vetrimaran dhanush film

Every Vetrimaaran Film Ranked

Tamil filmmaker Vetrimaaran belongs to one of those breeds of director whose tight scripts, apt casting, and realistic treatment of storyline has made fundamental changes to the very nature of mainstream filmmaking. His films are made for a multi-cultural audience and backed by the strength of their storytelling and sculpted dialogue, which has reinvigorated the art of popular cinema with a breath of fresh air.

Related Read to Vetrimaaran Films: Every Lijo Jose Pellissery Film Ranked

Each of the films is imbued with a powerful, coherent aesthetic that guides viewers through a dark matrix. At its best, it augments a captivating narrative and sinks viewers into a world of social realism of rural Tamil Nadu. Even urban reality is being depicted showcasing more fallible and life-like characters. The cinema of the carnivalesque with its larger-than-life characters, melodramatic orientation and highly romanticized canvas is something that does not whet his appetite for creativity.

With a filmography of five features and one short film as a director, he has earned his reputation as the most one of the most accessible filmmakers of the last decade. His style involves artistically thriving with a soothing pace lending itself to an atmospheric work filled with oneiric undertones. Some viewers may find his films brutal and gut wrenching as it gets; yet, despite its ruthless depiction, it’s also surprisingly heartwarming.

5. Polladhavan (2007)

Vetrimaaran’s debut feature film opens up with a gruesome and brutal fighting sequence and then using the device of flashback, the filmmaker takes us into the dynamic world of contemporary Chennai, where an educated young man, Prabhu ( Dhanush ) fight injustice and in the process is forced to unleash the animal within him.

Also, Read: Every Sriram Raghavan Film Ranked

The protagonist of the film is an uneducated youth who due to turn of events confronts his father (Murali) and an argument regarding the responsibilities of parents towards their offspring ensues. As a result of this conflict, Prabhu gets a hefty amount from his father and he uses the money to purchase a Bajaj Pulsar bike. This appears to be a wise investment because owning the vehicle enables him to get a job and earn respect in society. But the situation takes a drastic turn when a gang of anti-socials steals his bike. Thereafter the film presents the viewers with the transformation of resilience into power and its hold over the life of an individual’s struggle to maintain his position in the harsh reality of everyday life.

The plot of the film has similarities with Wang Xiaoshuai’s Bejing Bicycle (2001). But the well worked out mise-en-scenes of Polladhavan makes it an entertaining tale of a casual urban carefree person’s conversion into a person of genuine worth and true dignity. Polladhavan was remade in Kannada as Punda, in Telugu as Kurradu starring Varun Sandesh, in Sinhala as Pravegeya, in Bengali as Borbaad (2014) and in Hindi as Guns of Banaras (2020). But none of them could achieve the excellence earned by the original version.

4. Visaranai (2016)

Based on the Tamil novel Lock Up by M. Chandrakumar, Vetrimaaran’s third outing in its first half has such brutal scenes of police torture that one could genuinely feel the bestial act of police torture. The viewers are compelled to cringe as well as empathize with the plight of four helpless souls. The narrative of the film can be divided into two sections-before and after the intermission. Four migrant workers are falsely accused in a burglary case that has taken place at a rich and affluent man’s bungalow. The police beat these four characters in black and blue and want them to confess. Not able to withstand the pain they agree to accept the charges. Once they are produced in the court the narrative of the film takes a twist and the viewers are presented with one shocking surprise after the other.

Related Read to Vetrimaaran Films: Salt Of The Earth (1954) : A Landmark American Independent Cinema On The Working Class  

The filmmaker displays superb craftsmanship and commitment to an engaging dramatic tale that ends in a tragedy. The film subtly depicts that the characters in the film become a victim because of the system that protected the criminal over the accuser. It is a deeply troubling film that is devoid of cathartic and healing moments. Vetrimaaran does not feel hesitant in constructing the brutal scene with ease and he is neither afraid to carve out its own unique style.

The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Amnesty International Italia Award. Back home it had won three National Film Awards- Best Feature Film in Tamil, Best Supporting Actor and Best Editing.

Watch Visaranai (2016) on Netflix

3. asuran (2019).

What becomes the last resort for a farmer who goes on the run with his family as he is compelled to protect his son, who has murdered a wealthy upper-caste landlord in a fit of vengeance? The reply should be to fight with the oppressing forces and reclaim his identity. That is exactly what Sivasaami (Dhanush) does to break away from the uncomfortable social status he has inherited. Based on the novel Vekkai by Poomani, Vetrimaaran’s screen adaptation is so watertight that every occurrence in the screenplay feels alluring.

Related Read to Vetrimaaran Films : Asuran (2019) Review: Rise, Asuran, Rise!

With Asuran Vetrimaaran continues his excellent cinematic flair as a director enhancing his commendable grasp on the tropes of mainstream cinema. The film also benefits from technical polish – the cinematography, background score and editing are all top-notch. Asuran too has gut-wrenching violence and prepares the viewer for the edge-of-seat tension. The narrative follows a rhythm where the plot is revealed without wasting much of the screen time. The film belongs to the genre of revenge saga told from the perspective of a lower caste protagonist.

It’s one of those mainstream films that fulfill a social purpose, for it’s hard to imagine anyone viewing Asuran and not abhorring the evil practice of casteism in our country and how it voluntarily degrade human values and status. At the Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards, 2020, Vetrimaaran won the award for best director. The film had won two National Film Awards- Best Feature Film in Tamil and Best Actor.

Read the Complete Review of Asuran (2019) Here

Watch asuran (2019) on prime video , 2. vada chennai (2018).

A tale of criminal activities narrated in a non-linear pattern over the span of more than a decade is the perfect recipe for a crime sage. Vetrimaaran’s narrative takes the viewers on a journey that lasts for nearly a hundred and sixty-four hours and introduces them to the world of guilt, regret and vital decisions leading to loyalty turned into betrayal. The protagonist of the film Anbu (Dhanush) is an expert carrom player but his life gets entwined into the world of crime. He gets pulled into the vortex so deeply that penitence alludes to him after a point in time.

