'Aaranya Kaandam'
Director: Thiagarajan Kumararaja
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Ravi Krishna, Sampath, Yasmin Ponnappa, Guru Somasundaram, ’Veyil’ Vasanth, Ajayraj
Set in the backdrop of the underworld, ‘Aaranya Kaandam’ takes a shot at the foibles of those caught in the world of crime and their games of survival. Debutant writer-director Thiagarjan Kumararaja(ad film maker), has centered his plot around a bunch of characters who fall victim to their own follies. He depicts with fair realism the dark underbelly of the city and the lust, avariciousness and betrayal in a dog-eats-dog kind of world.
The film has had an international screening, bagging the jury award for the best film at the South Asian Film Festival. Intelligently scripted and engagingly narrated, the characters are well fleshed out in the screenplay. Vinod’s camera captures the raw ambience effectively, while Yuvan Shankar Raja’s background score lends the right mood. The dialogues have a natural feel and sparkle with humour.
The pivotal character is that of Singam Perumal (Jackie Shroff), a ruthless ageing don. Perumal tries to cover up his sexual inadequacy by venting frustration on his concubine. The opening scene has him slapping her hard, after a failed sex-act with her.
Jackie Shroff may have done varied roles earlier, but not as daring or intriguing as Perumal here. He is eminently watchable as he goes about his act with efficiency. The scenes where he is shown as if learning English from a translation book and later when he gleefully says (it’s a) ‘small world’ to his victim, are all for audiences’ delight. The raspy voice has been well dubbed on the actor. Fitting in any role and genre with ease, Sampath captures our attention as Pasupathi who trickily escapes from Perumal’s plots to kill him.
The fights have been ably choreographed, but it’s too violent and thus not for the timid. Perumal’s trusted handyboy, Sappai (played by Ravi Krishna) shrugs off the butt of jokes that taunt his masculinity and sincerely escorts Subbu, Perumal’s young mistress (played by Yasmin Ponnappa), on her outings. When Sappai offers Subbu a new life, it backfires on him badly.
Ravi Krishna has used his body language and voice to good effect and come out well in the emotional scenes too.
Guru Somasundaram (of Koothu-p-Pattarai), is delightful as shabby, perpetually inebriated and garrulous Kaaleyan, who is never tired of talking about his descend from zamindari to penury. Who among these would have the last laugh? The twist in the finale is appreciable. This is the sixth venture of SP Charan’s Capital Film Works. The banner has been associated with quality films and introduced a new director with each film like Venkat Prabhu, Samudrakani.
With ‘Aaranya Kaandam’ (125 minutes), the production house has notched up its image a tad higher. The director has done a perfect balancing act in the movie. The film has an international feel, without losing out on nativity or local flavour. It may have taken a long time to hit the theaters. But it was certainly worth the wait.