Jigarthanda(2014)

Cast: Siddarth, Bobby Simha, Karunakaran, Lakshmi Menon, Aadukalam Naren, Guru Simasundharam, Sangili Murugan.

Plot and Storyline:

Jigarthanda is a Black Comedy drama directed by Karthik Subburaj , it is his second film after Pizza. The film is about Karthik( played by Siddarth) an assistant directed who gets a chance in a reality show to direct a feature film. His producer - Aadukalam Naren asks him to make a gangster flick in the lines of Scarface, Godfather etc. With the help of his uncle who is a lawyer , Karthick knows about Assault Sethu( played by Bobby Simha) of Mathurai. He sets of to Mathurai to learn about 

Sethu and make a film about him.

At Mathurai he meets Oorani( played by Karunakaran) who help him to collect information about Sethu and eventually meet him. Both of them  follow Sethu and their gang members,  they even try to get informatjon about Sethu from Pottikadai Pazhani(played by Sangili Murugan) , a old man who runs a tea joint. They eventually get scared of Sethu after hearing a reporter was killed by Sethu for writing a piece about him in the local daily . They say Pazhani tells this is really scary.
" they say the repofter went to the surgarcane field and burnt him self! What nonsense, its a cold blooded murder..... bloody Murderers"

The director gives the right break to the first half when Sethu Finds about Karthik and Orani and they surround Oorani's House and plan to kill him.  Finally Karthik tells his reason for his travel to Mathurai, after hearing Sethu is very happy, contrary to Karthick's belief and tells his story   for his film( a flashback is included where Vijaysethupathy is Younger Sethu, really Badass Scenes include). 

After lots of filming , interviewing Karthik finally finished his story and plans to leave madhurai, In a sudden twist of events Sethu decides that he wants to do the lead of the film. The rest of film is how Karthik makes the feature film and what happens to Sethu and Karthik after the film.

Jigarthanda was taken as a commercial film, we can clearly see that with its story line with multiple twists and hidden scenes throughout the film especially at the end. But after watching the way it ends,  i think that this film is more than a gangster flick.

Assault Sethu's Character is the highlight of the film, I can say that this is Bobby's most powerful performance as of now. He has done  justice to the villain.I think, the director uses many ideas which are inspired from his life. The character of Pazhani is an example of this. We know about him in the middle when he tells his past( Sivanasen and Kuruvamma was really convincing) to Kartick and ask him not to squander his opportunity. May be Pizza was a because of such a situation faced by the director. I'm just saying!

It's the ending that I don't get , Sethu after getting humiliated through the film is furious on Karthik and wants to kill him. But in the climax he takes to him in gibberish (I don't get what he says) and lets him go. The director now tells the meaning of his actions through a rerun of some of the Scenes where he feels happy after seeing his applause in the theatre, a kid greeting him and his mother taking to him after so many years of silence.

The character of Sethu  is of a cold blooded gangester, a man without empathy or concern that's what Jigarthanda literally means. He transforms into a good person at the end after the film. 
It is truely an inconceivable climax. I could never see the reason for his actions until the end. The director brilliantly hides sethu's other side and opens it up at the very end giving a complete deception.

Verdict:

After seeing the end I sat in the theatre for few minutes trying to understand what has happened. Either this was a truely great story or the director was trying to really put a point across about the current trend in the cine industry. It must be based on true events or atleast an imitation to the real situation in his life( the name of the lead is Karthik and he wins the reality show for film making, very close to the life of the director). It's all possible!

The cinematography is just awesome, the whole setting at Madhurai is done beautifully with rustic locations( the scene in the sugarcane field, the Old Mercedes are just some scenes that come to my mind). The music is another highpoint in the film, it feels like a psycho cowboy - Sethu's intro, all the other songs are filled with superb melody and there is a signature enlightenment track marking Sethu's change at the end. Overall a great Black Comedy entertainer and a great second film for the director.