Related Read to Vetrimaaran Films : Top Tamil Movies of 2018 and Where To Watch Them

With a multiple cast the story of the film is set in the underbellies of North Chennai as the title of the film implies and the theme of the film is more nuanced than the conventional black-and-white morality tales where evil is punished by good at the end. The film blatantly showcases the graphic world of crime and violence, investigates the nature of friendship, the ethics of vigilantism, and the nature of unhappiness. Vetrimaaran delves deeply into the minds of his tortured characters and explores how the men and women he depicts grapple with moral codes and their emotions.

He further engages with many of the most basic questions about our humanity and how we relate to one another in a complex world. The stylistic elements in the film earn comparisons, bearing marked connections to several of Vetrimaaran’s other films. The film won the Best Film (People’s Choice Award) at the Pingyao International Film Festival, 2018. At the Filmfare Awards South, Dhanush won the trophy for the Best Actor.

Read the Complete Review of Vada Chennai (2018) Here

Watch vada chennai (2018) on disney hotstar, 1. aadukalam (2011).

As the roosters combat in the arena with each other, it becomes a fight of the egos of the individuals who own the fowl. So, when Karuppu’s rooster emerges victorious he not only earns a lot of money but also the enmity of his boss Periyasamy (V. I. S. Jayapalan) and Rathnasamy (Naren). And from then onwards the life of our protagonist will be filled with one hurdle after the other as the tale of loyalty, self-esteem, deception, and honor unfolds.

Related Read to Vetrimaaran Films : 10 Great Tamil Movies You Can Stream On Netflix Right Now

In his sophomore, Vetrimaaran presents a varied cultural pattern of rural Tamil Nadu and uses realism, tradition, and contemporaneity, soaked in local flavor within the narrative structure of his tightly structured screenplay. The conflicts introduced within the plot points create tension by employing smart conventions that are able to sustain the viewer’s anticipation. The editing pattern of the film creates a commendable pace and multi-layered visual design that heightens the impact of the film. Though the filmmaker has openly admitted that he was inspired by the dogfighting scene of Amores Perros (2000), Vetrimaaran has infused his own style and poise within the film, which is anything by blatant copy.

Despite having strong content and potential for box-office success, filmmakers from another region could not dare to remake the film until now. The reason being the milieu of the film is so rooted in the soil of Tamil Nadu and that makes it the best film in the oeuvre of Vetrimaaran’s impressive career. At the 58th National Film Awards, the film won five awards-Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Special Jury Award for Acting.

Special Mention: Oor Iravu (2020)

Oor Iravu is a part of the Tamil anthology drama Paava Kadhaigal (2020). Owing to its shorter running time, I have included it in the category of special mention. On the surface level of its narrative, the film depicts the tale of a daughter Sumathi (Sai Pallavi) who had eloped from her village and now she has reunited with her father Janakiraman (Prakash Raj). But as the story of the film moves forward we discover the sensitivity and intricacies of the complex human psyche of individual characters within the film.

Also, Read: Paava Kadhaigal (2020) Netflix: Sinful Filmmaking under the Garb of Hard Hitting Social Drama

Vetrimaaran treated the film with a style that is bold and innovative with the choice of a subject in which the form and content merge into one. The pacing is not fast like his other films rather it is a slow study of how Sumathi’s drastic decision had impacted the lives of various members of his family. Vetrimaaran did not deviate from his usual style of narrative exploration but he has brought an understated rhythm to the unfolding of the events.

There is a kind of freshness in his approach and courage displayed in choosing to build a film around the brutal concept of associating the honor of the family with the sanctity of a woman. The film ends on a depressing note as we realize that such evil things are a reality and will continue to happen unless and until the evils of casteism are not obliterated from our society.

Watch Oor Iravu (2020) on Netflix

Vetrimaaran links : imdb , wikipedia, trending right now.

Dipankar Sarkar is a freelance writer on various topics related to cinema. His articles have appeared in Scroll, The Hindu, Livemint, The Quint, The Tribune, Chandigarh, Upperstall, and vaguevisages.com amongst others.

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Ranking Vetrimaaran Films — From Polladhavan to Viduthalai Part 1

Ranking Vetrimaaran’s films — excluding the short films he made — can feel like picking a winner from a competition of despair. And yet, because of the artistry, his films end up challenging his own filmography; building on his flaws, adopting newer visual languages to express older tropes of a violent world. 

Beginning with Polladhavan (2007), his films increasingly hold you in a brusque, violent, and breathless chokehold. Visaranai (2016), his third and most celebrated film, which was even sent to the Academy Awards as India’s nomination, is best described as a relentless marathon of brutality. Every time you think the film has let go, like steam released from a pressure cooker, the plot tightens into lashings and screams.

That none of this violence feels gratuitous is because of how normal violence feels in the world Vetrimaaran creates on screen. When characters die, they just do. When they are violated, they just are. Is this violence repetitive? Yes. But does it feel repetitive? No, because his films are not hinged on stylized violence. He doesn’t need to find innovative ways to stage it, since his films are about the contexts in which violence begins to feel like an everyday phenomenon — brutal but, like air, everywhere. It is these contexts that keep changing — from Madurai to Vada Chennai (North Chennai), Andhra Pradesh to the forested hills of Tamil Nadu — and the violence remains unsettlingly natural to all of them. 

