Visaaranai - Preview.

I had some mild hope that at least in one theatre Visaranai would find a show here in Pune. But sadly, it failed to get even a single show. Literally, it was a heart-breaking moment for a cinephile and Vetrimaran fan like me. A movie which was premiered in major film festivals, got an Amnesty Award in Venice Film Festival but not released here is something I couldn't digest. This is the first Vetrimaran movie I think I'm going to miss it in Theatres. In fact, even in Tamilnadu, Visaranai didn't get many screens in multiplexes, compared to Bangalore Naatkal, Aranmanai-2. All I can hope for now is to wait for an Original DVD with director's cut. And for the guys who are in the cities having Visaranai released in theatres, don't miss it.

And, coming to numerous appreciations, the film got, I consider Priyadarshan and Mani's as genuine of all. This is the first time I am seeing Priyadarshan's speech; I liked his to-the-point comment without a bit of exaggeration.

Mani's comment: Vetri is a COMPLETE director. The word COMPLETE signifies a lot for a director. Although many in the industry carry the tag as a director it doesn't mean they are all directors. Cinema being a Visual Medium solely relies on the director for the execution of the script. Converting a script into an effective film is a heavily taxing task that only a few directors do that like Vetrimaaran. His execution and brilliant film language show enough in his two films - Polladhavan and Aadukalam.

A Sample of Good Film-Making - 1 - Polladhavan.

Let's observe a scene from Polladhavan.

The scene starts with a voice-over Narration from Daniel Balaji which describes his brother's dominance in North Chennai. Once the scene unfolds, we see Anju serving a heavy meal to the gang; and, in another room, the leader of the gang(Kishore) is thrashing his own guy for breaching the code of conduct in their profession - i.e. his men would have attacked the adversary when he was with his family. In between, Kishore gets a call from a person who urges him to take the goods from the harbour soon, in turn, the task is given to a guy named OUT, who is the right-hand of Kishore. But this doesn't go well with Kishore's younger brother Daniel Balaji. When Anju feels for that guy being thrashed and asks Kishore, he replies it is not correct to attack a person amidst their family. He should have waited for that person when he was alone and then he should have gotten rid of him. Finally, when Kishore is about to enter back into the room, his son comes with hands full of dog-poop. This dialog would be kick-ass in native Tamil.

Appa!

What the hell is this?

Naaipee paa(Dog-Shit, Pa)

Why did you bring this?

You only told me to bring this right, to make Maanja(a very important ingredient in making Kites which are made in North Chennai)

The gangster smiles and replies: that should be dry'da not as wet as you have brought. Go and wash the hands.

The scene ends with this.


The scene shows us many information to the viewers: the henchmen rapport with the gangster leader family; Anju's kind feelings for the guy being attacked; Kishore's strong work ethic philosophy; Daniel Balaji's jealousy; Kishore's bonding with his son.


But everything happens in 1.20+ seconds. This is how a film language should be: audience come to get a panoramic view of villain's lifestyle and his family. Not everyone can do with such a brevity unless he has good mastery over film direction (with some brilliant effort from editing too).