Aaranya kandam review

Post mortem report

Aaranya Kaandam (Tamil: ஆரண்ய காண்டம்; English title: Anima and Persona)

Directed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja
Produced by S. P. B. Charan
Written by Thiagarajan Kumararaja
Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography P. S. Vinod
Editing by Praveen K. L , N. B. Srikanth
Release date(s) 10 June 2011 (India)

Cast:

•  Jackie Shroff as Singaperumal
•  Ravi Krishna as Sappai
•  Sampath Raj as Pasupathy
•  Yasmin Ponnappa as Subbu
•  Somasundaram as Kaalayan
•  Master Vasanth as Kodukkapuli
•  Rambo Rajkumar as Gajendran
•  Ajay Raj

“Aaranya Kaandam” is a story about drug trafficking and unfolds over a duration of 24 hours. The movie is based on the significant moments in the lives of the seven leading characters. It is supposedly the first neo-noir film in Tamil cinema. This was one of the most awaited movies for me and it was released after almost a year of tribulations with the censor board. It won the Grand Jury award in South Asian International Film Festival last year.

The film is about narcotics and a convoluted rivalry between Singaperumal (Jackie Shroff), Gajendran (Rambo Rajkumar) and Pasupathi (Sampath Raj) attempts to grab it. The Director, Thiagarajan Kumararaja, builds up a nice tempo and takes his own time to build and establish each character.

Jackie Shroff in the character of dreadful Singam Perumal has performed outstandingly. His performance was close to perfection in many scenes, every scene of his brimming with reality.Ravi Krishna has been given a complete image makeover when compared to his earlier ventures. He has improved his acting skills a lot and portrayed emotions well on screen. Ravikrishna as Sappa ( a metaphor of fun, impotence, illiteracy…etc) will be remembered as one of the most interesting roles in his career. Sampath Raj did well and his body language, dialogue delivery boosts the mood of the film. In his intro-scene, his voice was so manly that it gave me goosebumps. He was at his best, performing with perfection throughout. Yasmeen Ponnappa is tailor-made for the character of Subbu (Subbulakshmi). Somasundaram, Rambo Rajkumar, Ajay Raj are adequate. Another character worthy of mention is the boy Kodukapuli (“Veyil” Vasanth) who deserves appreciation for his acting. His (kodukapuli) chemistry with Somasundaram (kaalayan) was highly impressive.
Vinod’s camera has captured the darker sides of city life well and his sense of lighting has worked wonders in bringing the right mood. Yuvan Shankar Raja has given us fantastic re-recording and background score which gave the right feel. He deserves all the praises he’s been getting since the release of the film. The use of old songs in the background for some scenes that depict the mood in the scene is smart (don’t know whether it was director’s idea or Yuvan’s) .Editing by the duo Praveen K. L. and N. B. Srikanth are crisp.
It is certainly not a movie for children or family audiences, for its highly stylised violence (Quentin Tarantino-ish) and abusive language. Thiagarajan Kumararaja has made a mighty impressive debut with a tight screenplay and superb dialogue writing. Even though many critics felt the film to be slow, I felt editing even a single scene would have dramatically brought down the effect on the audiences. Even though there were a large number of foul mouthed dialogues, they blended well with the screenplay. Others were voluntarily beeped by the team. The casting was simply perfect and acting was impeccable.
“Aaranya Kaandam” was a classy gangster tale and the way it has been conceptualized, executed definitely needs recognition. Hope Aaranya Kaandam becomes a trend setter for the new movies to come. Thiagarajan Kumararaja is a rare find and kudos to SP Charan and Capital film works for bringing him in to the realm of Tamil Cinema. Producer SPB Charan’s bravery should be appreciated for producing such films (Previous CHENNAI-600028). He struggled a lot for releasing the film. #Alwaysrespect .But the sad part of Tamil cinema is that brilliant efforts like this are hardly noticed as it does not have the required masala ingredients packaged in it.

+ POINTS

•  Dialogues
•  Background Music (Yuvan Shankar Raja)
•  Cinematography
•  Technical Brilliance

– POINTS

•  Slow screenply but cant help it.
•  Editing

BOTTOMLINE

Aaranya kandam is fucking insane…. Miss at your own peril.

(*SPOILERS ALERT*)

MY FAVOURITE SCENES
• Ajay aunty scene
• Ajay-Sampath Raj car sequence
• Seval fight scene (Highlight : kaalayan dialogues)
• Singam perumal –Gajepatti conversation over phone and the following scene with his henchman. (Dialogue- Henchman-appa antha moonavadhu manga? Singaperumal- Athu neenga than sir)
• Saamiyar-Gajendran comic sequence.
• Kodukkapuli- Pasupathy phone conversations. (Dialogue-Kattinna potantiya badrama vachikka thuppu illa nee eppidiya yen appava kaapathuva…myre)
• Pasupathy- Gajepatti climax sequence. (a cowboy styled walk,background score therri!!!)
• #EPIC climax and dialogue ( Sappayum aambilai than ellam ambilaigalum sappa than!!! The best thing about being a woman is its man’s world)

External links

• Aaranya Kaandam at the Internet Movie Database  http://imdb.to/j4S7x2
• Aaranya Kaandam at Wikipedia  http://bit.ly/lYkYWW