6) Polladhavan (2007)

The opening credit of “non-linear editor”, the voiceover narration, and the opening shot yanking you into a flashback in Polladhavan — Vetrimaaran’s debut film is preoccupied with time flipping over itself, bending, contorting, staring at a bloody present and then tracing backwards to how we reached this bloodbath. The film follows the fallout after its happy-go-lucky protagonist Prabhu (Dhanush) loses his bike, and comes in contact with first an insecure underworld and then the inefficient blackhole of the police station.  There is a visual recklessness, almost a disenchantment with stillness in the film. When the image does become still, it is usually like a jerk — either a photograph or a forceful pausing of the frame. Here is a director who refuses to be bound by conventional framing and narrative. He will bung in two narrative voiceovers — what Preston Sturgess called “narratage”. He will place the camera between two vessels on the gas, the foreground of coffee being flipped from tumbler to tumbler, with Prabhu entering from behind. 

Polladhavan is dated in the sense that you see a director struggling with his style and the template that he wants to both tap into and wreck open — the grating dream songs of love and amorous celebration in a disco, for example. Vetrimaaran himself said in an interview with Film Companion , “From Polladhavan , I learnt I should never make a film like that.”

5) Aadukalam (2011) 

We begin in the present, but return to it only in the last half hour of this film. Karuppu (Dhanush) is a masterful cockfighter, but the Othello-like machinations of jealousy lead his mentor (played by V.I.S. Jayapalan) to exact violence by slowly chipping away at Karuppu’s reputation through gossip and cross-speak. And yet, as Karuppu’s fortunes balloon, his love for his mentor is never challenged. His mentor’s rejection of him never translates to Karuppu’s resentment. It is the kind of mythological devotion Ekalavya showered on Drona — one incapable of rancour. Blind love, as director Vetrimaaran notes in an interview with Film Companion , can be most dangerous.

The “centrepiece” — where Karuppu has to make his cock fight, not once, but thrice in the dust-flung competition,— is a grunting, unending tapestry of tension. It cemented Vetrimaaran as a director with a vision that drew from the well of Cine Madurai violence while cutting against it, stamping his distinct visual style, his trademark panting exposition in the beginning and his casual irreverence towards heroism. In the first “action scene” Karuppu is given, the camera is static, staring at the fight like a spectator, watching as Dhanush’s lithe frame tries to pummel the goons.

Aadukalam ends with Karuppu escaping the scene with his Anglo-Indian lover (Taapsee Pannu), not wanting to explain himself to those who have misunderstood  him or been manipulated into believing incorrect things about him. It’s a rare, mature narrative closing that shows a protagonist who is okay being thought of as wrong, even though he was wronged. If that means keeping the memory of his mentor — who orchestrated the manipulation — unsullied, so be it. 

4) Visaranai (2015)

Visaranai felt like an aesthetic sharp-turn for Vetrimaaran, showing us that as a director, he is capable of patient storytelling, linear storylines; neat, spare flashbacks, that unfold at the pace of life, without sizzling it up or slurring it down. The only throbbing background score in the film is that of ominous rain and crickets.

Perhaps, because the film is based on events that are true and shocking, Visaranai looks as though it is “captured” and not “shot” as a film (look at these violent words used to describe cinema). It does not even have that “centrepiece” moment of bloodshed that Vetrimaaran usually places carefully somewhere in the middle. It does not need it. The film, based on accounts of police custodial violence — first in Andhra Pradesh to poor Tamil Nadu migrants, then in Tamil Nadu to a white collar auditor — yanked from M. Chandrakumar’s novel Lock Up , is brimming with blood. The centrepiece, if anything, is that moment of quiet, of silence, of hope, that comes in little snatches before it is pulled away. 

The cinematic virtue of this film is its relentless violence which never feels gratuitous. What differentiates one from another? Here is violence treated as life — without drama, without emphasis. A rare restraint that nonetheless produces horror unlike in another film — by Vetrimaaran or anyone else. 

3) Vada Chennai (2018)

With Vada Chennai , Vetrimaaran returns to the titular North Chennai where he shot his debut film. This time, however, there is more blood, more history, and more politics, and a richer, denser world full of human foibles and fumbles. The detailing is more vivid — like prisoners snorting lizard tails to get high. The violence is more structural — it telescopes its attention on a neighbourhood over time, not a group of friends like in Visaranai .  

Like Aadukalam , Vada Chennai starts with bloodshed, which it returns to in the last half-hour. Unlike Aadukalam, this structure feels perfunctory, because the beginning is almost forgotten in the blitzkrieg of rat-a-tat action centred around Anbu (Dhanush), a sincere carrom player, who gets caught in the crossfire of a gang war that he further curdles and erupts. 

This is a hypnotic movie, moving across time, back and forth, sometimes a flashback within a flashback. If you pause the film, turn and ask what year the events are taking place, it takes a moment because of how much is churning in the story. The death of M.G. Ramachandran and Rajiv Gandhi are used as temporal walking sticks to help us wade through the film. The original cut for Vada Chennai was 5.5 hours long, and the reason we feel scenes end abruptly with moments often collapsing as they begin, is because of the unsparing edit to bring it down to 2.5 hours. The action, the relentless throw of context, dialogue, and exposition, keeps you afloat, as though you were being swept away in an furiously rushing river. 

What sets Vada Chennai apart is not just Anbu as an ambivalent hero who is swept into heroism by circumstances, but a hero who is unsure of who is right and who is wrong. He expresses this moral dilemma to his wife in a moving scene. There is a sense that if this film was narrated from another perspective, it might easily flip the moral labels we have slapped on characters. That a film allows its characters this latitude is a triumph of an expanded, exploded imagination — both moral and literary. 

2) Asuran (2019)

Both Vada Chennai and Asuran are, perhaps, the most cinematic of Vetrimaaran’s films — with a slow-motion pay-off that belongs to the masala template, lodged comfortably alongside the various Vetrimaaran-isms. Both insert their intermission after a rousing action sequence that disarms you with its style and emotional punch. However, while Vada Chennai is impatient in its storytelling — by narrative design and editorial desperation — Asuran digs deeper. 

