Jigarthanda

Karthik Subbaraj who received unprecedented acclaim when he dished out Pizza (2012) as his directorial debut has served us a delicious drink in his second outing. Jigarthanda tells the story of a short filmmaker Karthik (Siddharth) who comes to Madurai to develop a script for his debut feature based on the life of real life don "Assault" Sethu (an excellent Simha). He settles down with his friend Oorani (Karunakaran) and attempts to profile the life of this ruthless gangster for his movie.

The duo follow several leads and covertly try to get inputs from various associates of Sethu including some of his goons as well as Kayal (Lakshmi Menon) whose mother is an Idly vendor with Sethu as a regular customer. Though Kayal is smitten by him and even proposes to him unilaterally, Karthik, with his single minded intention of making his movie, merely pretends to be in love with her to access details about Sethu in the same vein that he tries to leverage the weakness of others.

After a series of quirky and hilarious twists, Karthik and his friend land in a monumental mess when they are caught red handed by Sethu spying on his activities. Sethu presumes them to be working with the police who want to finish him in an encounter. What follows is a roller coaster ride that keeps the viewer guessing with several surprises fused with the process of how Karthik manages to make his debut feature.

Jigarthanda proves unequivocally that Pizza was not a mere flash in the pan and Karthik Subbaraj is an auteur to watch out. His skills in cleverly weaving a metamovie on the travails of wannabe directors within the fabric of what is a gangster flick on an apparent level are praiseworthy. The narrative is embellished with Tarantinoesque flourishes of raw violence and oodles of comedy even in sequences where they are least expected.

While Siddharth is impressive as the opportunist aspiring director with a singular focus who pays scant regard to manipulating others for his goals, Lakshmi Menon is convincing in an unconventional, albeit minor part of a smitten lover who could throw a spanner at her beloved's dreams when spurned. But, Jigarthanda belongs to Simha who nails the part of the dreaded psychotic don, "Assault" Sethu, oozing terror from his every pore. He straddles the entire emotional spectrum of this layered character from being ruthless and menacing to being darkly hilarious. His performance is the lynch pin of the movie and deserves several plaudits and awards that are sure to come his way. Karunakaran, as Oorani, is impeccable in his comic timing and goofy expressions.

Karthik Subburaj's detailing is impressive - be it the pulse of the city that never sleeps (Madurai) or in the eccentricities of the minor characters. Santhosh Narayanan's score is brilliant and accentuates the intensity the proceedings. Although the songs may not be stand out chartbusters, that blend beautifully with the flow of the narrative. Cinematography by Gavemic U Ary captures the proceedings beautifully in resplendent tones.

Despite its self proclaimed tag of a "musical gangster" movie, Jigarthanda's ambitions are much more chimeric. It is also an effective dark comedy, a con movie and above all, an incisive satire on the state of Tamil cinema where the constraints of commercial viability continue to choke the creativity of aspiring filmmakers.

Yet, at a deeper level, it is the metamovie where Karthik Subbaraj, appears to convey, through his namesake protagonist, through what could well be his personal experiences before succeeding in Kollywood, that despite these challenges, all is not lost for the filmmakers who could master these murky waters if they dare to remain steadfast in their focus and could smartly use their sails to navigate to the shores of success.

The movie is not without its flaws, especially the length which clocks a little less than three hours, resulting in some bit of drag in the second half. While it could certainly be trimmed by at least fifteen minutes, I felt it would be more of nitpicking as what was on offer was definitely delectable.

Wildly imaginative, unpredictable and laced with loads of humour, this layered multi-ingredient beverage is a YUMMY offering from Karthik Subbaraj. A delectable & praiseworthy dessert to follow that delicious Pizza which whets our appetite for even more... Bring it on !

Hi Folks,

To tell about the film, scene by scene detailing of screenplay, dialogue, songs & BGM all were mixed with the right proportion.

To be honest to myself, Movie was expanded to almost nearing to 3hrs..!! But though the drag in time was not an issue as the twist & turns in the plot of the movie was made the audience glue to their seats...!!

The cast & crew made a good & best..!! efforts on acting, stunts, cinematography, Music, & the Director - Karthik's touch to the script made the movie a TOP NOTCH...!!

I can proudly tell as a fan of Tamil cinema....!!! That Tamil Cinema (aka) Kollywood is globally getting established well due to these kind of Offbeat movies which works out well both box office & as well as 'Award Winning..!!"

Last but not least...! Kudos to "Jigarthanda Team"

Thanks for making Rs.120/- a worth spent..!!

Really loved the cinematography of Jigarthanda. Visual Compositions have huge connect with each and every scene and Colors are brilliantly used. Its really mind-blowing experience.

Read this article in the Hindu Newpaper and you know why Gavemic U Ary cinematographer of Jigarthanda movie is so special.

Two creative decisions were made before the shooting began. "There are two houses that are featured a lot," says Gavemic. "Siddharth and Karunakaran (the hero and his sidekick) live in one, while Bobby Simha (the gangster and antagonist) lives in the other." It was a fairly simple decision to stick to primary colors for the former, due to the contrast of Siddharth's fair skin and Karunakaran's dark complexion. "We decided to do away with red, as we found it too harsh for the film, and chose to use only blue and green," he says. This explains why the curtains and the borders of the door in Karunakaran's house are green and the wall, blue. "We naturally opted for dark colors in the gangster's house. It was my decision to make the curtains white though, as I didn't want the audience to be distracted by too much color."

JIGARTHANDA is nice gangster entertainment movie.

Director Karthik Subbaraj (Pizza) deals movie in Madurai thriller about "Hero decides to make a movie about a gangster and how he overcome his issue" with fun type of screenplay Siddharth given a neat performance and good acting.

Lakshmi Menon is aptly cast as a simple looking girl, not much given important role.

Karunakaran keeps you in splits with his comic timings, cute expressions and dialogue delivery.

The star performer is only man Simha - He is terrifyingly menacing at times while cool and humorous in others and given a remarkable performance.

Vijay sethupathy - Guest role appearance was surprise Other actors have also done their parts well.

Music are OK.

Dialogues by Karthik Subbaraj was superb.

Plus : Story Simha Performance Siddharth + Karunakaran combo Comedy

Minus: film runs slow, Lenghty (2nd Half) Songs

Verdict: A film not to be missed!.

3.25 /5

The first thing that anyone can say after watching the movie is that its a new genre of movie.Its a story of an aspiring director who attempts making a action movie on a don's life, decides to follow such a living rowdy and in the attempt gets caught by the group. Till this point the movie is paced with good action, seriousness and leaves the audience in suspense for the interval.

After the interval, the movie has dynamic change in the direction of the story where in the gangster (Assault Sethu) himselves gets interested in the movie on his life and gives all the detail that the director wanted. But what happens after that is completely what you will never expect. The humour has worked out in an extra ordinary way that your hands might pain clapping and ur stomach might pain laughing.

The notable performance by Simhaa (Sethu) is added advantage in the movie. The characterization is so powerful that even after seeing him as a comedian in previous movies, you wouldn't feel it anywhere in the first half.

I can certainly say the movie has all the gripping elements to make the audience to be involved with the script from few mins from beginning till the end. The movie has achieved what was intended and defines to the meaning of the title (Hot-Cool) (First half-Second Half), But you cannot make a clear choice whether it was a complete movie in spite of the efforts put in the climax to justify it. And the most powerfully introduced character gives all the details of his murders as a recording which also adds to contradictory facts.