Review: Vanangaan
For the first time ever, a Tamil film has highlighted the serious issue of women members in a family filing false POCSO cases against a senior male member of the family to extort money in out-of-court settlements.
Film: Vanangaan
Cast: Arun Vijay, Roshni Prakash, Samuthirakani, Mysskin, Ridha, Chhaya Devi, Bala Sivaji, Shanmugarajan, Dr. Yohan Chacko, Kavitha Gopi, Brindha Sarathy, Mai Pa Narayanan, Aruldass, Munish Sivagurunath and others
Writer & Director: Bala
Producer: Suresh Kamatchi
Music Director: G V Prakash Kumar
Production House: V House Productions
DOP: R. B. Gurudhev
Editor: Sathish Suriya
Art Director: RK Nagu
Rating: 3.5 stars
Director Bala makes a strong comeback with his film Vanangaan, which is intense and even brutal but which completely succeds in retaining your undivided attention right till the very end.
The story in brief:
Vanangaan revolves around Koti (Arun Vijay), a speech and hearing impaired person whose life revolves around his adopted sister Devi (Ridha), who has been made an orphan by the devastating Tsunami that struck several countries in 2006.
Koti is aggressive and uncontrollable when he loses his temper and his sister is concerned about it.
There is one other person who is deeply interested in Koti and that is Tina (Roshni Prakash), a tourist
guide whose parents want to get her married to her UK-born assistant and settle down there.
To keep Koti’s anger under check, Devi, with the help of a church priest, takes him to an orphanage for the physically challenged children and gets him the job of a security guard/ helper.
Life is peaceful for a while until one day some visually challenged girls alert him about a concern. What happens then is what the story is all about.
Vanangaan has Bala’s touch stamped all over it. It is gripping, intense, brutal and more importantly, sensible.
Full marks to Bala for choosing to highlight not one but several social issues in a gripping drama that thoroughly leaves you satisfied.
For the first time ever, a Tamil film has highlighted the serious issue of women members in a family filing false POCSO cases against a senior male member of the family to extort money in out-of-court settlements.
It is high time that Tamil cinema started looking at social issues as they are instead of trying to please certain sections of society that portrays itself as being vulnerable and victims to exploit the system.
The film has some outstanding performances coming in from all its cast members but in particular from the lead actors — Arun Vijay, Devi and Roshni Prakash.
Arun Vijay is just brilliant delivering his career best performance in this film. You can literally see rage in his eyes as he fights in every single scene. To be fair, those actors who play the villains too deliver outstanding performances. You get to see the fear of death in their eyes when they realise that they are being chased by a person intent on killing them.
Equally good is Devi as Arun Vijay’s sister. Your heart melts when she pleads with her brother asking him to stop turning violent.
The same can be said of Roshni Prakash, who plays a bubbly, cheeky Tina.
Mysskin delivers a fantastic performance, stealing the spotlight with his brief but impressive portrayal of a sharp and honest judge.
On the flip side, the film has some violent scenes that just might be a little too much for those who are too sensitive.
G V Prakash’s music is on the dot for this crime drama and visuals of Gurudev are a delight to watch.
In all, Bala seems to have made a comeback with Vanangaan, which is a good crime drama to watch this Pongal.