The first shot of the film, of a moon among milky clouds, crumples when feet are placed over it — we realise that we were seeing a reflection of the moon over still water, which is now being trampled over by escaping feet, that of Sivasaami (Dhanush) and his son Chidambaram (Ken Karunas). Chidambaram has just hacked the man who murdered his elder brother — an act of vengeance that dislocates his family, who are now fugitives. 

Asuran perfects a lot of Vetrimaaran’s pursuits — the mass film without the mass conventions. There is no hero entry scene. There is, instead, the intermission block. There is no hip dangling love. There is, instead, trauma and affection. Humour does not exist, distilled in the form of a separate character, like a court jester. It is baked into the exchanges. There is no beauty, no polish. There is a harsh abruptness with which scenes transition. And yet, Asuran has packed in it the most potent scenes of grief and redemptive violence. It is Vetrimaaran allowing his films to char your heart, not just your senses. The second half gives the origin for Sivasaami’s docile nature, one that he has arrived at after a youth of bloodshed that left him orphaned and without love. This mirroring of the two halves is another beautiful Vetrimaaran-ism — from the slippers, to the heroism, to the tragedy that culminates in an escape. It is easy to dismiss this film as templated, but there is a reason templates have survived the onslaught of genre, taste, and time shifts. That it is predictable does not take away from what an artist can do with and within that predictability. Asuran is Vetrimaaran’s most emotionally staining — not draining, but staining — film; its violence lingering as hurt, not horror. 

1) Viduthalai Part 1 (2023)

In one sense, Viduthalai is the culminating artistic collaboration between Vetrimaaran and cinematographer Velraj, who has lensed all of Vetrimaaran’s films except Visaranai . The opening shot of around 10 minutes takes us, in one sweeping, single take, through the debris of a train bombing. The sheer audacity of the scene, the lubricated ease with which the camera slides, both vertically and horizontally, sets the stage for Kumeresan (Soori), a kind-hearted police officer who has been sent to the forested hills as part of a police force that is trying to weed out an extremist group. It invokes awe while depicting horror. The dense prologue, the unfussy heroism of Vetrimaaran are both here. The politics is just as long winded and stiff — like how Vada Chennai questioned development, here, too, the story hinges on how the state uses development as a cover for profiteering; the police, here, too, are brutal beasts. Love comes as a reprieve — both to the character and the narrative. 

But what marks Viduthalai apart is how it makes violence seem so routine, Vetrimaaran isn’t even interested in sharpening it. There is a blunt relentlessness to it. It is not that the director can’t show violence that whips our moral sense of the world. It’s just impossible to fixate and linger on violence the way he did in the previous films. In Visaranai what was happening to a group of friends, in Asuran what was happening to a family, is, in Viduthalai happening to a whole movement of people. Vetrimaaran employs a disenchanted cutting away from these moments before their full impact is even felt, for the impact is not in its festering but in its unrelentingness.

If you notice closely, these rankings are in the order of Vetrimaaran’s filmography, suggesting that, at least artistically, he seems to be streamlining ahead, a swift, sure motion away from where he first began. 

Related Stories

30 Best Dhanush Movies And Where To Watch Them

Published on.

Shaurya Singh Thapa

Official JustWatch writer

One of the highest-paid Indian superstars, multiple National Award winner, and a titan in contemporary Tamil cinema, Dhanush amasses a gargantuan fandom in the country. If you too count yourself as a Dhanush fan, then we have got the ultimate ranking for you along with a handy guide to stream them all. 

But first, read ahead if you wish to glance at his career before you start to watch his best movies. 

2000s to 2010s: Rise to Tamil Stardom 

You can watch Dhanush’s screen debut in the 2002 release Thulluvadho Ilamai, a coming-of-age drama directed by his father Kasthuri Raja. This lauded performance was followed by other iconic roles like a man seeking revenge for his stolen bike in the action drama Thulluvadho Ilamai, a lovesick middle-class youngster in the rom-com Yaaradi Nee Mohini, and his National Award-winning turn as a rooster fight organiser in the drama Aadukalam. Both the first and last movies mentioned were directed by Tamil auteur Vetrimaran, a crucial collaborator for several iconic projects in Dhanush’s career. 

Post-2010s Dhanush: The Star Becomes More Mature

From the mid 2010s onwards, Dhanush began to display a more nuanced range in his roles and began picking up movies that were not just massy entertainers but also carried some socio-economic merit. While he continued starring in romances, crime thrillers and comedies like the acclaimed Maara series, Dhanush’s transition to more serious roles is evident in films like his later Vetrimaran collaborations: the period crime noir Vada Chennai (which still awaits a sequel) and the anti-caste action drama Asuran (that earned Dhanush another National Award for Best Actor). The 2010s also marked his directorial debut with the slice-of-life romance Power Pandi.

The ‘Why This Kolaveri Di’ Effect

Apart from his acting, Dhanush is also known all over the country (and arguably even the world) for his absurdly hilarious musical debut “Why This Kolaveri Di”. A humorous heartbreak ballad recorded for his movie 3 (which was directed by then-wife Aishwarya Rajinikanth), the accompanying video for the song became an massive viral hit in 2012 and emerged as the first Indian video to cross 100 million views on YouTube. With its nonsensical lyrics and Anirudh Ravichander’s peppy production, the Dhanush song continues to dominate Indian pop culture.

Dhanush’s Bollywood Projects

Dhanush made his Hindi-language debut as an obsessive one-sided lover in the tragic romance Ranjhanaa. Dhanush’s other Hindi movies include Shamitabh, a comedy-drama that found him playing a mute actor paired alongside Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, along with the romantic comedy Atrangi Re that reunited him with Ranjhanaa director Anand L Rai.

Dhanush Goes To Hollywood

If not Indian films, you can also watch Dhanush showcase his versatility in two Hollywood movies. First up is his delightful fantasy comedy The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir that found him sharing space with talented performers like Oscar nominee Barkhad Abidi and The Boys star Erin Moriarty. Then, on a bigger scale, Dhanush joined as a morally righteous mercenary in the ambitious Netflix action thriller The Gray Man which starred Hollywood heavyweights Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.

