Mild spoilers ahead…

A director finally gets to tell the story he’s been waiting to tell from the beginning of his career. The epic that’s been with him all these years, is finally here for our consumption. It starts in the year 1987, in an old hotel. Four local rowdies are sharing a smoke, with blood all over them. It is a moment of calm after a storm. They’ve just killed a bigshot. But only we can sense that this is actually the calm before the storm, as the saying goes. What follows is a tale of fate that will decide the lives of countless others who had nothing to do with this murder.

But Vetrimaaran wants to tell the story of only one particular guy’s fate from those “countless others”. This is Anbu, a boy of the locality, who seems to have a gut feeling that this death is going to change his life. He grows up to be a carrom board player who aims to play the sport at national level. Dhanush as Anbu, holds his ground throughout. Even his internal explosions don’t reflect on his face. He fights like a warrior made out of stone. In the flashbacks, he’s more “loose” and has the flair of a… you know, Dhanush. But then happens that life-changing night where he gets blood on his hands for the first time. From that moment on, he’s never the same again. This reflects very prominently on his personality. He barely speaks during his tenure in prison. He’s in there for a purpose, an obligation he owes to someone. You might not be able to read into him there, because you don’t know his story yet. The film sure does sell the need for that story, with constant mentions of enmity, and well-timed flashbacks. Also, the actors make you want to see more of the characters they are playing. The line we hear from another person defines a third. Guna (Samuthirakani) explains to Anbu how no one should be held accountable for life or death. Thambi’s (Daniel Balaji) life seems to be functioning on this philosophy. How else would you explain his indifference to his elder brother’s murder? These ideas come across because the actors wield a whole lot of conviction in their performances.

With quite familiar tropes of backstabbing and deceit, Vetrimaaran puts all his faith on the sincerity of his characters, regardless of whatever shades they have in them. He doesn’t function in twists, and even when he does, he mounts the scene as a great action set piece first. This is the interval block, where loyalties are supposed to be revealed, and he goes all guns blazing with superb staging. A fight breaks out inside the covers of a pandhal that has been brought down, and a character reveals his true shades in there, and we see sunlight beam right onto his face through the torn cloth. Covers have been blown, the mole has come to the light. The moment suddenly feels heavier than it actually is because of such imagery. There’s this scene in the second half, where a certain piece of information is held back in a gathering of people. Here too, the staging provides for an intense moment where we get to feel the precarious position Anbu is in, right down to the bones. Also, special mention for all the long takes in the film – they are masterfully directed.

Some characters throw surprises that are, at times, overshadowed by the pace. Guna and Senthil might be your good old selfish conspirators, but the former has a set of beliefs where he will only smuggle goods that benefit the people and not stuff like drugs that would have adverse effects on them. These people are sketched as thick as the events they are featured in. Rajan (a functional Ameer in a rather one-note character) operates with a vision, and can see through the bullshit being fed by politicians. He thinks ahead in time, and thus is an influence for the people growing up around him. Him handing over a binocular to the inquisitive Hameed can be seen as a seed being laid for the future. He wants him to see further ahead of what’s happening around him, and it’s the same kid who grows up to see through the bullshit of the system and files a petition against the extension of roads in their area. He is backed by Anbu who carries the same ideals as Rajan did back in the day. These boys grow up watching him build and be dethroned, and are finally getting to implement his foundation. The past is being repeated, and there’s a stone-cold Chandra (a fitting Andrea) who is literally living in the shadows to facilitate the same. It almost reads like a prophecy. In fact, we do see a soothsayer in the mix, but even she gets brushed away by – the biggest problem of the film – the rapid cutting.

The film could have easily been 20 minutes longer for how it fails to dwell on certain moments and rushes to the next sequence. There are instances where dialogues overlap narration, and scenes end abruptly, thus resulting in emotions remaining unsold at those places. This is some haphazard editing. The film needs to be anchored at various moments, but what we have here is a speedboat that seems to be off on a race to some finish line. Even Vetrimaaran’s poised voice doesn’t come to help here. I am sincerely hoping we get some sort of a director’s cut, as this version blatantly looks like a trimmed one. The screenplay should look like it is breathing.

Santhosh Narayanan’s brilliant score blends right in to the stakes of the story. Note the funeral scene that is set to the Vada Chennai theme. Chandra’s head is boiling, denoted by the ominous vocals. She snaps out of it, the track goes silent. Then she breaks down with the body, and we get to hear a mourning lullaby of sorts. We then see how a small kid is witnessing this moment and senses that something about his life is going to change – cue in trumpets for the main portion of the track. It is amazing how he positions this as the moment to derive the theme for the rest of the film. It packs a punch both on story level and musical terms.

In retrospect, this is a venture that doesn’t disappoint with its vision, for it is a bloody engaging tale that sets up the stage for a grander sequel. Even the ambitions of the characters are on the ascending here. Guna and Senthil are warring to become the local bigshot, while Anbu is preparing for bigger battles that’ll bring enemies who hail from the outer world. So we got Anbu’s inevitable fate in this first installment, and now we’ll be seeing him taking control of the same. “Aadukalam” may have simply provided the feeling of watching an epic, but this is one in its truest sense. I can’t be any more glad for Vetrimaaran, Dhanush and Tamil cinema. All this film needed to do was to set a trilogy up and running, and I can confidently say that it has pulled it off in a fair way. This film deserve its sequels.