WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
The face of repression, exploitation, intolerance, and misplaced hate. Powerful elements that have, unfortunately, existed since time immemorial, carrying with them violence, death, and at minimum maltreatment of those who are deemed unworthy of being seen as equal by others whose ideas about race, religion, politics, social class, ethnicity, or pedigree remains darkly skewed and devoid of actual reason. When being on the receiving end of this degree of malice, what does it take to survive it and to seek validity as it should be? For four laborers heralding from Tamil-Nadu–Pandi (Dinesh), Murugan (Murugadass), Kumar (Raj Pradeesh), and Afsal (Silambarasan Rathnasamy)–their current attempt to work in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh suddenly finds them at the mercy of false accusations, police brutality, and the deeply bigoted, harshly relentless attention of local officer Inspector Vishweshwara (Ajay Ghosh), with seemingly little hope of having anyone hear them out or heed their cries for the covered-up truths behind it all.
Next, my Mind:
The wide-ranging scope of South Asian film is almost mind-blowing to ponder, given the primary North and South’s respective central hubs of Mumbai and Hyderabad which then can be broken down even further into regional dialect films from almost every State contained within those areas. With this particular film reviewed here (which was India’s official entry for the Academy Awards in 2016!), we get an effort from Tamil-language director Vetrimaaran, a newer face of Indian film who showcases the noticeably and very effectively different stylings and execution regional cinema brings with this project as well as the 6x National Award Winning “Aadukalam”, the 2019 National Award for Filmmaking in Tamil-winning “Asuran“, and now a host of upcoming projects including “Adhigaaram“, “Viduthalai“, and “Vaadivaasal”. What I hope U.S. audiences are willing to do besides just to newly embrace South Asian cinema for its overall quality that needs more exposure, but that they will take the time to really see and understand the variations in regional cinema as well so as to enjoy an ever larger scope of movies to become immersed within outside of Hollywood and other world cinema, with newer filmmakers like Vetrimaaran leading the charge in this.
As this critic has often pointed out in regard to film, sometimes, there’s just nothing more expressively impactful or potently evocative that the circumstances found in real life, and while this feature film effort from the aforementioned writer/director/producer, writer Chandrakumar, producer Dhanush, and executive producers Guneet Amarpreet, S.P. Chockalingam, Guneet Monga, Aalif Surti, and S. Vinod Kumar may not be a documentary project, it is based on true events, which in this particular case makes what we witness as viewers both hauntingly jarring and undeniably thought-provoking, speaking to events that intentionally paint a portrait of human nature at both its worst and its best. Like a similar film I had also seen and reviewed recently, the equally relevant and powerful “Article 15“, this cinematic offering is deeply immersed in themes we can relate to situations that still occur today, even if not placed in the spotlight, and that’s why I always hope stories like seen here truly cause people to have better awareness and understanding.
Very much reminding me of the Hollywood project “Unbroken” in general terms and genre vein, the narrative that focuses on four laborers from Tamil-Nadu suddenly finding themselves both falsely accused and in the possession of a relentlessly merciless police commander and his officers carries with it a stirring illustration of not just the horrific treatment placed upon human beings by others, but also the seemingly endless implications associated with blatant profiling, religious, caste, and politically-charged prejudices, manufactured “facts”, intolerance, torture, forced confessions, severe abuse of authority, and misguided personal agendas, all put into the spotlight through the plight these four innocent men had to endure in a frantic, often hopeless bid for freedom and for someone to actually HEAR their literal and figurative cries for rectitude. There’s even an ever so slight pause to the insanity early on when Pandi meets a local girl, Shanthi (Anandhi), he has eyes for, but even her place in events becomes one of potential tragedy rather than new love.
What then places a very intelligently crafted twist to the happenings is a connected yet entirely separate story that unfolds when we at first might think these men’s travails have finally found resolution, and how the story progresses from there only makes the additional thematic paths highlighting further corruption, lies, cover-ups, and the illicit gains for others that comes from it all that much more overtly disquieting, then presenting a finale that is just as unnerving as the rest of the scenarios being portrayed. It shines a HIGHLY revealing light on the entire notion of foundational human rights and the activism so many aim to take action with, with a wholly needed goal to expose these kinds of abhorrent treatment of people in custody and ideally aim to see instances of this be significantly decreased. The mere fact that we HAVE to SEE instances BE decreased is so saddening and doesn’t always bode well for any efforts to weed out police corruption and abuse of authority to make way for those who actually WANT to uphold real law.
Dinesh most definitively channeled the same kind of inward fire, determined intensity and raw, affecting emotional power that was demonstrated by Jack O’Connell in the aforementioned Hollywood production through his role here as Pandi, a wonderfully peaceful, hard-working man only seeking to keep his livelihood and provision afloat by working at a corner store set-up in city of Guntur. Away from his own homeland, the typical bigotry and verbal abuse he and his three friends take on seems standard for them to face. But, when Pandi, along with his friends, is arrested under utterly falsified allegations, it becomes a total nightmare he faces as the local police do everything they can to force a confession out of Pandi. Yet, even with the excruciating trials he goes through and as desperation sets in, Pandi maintains innocence and an undeterred in his resolution to see himself and the others liberated and for their treatment to be exposed. It’s a fantastic performance throughout, and Dinesh just so deftly embodies a soul suffering with fully believable vigor.
Murugadass, Pradeesh, and Rathnasamy likewise present realistically moving performances throughout the film as Pandi’s three friends Murugan, Kumar, and Afsal who end up involuntarily sharing the torment at the hands of the unscrupulous officers they are placed in custody by. Yet, whether the three of them can find the same inner strength to weather it all like Pandi becomes a question only their experiences will teach them. Ghosh is yet another actor very adept at creating the character we love to hate through his role here as Inspector Vishweshwara, who personally sees to it that his prisoners are treated with the level of apathetic disdain and harsh measures of coercion they are placed under. His tactics to overcome the men’s attempts to gain freedom or at least be taken away from the torture they’ve continued to endure is even more devilishly clever and calculating, and his presence during the men’s incarceration is a constant source of suffering for them, with Ghosh playing the character with such effective menace.
Samuthirakani makes his own presence known through his role as Muthuvel, a cop who’s actually on the hunt for a fugitive involved with a political scandal he’s investigating, but ends up encompassed by Pandi and his friend’s mess when all four become tied to the same scandal’s unfolding events (see the film to learn how!). He is a upright officer ultimately whose opinions on everything he’s now embroiled in could spell more trouble for him than he realizes as truths are exposed. Kishore Kumar G. is K.K., an auditor at the center of Muthuvel’s efforts and who also inadvertently comes across Pandi’s path as well. Misha Ghoshal plays Sindhu, another straight-as-an-arrow officer who isn’t actually thrilled with her boss’ treatment of the four men and makes small attempts to help them. Munnar Ramesh arrives as a Chennai-based officer and Muthuvel’s partner along with appearances by E. Ramdoss, Alwa Vasu, and others.
So, in total, “Visaaranai” is yet another film that chooses to tackle the always provocative but deeply necessary topics and themes it does with committed, unshakable, unfaltering persuasiveness, purposefully hitting you square in the gut with its hard, true story-based facts and portrayals in a manner that remind us of the evil that men can do to one another, but also to showcase the triumph of the human spirit and drive to live even in the direst of situations, while still being willing to then display that even this isn’t always a guarantee of happy endings. Hopefully, the human rights activism that these events brought about will echo in our minds and hearts now and forever and spur the changes required to see this place we call home be a more worthy place to be.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