Why Is Karnan Dhanush’s best movie?

Addressing notions of casteism and self-sovereignity, Karnan is a hard-hitting drama that channels the best out of Dhanush. You can watch the actor channel a youthful optimism and then balance it out with some gut-wrenching melancholia. If that’s not enough, Mari Selvaraj’s deft direction also turns Karnan into an effective action drama as the titular protagonist leads his oppressed community to war against their upper-caste oppressors.

Where can you stream Dhanush’s filmography? 

You can watch most of Dhanush’s newer projects on Netflix and Prime Video while the others are available on Sun NXT, Lionsgate Play, Aha, Eros Now, and more.

Karnan, an angry young man, fights for the rights of his oppressed people. Can he save them from those who wield power and weapons?

The teenage son of a farmer from an underprivileged caste kills a rich, upper caste landlord. How the pacifist farmer saves his hot-blooded son is the rest of the story.

Vada Chennai

A young carrom player in North Chennai becomes a reluctant participant in a war between two feuding gangsters.

An assistant maths teacher takes up a tedious task of transforming underprivileged students despite the politics around education in the 90s.

Captain Miller

A man leaves and turns against the British-led Indian military after witnessing atrocity.

Thiruchitrambalam

A guy-next-door tries to find romance in his life while also dealing with his personal problems. How long will it be before he realises what he is looking for is right next to him?

Pettaikaaran is famous in his town for an impeccable track record of successes in rooster fights. When one of his aides, Karuppu, goes against his word in a fight, it leads to an enmity between them.

A small-town boy needs to break through the class divide to gain acceptance from his childhood sweetheart who is in love with big city ideals.

Polladhavan

Prabhu is dejected when he learns that his bike has been stolen. He decides to find the people who stole the bike, but lands in trouble when he realises that his bike has been used to transport drugs.

Pudhupettai

After seeing his mother dead, a young boy runs away and is later recruited by a gangster. After becoming the right hand man of his employer, he makes serious enemies and everyone starts targeting him.

Kadhal Konden

A genius-yet-introverted orphan, raised by a church priest, is sent to college where he turns out to be a social outcast. Although he is shunned by the majority of the other students, one girl shows him kindness and befriends him. Things take a turn when he falls for her, and she in turn falls for another classmate.

A mute, aspiring actor joins forces with a man who has a powerful voice. Together they take the film industry by storm, but will their egos get in the way?

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir

Ajatashatru Lavash Patel has lived all his life in a small Mumbai neighborhood tricking people with street magic and fakir stunts. He sets out on a journey to find his estranged father but instead gets dragged on a never-ending adventure.

Velaiyilla Pattathari

Raghuvaran, who is unemployed for years, gets his dream job but a powerful rival is keen to put him down. Can he take on his adversary?

Mayakkam Enna

Karthik splits his time between aimlessly hanging around his friends and dreams of being an assistant to his role model, an arrogant yet world renowned wildlife photographer. When Karthik's close friend Sundar introduces his girlfriend Yamini to their group, they can't stand each other initially, but there lies the twist, when opposites attract.

‘Power’ Paandi, once a legendary stunt master who ruled the world of film stunts in his prime years is now content in living a peaceful life with his son and grandchildren. But he soon realizes that his acts that he thinks is normal and righteous, constantly irks his son who seems to taking their relationship for granted. One such overblown tiff with his son drives him to go do some soul searching, the outcome of which has many unexpected experiences.

Ram and Janani are high school sweethearts who eventually get married. However, Janani is mystified when Ram commits suicide all of a sudden and she tries to find out the truth behind his death.

Yaaradi Nee Mohini

Vasu falls in love with Keerthi, but when he expresses his feelings to her, she turns him down and says that her marriage has already been arranged. He later learns that she is set to marry his close friend Cheenu.

The film is an emotional journey of a common man to an unknown place with the hope to come home and lead a better life. The film revolves around a story of human survival adapted from a newspaper article of a real-life crisis event, when three oil workers from India were kidnapped and taken hostage in Sudan.

A local don locks horns with the new cop, who has come to his place, but both are not what they initially seem to be.

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Why Vetrimaaran is the most interesting director in Tamil films today

Vetrimaaran is arguably among the most interesting filmmaker working in the tamil film industry. here’s documenting his rise and what it takes to be a talent like him..

His production house’s name, Grass Root Film Company, is a clear pointer to Vetrimaaran’s worldview. This Deepavali’s biggest release in Tamil Nadu is, arguably, Kodi (Flag), a political thriller he has produced that stars Dhanush in his first double role, as twin brothers. The twins may be identical but their natures are mutually exclusive. Refreshingly, Kodi casts Trisha as a feisty woman politico, giving Dhanush’s eponymous hero a run for his money.

“For a hero movie, it’s pretty decently written,” pronounces Baradwaj Rangan, film critic and associate editor at The Hindu. “There’s a conflict, there are surprises and even within a commercial film, it’s properly written and directed. It’s not some random moments strung together to get people whistling.”

The film’s premise is how politics and political interests shape communities and the quality of their life. In this case, it involves skullduggery surrounding a factory emitting toxic effluents. It could be happening not too far away from our backyards.

At the Oscars

Vetrimaaran himself, however, was conspicuous by his absence during Kodi’s promos. He has a bigger task on hand. Visaaranai (Interrogation), the part-docudrama, part-crime thriller he directed, is India’s official entry to the 89th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. So he is in the US persuading jurors take note of his film, which has some truly hairy torture scenes. The last Tamil film that made it to the Oscars was 16 years back: Hey Ram starring Kamal Haasan.

Usually, the choice of any film to represent the country at the Oscars polarises critics, but Visaaranai remains largely unchallenged. Rangan agrees. “Visaaranai was a fantastic film.”

