Aaranya Kanndam(2010)

A Cult Classic

Aaranya kandam is a Tamil action film about gangs rivalry in north Madras.This is the first Neo- Noir Tamil film in the industry as of now. Though it did not receive a good reception with the audience and was made on short budget, I consider this as one of the iconic films ever made in Tamil 

Cast :Jackie Schroff, Ravi Krishna , Sampath, Yasmin Ponnapa etc...

Plot summary:

There is no single lead in the film. This is about how the lives of a gangster, a father -son trying to make a living and a mistress, how their life gets intertwined in a blood feud and how they end up finally.

The film begins with Singaperumal( played by jackie schroff), an ageing leader of one of gangs in north madras. Pasupathy(played by Sampath) his right hand man informs him about a large cocaine shipment that has arrived. Jackie refuses as it belongs to the rival gang. Pasupathy comments on jackies old age and wants to do this deal on his own. This is where the story begins and everything goes wrong for Pasupathy thereafter




Kodukapulli and Kaalayan are a father son trying to make a living in madras. Kaalayan is having a drink with the drug dealer(The one who has the package) and the Drug dealer dies suddenly and Kaalayan is left with the drug package. Kodukapulli wants to make money out of this because there is no livelihood left and his dad had lost all money gambling this is where Pasupathy and Kodakapulli meet. The relationship between Kaalayan and kodakapulli is beautifully portrayed, though the son is mad at his dad for all his doings he has a inner feeling for him. At the end when he talks to pasupathy about him and also when he beasts his dad with stones and finally hugs him and cries tells us that even though he hates his dad he does feel for him inside.

Meanwhile Pasupathy is chased by his own men and Gajendran's men and his wife held captured by Singaperumal. He is an impossible situation and how he gets out and turns it to his own advantage is the later part. There is a lot of quirkiness is the film when pasupathy narates the story of gajendra and the Chase scence  where he says " like the bodhi tree for budhha a chase for a gangster" and finds enlightenment after that. I can't help comparing to Taranantino in some of the aspects.

Sappa( played by Ravi Krishna) plays a timid member of Singaperumal's squad he is always bullied around by all the other guys his only friend in the gang is Pasupathy and Subbu(the mistress of singaperumal played by yasmin Ponnappa). No one knows that Subbu and sappa are having an affair. At the end Subbu reveals her true nature and kills both singaperumal and sappa and walks out with a loads of money . There is a mention of woman in the film at the beginning and it's well connected to the end.

The film has real quirk dialogues which adds to the scene. The scene in the car where pasupathy's guys turn against him and he says" if u are in a dog's role your bark " to this pasupathy says " if you are in a dogs role you can even wag your tail".There is also the scene with Gajendran speaking to the corpse of the drug dealer " if you haven't died i would have killed you!!"

Though the film has no songs as such the background score is superbly done. The director's liking to the ilayaraja's 90s music. In most of the scenes like the care stereo at singalperumals room we can see this. In the Chase scene where pasupathy get enlightened and at the end  ,we can see the brilliance of yuvan. The cinematography and the editing needs a big mention. The sciences are captured with absolute beauty  and perfectly cut. The gangster's car need a special comment as well the black and the red contessas works well with the movie's theme.

Verdict:

A cult classic that what I would call it.  A must watch for all the gangster film fans not only for Tamil film fans but all people who like a good quality film.  All the cast perform their role brilliantly. I hope that this film will be remembered for a long long time and the director continues his brilliant work.

About the film's production:

Directed by  debutant Thiyagarajan Kumararajan and produced by S.P.Charan, this film was made under very difficult conditions for the producer and was finally released. Though it did not meet as much commercial success as expected it was well received by critiques.It also bagged two national awards!! The director now has done script consultancy for Yenna Arindhal and is working on his next project.