects in order to present a practical, rational view of the system that is part of our livelihood. I cannot remember the last time I watched such an intense, nerve chilling, baffling movie in Thamizh.

As I have now noticed, Vetrimaran's films have two different halves but which are part of the same story. In Polladhavan, we see the happy, everyday youth Dhanush living a jolly good life in the first half while in the second, things take a sudden turn and he gets exposed to a world of ruthless criminals. In Aadukalam, we see Dhanush's involvement in the rivalry between 2 rival gangs in the first half, while in the latter we turn audience to how one man's greed changes his surrounding people's lives. Similarly in Visaranai, as the title suggests we are presented with 2 separate interrogations with different scenarios in both halves of the movie.

The movie attempts at one thing as beautifully explained by Kishore in one scene - The system is the boss and we are just pawns playing a game in it. The powerful always prey on the powerless and there is no way that one who has been nabbed in the web escape out from it. This is explained through layers of tightly scripted scenes with lots of crude violence, not to a forced extent of skipping the movie but watching it as if the horror where happening in front of your eyes. Few minutes into the movie the story starts unraveling and you start feeling a slight chilling fear which later keeps intensifying exponentially until the very end where you are left distraught. The range of emotions portrayed by the variety of villains torturing the innocents affect you up to a level that you start trembling as if watching a horror movie. Off late we have been seeing great improvements in movies like Thani Oruvan where a lone hero fights corrupt, antisocial elements in the society and this one breaks all those clichés to state a point that the system cannot be won over. I was particularly reminded of the Brazilian film duology 'Tropa De Elite' where the story ends with an unstated "moral" that criminals, politicians and police are of the same circle and you end up on the losing side if you mess with them.

Performance wise, Dinesh continues with an impressive tough role which might prove as a highlight in his career. I somehow feel convinced that Samuthirakani must be considered the real protagonist as his role portrays how a honest person becomes prey to the system and is left torn without options at the crux. The music, camera and editing cuts add more intense chill to the atmosphere. Special mention to Dhanush for continuing to surprise us by producing such top class movies. It is highly unlikely that any other Thamizh movie can beat the class of this in 2016!

Vetrimaran sir, you are not a director now but a visionary. This is not a movie but a well learned and constructed, flawless piece of art about the society. Feeling proud of you and the growth in your class of movies. Take some more national and international awards! I would have been glad if I could rate 12/10 for this movie!

Visaranai is a movie with the highest level of filmmaking (no songs, no heroism, no nonsense) coming out from Tamil cinema.. Director Vetrimaran of Aadukalam, has done brilliant depiction of novel 'Lock Up' based on a true story(great end credits).. He portrayed an hard- hitting screenplay to show the miserable plight of innocent immigrants being made scapegoats for the powerful system (call it brutal system).. From the very first scene he will arrest your attention and what follows, is a riveting narrative and gripping cinematic experience!! The casting is first class, Attakathi Dinesh and his 3 friends(Aadukalam Murugan), the supporting cast of Samuthirakani, Kishore and Policemen In the custody, given top notch performances.. Dinesh(one of the most underrated actor) another effortless, heart- wrenching performance while the terrific Samuthurakani finding himself stuck in between this brutal system but trying to act fair for god sake, he was excellent to describe!! The private interrogation part between Samuthurakani and Kishore one of the best part of the movie.. Vetrimaran made it a classic encounter against the painful, merciless lockup scenes.. And when you think things get better for Dinesh and friends, misfortune struck again, inevitably.. Move on from there, Afsal execution scenes will make you breaking inside.. Spell bounded!! The intense climax ended in the dark, intentionally he wants us to know nothing can be justified that ill-fated Dinesh character, very well crafted by Vetrimaran.. He is certainly, one of a kind filmmaker in the league of Bala and Myskkin!! This cinema is so world class!!