It tells the story of innocent migrant labourers picked up and tortured by the police to extract a false confession for a fatal robbery at an influential man’s house. How the film, shot in 42 days on a Rs 2-crore budget and eventually wining three National Film Awards, got made is interesting. After his Aadukalam in 2011, Vetrimaaran had busied himself with his production ventures, Udhayam NH4, Poriyaalan and Kaaka Muttai. When he was prepared to shoot his next, the script he picked was Soodhadi, a story on gambling, proposing Dhanush in the lead role. However, the actor had to take time off to work in Balki’s Shamitabh, being shot in Mumbai.

Vetrimaaran was mooting a book adaptation when director Balu Mahendra’s assistant serendipitously presented him with Lock Up, a riveting, partly autobiographical book written by M Chandrakumar, a former autorickshaw driver. The book, which took five years to write and another four to publish, narrates his harrowing experience while in jail in (then) Andhra Pradesh.

“When I pitched the story to Dhanush, who later produced the film, I said I can only guarantee you a three-day weekend run at the box office. But it’s a low-budget venture; you’ll get your investment back,” Vetrimaaran laughs. “Dhanush was amused, but agreed to fund the project. [I thought] it’s the kind of film that would not bring in repeat audiences. I was proved wrong and it got a good three-week run.”

The author, Chandrakumar, was incarcerated for a fortnight way back in 1983. “Yet his experiences are relevant even today,” points out Vetrimaaran. “Visaaranai reflects a stark reality from which you cannot shut yourself out: that is its success. It was challenging to find the right kind of actors and locations. We employed real stuntmen who could exercise restraint while beating up the actors.”

“What was unique was that there were a lot of first-time actors in the film; that added rawness to it,” says K Hariharan, filmmaker and critic. “Actors like Samuthirakkani and Kishore were entirely on the sidelines. That made it an interesting watch.”

Astutely, the team decided to send it to international film fests right away, confident it would work with foreign audiences. Visaaranai premiered at the Orrizonti section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival, a first for a Tamil film, and won the Amnesty International Italia Award. Crucially, the European audience was exposed to a hitherto unexplored form of Tamil cinema that dealt with grim reality in a non-dramatic but powerful way.

“Europeans have a different policing system. They found my narrative a bit harsh, though they were moved,” explains Vetrimaaran.

A rooted voice

It is Vetrimaaran’s preoccupation with sometimes gritty, sometimes heartwarming reality that makes this 41-year-old one of the best filmmakers of our times.

“The best thing about the regional filmmakers is that they bring in a very ‘native’ feel,” says Rangan. “Like if I watch Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat for instance, I find [elements] that remind me of Vetrimaaran. But that’s more because these filmmakers do these ‘rooted’ things very well. They give you the sense of the atmosphere, the rhythms of life in that particular environment, they take care to bring them alive.”

His critically acclaimed debut venture, Polladhavan (Ruthless Man) in 2007, followed a lower middle-class young man’s search for his stolen bike, an exercise that takes him through the seamy underworld. Four years later came Aadukalam (Arena), a Pongal release that raked in six National Film Awards. The cockfight arena was where love, ego, honour, friendship and betrayal were played out in the rustic backdrop of Madurai.

Says Manimaran, long-time friend and assistant, “Vetri used to like watching cockfights in the neighbourhood in our hometown. So he thought we could develop a story around them.”

There was no doubt about who would play the lead. “I wrote Aadukalam keeping Dhanush in mind,” says Vetrimaaran. “As an actor, he delivers exactly what I need and sometimes more. As a producer, he offers me complete freedom and does not interfere at all. He trusts me completely.”

Rangan explains the Vetrimaaran touch, “There is a world of difference in the way he uses the song and dance elements in Polladhavan and Aadukalam. They have become more organic and rooted; they’re not fantasy elements.”

“I personally prefer Aadukalam to Visaaranai, but it’s like comparing apples and oranges,” says Hariharan. “Aadukalam had a certain kind of warmth and spontaneity. Visaaranai, to me, looked rather staged.”

He explains, “Visaaranai’s [appeal across the world] is that for the first time in Tamil cinema, you see this kind of brute reality without the director taking recourse to a love story or family drama. It’s also interesting that a country like India allowed such a strongly critical film on the system. There’s no doubt that Vetrimaaran is a bold filmmaker.”

Vetrimaaran’s productive chemistry with Dhanush has paid rich dividends. The two went on to produce Kaaka Muttai (Crow’s Egg) in 2015, a subversive film poking fun at what is regarded as cool - pizzas, in this case. This little gem, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, tracks two brothers from a Chennai slum dying to taste a pizza. Directed by M Manikandan with wit, not once is the children’s dignity compromised. Their family struggles in a heartless and corrupt city and soon we find ourselves cheering for our little heroes. Kaaka Muttai pocketed two National Film Awards.

“There is a stamp of quality that people have begun to associate with Vetrimaaran, because even the films he produces are pretty decent,” says Rangan, adding that he looks for, and gets, that certain quality.

Vetrimaaran’s genius lies in shining a light on people we would not even glance at in our rat race. His films show us that ordinary people often lead extraordinary lives if only we stop to talk to them.

Smitten by cinema

Born in Cuddalore near Puducherry and raised in Ranipet, a suburban town in Vellore district, two and a half hours from Chennai, Vetrimaaran was smitten by cinema even as a child. His mother, a writer, ran a school in the area, while his father was a veterinarian. Friends remember him as a film buff who watched every movie that came to town.

“He would bunk classes and watch them, each three or four times. Then he would come to the school ground where we used to hang out until 7:30 in the evening and would retell the whole story to us. My friends and I have actually walked out of the theatre at times because the film was nowhere as good as his narration. He still has that quality,” says Manimaran, his assistant.

