Review: Vada Chennai

Film: Vada Chennai
Director: Vetrimaran
Cast: Dhanush, Samudrakani, Kishore, Ameer, Andrea, Daniel Balaji, Aishwarya Rajesh, Pawan and others
Music Director: Santhosh Narayanan
Cinematography: Velraj

For long, Indian audiences have been served films whose stories are usually narrated from a single character’s point of view. These stories do not focus on other characters in a plot and only seek to keep the attention on the lead characters. Even if they focus on certain other characters other than the lead ones, it is for just a while. There have been a few exceptions to this rule but by and large, stories have been told in a straightforward fashion and audiences have usually had no problems making a decision on whose side they are on.

Director Vetrimaran breaks this monotonous approach to story telling with his new and brilliant style of narration in Vada Chennai, which begins with four characters Senthil (Kishore), Guna(Samudrakani), Velu (Pawan) and Java Pazhani, who are busy wiping away the stains off their bloodied hands in a restaurant. It is evident that they have just committed a murder and are delighted as they sincerely believe that the murder will be a solution to all their problems. But little do they know that the murder they have committed is not only going to change their lives and haunt them forever but also the lives of scores of others who are not directly connected with it.

Giving out anymore details will be doing gross injustice to the efforts of a brilliant team that has come up with an exceptionally interesting plot that is told in portions that focus on two or three characters at a time and the equations between them which play an immensely important part in the overall story. Each portion might have other characters of the film strolling in but they dutifully follow in detail only the thought processes, the decisions and the moves of the characters they are showcasing. The net result is that you get an exceptionally interesting, infinitely intriguing plot that leaves you wondering who is right and who is wrong and what is going to happen next.

Be it Anbu’s equations with Chandra or Anbu’s equations with Padma and Rajan or Rajan’s equations with Guna and Senthil or Chandra’s equations with Rajan, Senthil, Guna and Velu, each segment of the first part of the three part franchise elaborates in detail and style the history of each character and their personal traits and characteristics.

For instance, Senthil is ambitious and rates power over loyalty, while Guna rates loyalty over power and position. However, as the film progresses, you begin to realise that this preference for loyalty over power and position that Guna has need not necessarily be the same all the while. With passage of time, it shows how priorities of characters begin to change and in this ever changing, dynamic equation, how the lives of those who have no wholistic view of the situation gets affected. Each character has a unique thought process, with its own motives and ambitions. Each character uses a trait or skill it believes is its strength to achieve its motives. The film beautifully showcases how each character uses one of the many factors namely money, power, position, sex, loyalty and trust to alter the situation in such a way that it benefits them. It also points out how loyalties can change in a matter of minutes and trust

In other words, the film has a mind-blowing plot that is deeply layered and is bound to be a delight for anybody looking to understand human behaviour in its most unadulterated state.
The film has some of the finest performances that one has witnessed on the Tamil screen. These performances make the film even more captivating and command attention.

Dhanush as Anbu is just magnificent. From being a youngster whose priorities are carrom and his girlfriend Padma (Aishwarya Rajesh) to turning into a determined youngster who will do anything to repay an act of generosity to being a naive individual who loyalties could be used to manipulate him to emerging a leader with an understanding that few thought he would gain, the actor is just perfect, showcasing each emotion and each trait to its perfection.

Aishwarya Rajesh is sweet, naughtily wicked and sizziling on occasions. Her chemistry with Dhanush is so compelling and cute that you can’t possible imagine another person playing her role. Kishore is magnificent as Senthil. Initially coming across as a traitor and then later on assuming the role of a gangleader and then going on to be portrayed as a badly wounded gangster confined to his wheelchair, he is absolutely a delight to watch. Andrea as Chandra is mindblowing. The transformation she has undergone for this character takes your breath away and makes you wonder how Vetrimaran even saw this side to an actress who has always given the impression of being a modern, urban girl. Samudrakani, Daniel Balaji and Pawan all impress as well. Each actor is a class act and offers you a treat.

Cinematographer Velraj’s shots, lighting and angles are praiseworthy. Cinematography is so good that you forget that these events are happening on screen and aren’t for real.

In short, the first part of the three part franchise of Vada Chennai seems to have lived up to expecatations. It now remains to be seen if the other two parts too do the same.