Vetrimaaran was in his second year of Masters in English Literature in 1999 when the now-deceased filmmaker Balu Mahendra was invited to judge a short film contest at the Loyola College, Chennai. Shortly afterwards, he attended a seminar conducted by the director and was inspired enough to assist him in Julie Ganapathy, Athu Oru Kanaa Kaalam and the television series Kadhai Neram.

Athu Oru Kanaa Kaalam cemented his friendship with the lead actor, Dhanush, whom he describes as his best friend. While still assisting Balu Mahendra, Vetrimaaran pitched the story of Desiya Nedunchalai, and the actor readily agreed to play the lead.

Recalls Manimaran, “Producers were not hard to come by because we had Dhanush. But a few had misgivings about how Vetri would handle the project as a newcomer. So we tossed aside that script, which I later made into Udhayam NH4.”

The initial years proved to be rough. “I was pitching different scripts to different people for three years and it was the sixth producer who okayed Polladhavan,” says Vetrimaaran on his directorial debut.

Adds Manimaran, who assisted him in the project, “After the film was edited, we were really scared to show it to the producer. We kept stalling the screening telling him it may not have come out as he expected. Finally, when he saw it, he was satisfied. We were relieved and gradually grew confident.”

Pushing for excellence

When Manimaran himself forayed into direction with Udhayam NH4 in 2013, Vetrimaaran returned the favour by stepping in as producer under his banner, Grass Root Film Company. As he puts it, “I want my production house to be a platform for good, interesting ideas. I can find a producer for my films, but others, who may be first-time filmmakers, might have innovative scripts that mainstream producers might not understand. Like Kaaka Muttai for instance.

“I produce films in partnership as I may not be able to afford the entire budget. Dhanush ends up co-producing some of them as our tastes are similar. None of my producers ever ask me for the budget. I always make sure it is within their means and I can give the desired returns.”

For someone who has been successful both commercially as critically, Vetrimaaran has directed only three films in nine years. “For me, every film is a learning process. After each, I take time to unlearn. Then I find new content, learn it completely and then execute it.”

Manimaran describes his working process thus, “Many directors make changes to the script on the spot. But Vetrimaaran is different because he pays attention to detail. He puts in a lot of effort, so there may be last-minute adjustments with lighting and locations. Unlike working with other directors, you need to be available 24 hours.”

Outside of work, the father of two, who met his wife Aarthi while at college, likes to race pigeons, pretty much like the characters he portrays. His rootedness has also led him to voice the germ of an idea: setting up an organic farm eventually.

Rangan describes grit as the definitive quality of Vetrimaaran’s films, and praises his skill in animating the atmosphere in terms of the integrity of the characters, the plot, and the texture. “The way he shapes the characters and writes them, you feel that these are not [just] individual people; you get a sense of where they come from, where they belong. [They’re] not just some random characters floating around.”

His fans are already talking about his fourth film, Vada Chennai (North Chennai), an ambitious gangster trilogy he has been planning since 2003. After undergoing several changes of scripts and stars, Dhanush, Vijay Sethupathi, Amala Paul and Samuthirakkani are among those confirmed on the project that is currently under way. Slated for release next year, Vada Chennai is also bound to have the by-now classic Vetrimaaran stamp.

(Published in arrangement with GRIST Media.)

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Dhanush And Vetrimaaran Not To Be Part Of Vada Chennai Sequel? What We Know

Curated By : Entertainment Bureau

Local News Desk

Last Updated: August 14, 2024, 14:54 IST

Chennai, India

Vada Chennai was a period gangster drama that was released in 2018.

Dhanush and Vetrimaaran earlier announced that they would reunite once for Vada Chennai’s sequel.

The National Award-winning Tamil actor-director duo, Dhanush and Vetrimaaran have churned many blockbusters at the box office. The duo have also cultivated a separate fan base and over the years have developed a great bond. Often they have been credited for each other’s success in the industry. The duo had joined hands for a period gangster drama Vada Chennai in 2018, which earned a cult status and became the highest-grosser for the actor at that point. There were also reports of the director-actor collaborating for the sequel but looks like it may not happen. Vada Chennai was reportedly to be released as a two-part franchise. After the release of the first part, Dhanush and Vetrimaaran announced that they would reunite once again for the sequel. In August 2022, Vetrimaaran confirmed that Vada Chennai 2 was happening. In an interview, he revealed that he was busy with two of his projects, Vaadivaasal and Viduthalai.

Vetrimaaran also added that he would start working with Dhanush, once both his projects were wrapped. This news caused immense joy to the fans of the actor, who were worried that the film might get shelved. Now, reports have emerged that both the actor and director won’t be a part of the sequel and the film’s cast and crew will be revamped.

The latest buzz is that Vada Chennai 2 will not star Dhanush and it will not be directed by Vetrimaaran anymore. Instead, it will be Vetrimaaran’s Assistant Director Karthikeyan, who will be reportedly helming the film and the director will be backing it. An official announcement is awaited by the makers. Reportedly, the sequel will star popular actors like Andrea Jeremiah, Aishwarya Rajesh, Ameer, and others in lead roles.

Vada Chennai was released on 17 October 2018 and produced jointly with Wunderbar Films Lyca Productions and Grass Root Film Company. It was made on a budget of Rs 60 crore. Within two weeks of its release, the film earned Rs 50 crore at the worldwide box office. The film crossed the Rs 6 crore mark at the Chennai box office. Dhanush and Vetrimaaran have also collaborated on films like Polladhavan, Aadu Kaalam, and Asuran.

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‘Vetrimaaran-Dhanush’s next film to be set in the backdrop of KGF’: Producer Gnanavel Raja

Gnanavel Raja, however, did not reveal more information regarding the Dhanush-Vetrimaaran movie, including if he was producing it.

Vetrimaaran and Dhanush are two of the most promising names in the Tamil film industry right now. With back-to-back films that are turning out to be both critical and commercial successes, Vetrimaaran has already become one of the biggest names in the country. On the other hand, Dhanush continues to excite his fans by coming up with projects cutting across language lines. Now, the star director and actor are reportedly planning to join hands for the fifth time with a movie set in the backdrop of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF).

While responding to a question on what his upcoming flick Thangalaan (Dir. Pa Ranjith) was based, producer K E Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green told Behindwoods: “Vetrimaaran is set to begin working on a film about KGF with Dhanush in the lead. Vetrimaaran’s film will be based on his research and findings about the area, while Pa Ranjith’s Thangalaan will focus on his discoveries. Both films might have certain elements that are similar, but what matters is how they present these things from their respective points of view.”

Since Vetrimaaran’s debut as a director in 2007 with the Dhanush starter Polladhavan, the filmmaker and the actor have joined hands multiple times, also for bankrolling films.

Following Polladhavan, Dhanush played the lead role in three more Vetrimaaran films — Aadukalam (2011), Vada Chennai (2018), and Asuran (2019) — all of which went on to become milestone films in Tamil cinema history. Dhanush’s National Film Awards for Best Actor were for his roles in Vetrimaaran movies — Aadukalam and Asuran.

Kaaka Muttai (2015) and Visaranai (2015) which the two produced had also bagged National Film Awards in Best Children’s Film and Best Feature Film in Tamil categories, respectively.

While Dhanush is currently working on Arun Matheswaran’s Captain Miller, Vetrimaaran’s Suriya starrer Vaadivaasal is in its pre-production stage.

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Double iSmart, the sequel to iSmart Shankar, opened strong on Independence Day with Rs 7.35 crore, but saw a drastic 80% drop on Day 2, earning just Rs 1.5 crore. Day 3 collections amounted to Rs 1.25 crore, bringing the nett box-office collection to Rs 10.10 crore. The film faced heavy competition from other releases and had low occupancy rates of 19.49%

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Home » Box Office

Thangalaan Box Office Collection Day 1: Pa Ranjith & Vikram Together Dethrone Dhanush Claiming The Spot For Third Highest Opener Of Kollywood In 2024!

Thangalaan box office has made its entry to the list of biggest tamil openers of 2024, snatching the number 3 position from dhanush..

Vikram’s survival drama Thangalaan opened to a phenomenal number on Thursday despite as many as 8 films releasing on Independence Day. With three major Hindi releases, Stree 2, Khel Khel Mein & Vedaa, the Tamil film found its footing and cemented its position at the box office.

Thangalaan Box Office Collection Day 1

On the opening day, Pa Ranjith’s film collected around 13.30 crore at the box office. This is one of the biggest openings of Tamil Cinema this year. Meanwhile, it earned 4 crore overseas, taking the worldwide collection to 19.30 crore .

Vikam’s last release at the box office, Ponniyin Selvan Part 2, opened at 23 crore in India. His new release, Thangalaan, could not match such a huge number, but he is still ready to set some new records for Kollywood in 2024.

Beats Dhanush To Snatch Rank #3

Thangalaan has made its entry to the list of biggest Tamil Openers of 2024, snatching the number 3 position from Dhanush. The Raanjhana actor was ruling at number 2 and 3 with Raayan and Captain Miller, respectively, but Vikram’s film has pushed Captain Miller out of the top 3.

Here are the top 5 biggest openers of Kollywood in 2024

• Indian 2 : 26 crore
• Raayan: 13.70 crore
• Thangalaan: 13.30 crore
• Captain Miller: 8.80 crore
• Maharaja: 4.70 crore

About Thangalaan

Vikram, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Malavika Mohanan , official synopsis of the Pa Ranjith film says, “Based on the true events that revolve around the lives of mine workers in the Kolar Gold Fields, Karnataka.”

Note:  Box office numbers  are based  on estimates and various sources.  Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.

Check out the latest collections and verdicts of the  Tamil films of 2024 here.

Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office updates!

Must Read: Raayan At The Worldwide Box Office (20 Days): Dhanush’s Revenge Drama Dethrones Kamal Haasan’s Indian 2 To Become Highest-Grossing Tamil Film Of 2024

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Vetrimaaran

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Aattam wins National Award for Best Film, Gulmohar takes Best Hindi Film

National film awards 2024: the malayalam film aattam won the national award for best feature film, gulmohar starring manoj bajpayee, won the best hindi film award..

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• Malyalam film 'Aattam' took home the National Award for Best Film
• Manoj Bajpayee and Sharmila Tagore's 'Gulmohar' won the award for Best Hindi Film
• The 70th National Film Awards were held on August 16

The Malayalam film 'Aattam' won the National Award for Best Film at the 70th National Awards.

Watch the trailer of Aattam here:

Starring Sudheer Babu, Zarin Shihab, and Vinay Forrt, the film marked the directorial debut of Anand. It is currently streaming on Prime Video.

The award for Best Hindi Film went to the Disney+Hotstar film Gulmohar. It starred Manoj Bajpayee and Sharmila Tagore in the lead roles, along with Amol Palekar, Suraj Sharma and Simran. The family drama was directed by Rahul Chittella and written by Rahul Chitella and Arpita Mukherjee.

Sharmila Tagore spoke to IndiaToday.in after her film was felicitated at the awards ceremony.

Speaking over a phone call, Tagore said, "I just got the news and I said what a wonderful journey this film has had from the first award to now. It's been two years, and it's still being recognised. It all started during COVID and the film had a wonderful journey. I was just sitting down for lunch, and I am so over the moon now. I am happy for Rahul [Rahul V. Chittella, director] because he made a wonderful film. All of us have been recognised and appreciated for this film."

The 79-year-old actor also congratulated her co-star from 'Gulmohar', Manoj Bajpayee, who received a special mention at the National Awards for his performance in the film. Published By: Devika Bhattacharya Published On: Aug 16, 2024