Friends and family of victims of custodial brutality never
know what their loved ones went through under the pretext of 'interrogation'.
Visaaranai is for those people who seek to know the truth behind the death of
their beloved and for the general public who just need to know that such
barbaric activities are happening unchecked.
Visaaranai deals with the life of four Tamil youngsters –
Paandi (Attakathi Dinesh), Murugan (Aadukalam Murugadoss), Kumar (Pradheesh Raj)
and Afsal (Silambarasan) who work as labourers in Guntur. The local police are
under heavy pressure to crack a high-profile theft case, in which a few
Tamil-speaking people are involved. To appease their superior officers, the
local police arrest the four friends, who have no house of their own and sleep
in a park, and torture them in order to force a confession. Paandi (Attakathi
Dinesh) remains defiant that neither he nor his friends will accept to
committing the crime and when Inspector Murugavel (Samuthirakanni) comes in aid
of the youngsters when they are produced in the court, all their nightmares
seem to have come to an end. All four
are released and they go to meet Inspector Murugavel, who in-turn asks them to
kidnap a person. The incidents which follow form the main plot of the story.
The top-notch performances delivered by almost all members
of the cast is one of the main plus points in Visaaranai. Attakathi Dinesh
stands out from the rest of the cast and this is possibly the best he has given
as an actor. It is an award-worthy performance as well. Careful career choices,
combined with refinement of his acting skills, in terms of method acting, can
make Dinesh one of the most sought after actors in the Tamil Film industry.
Aadukalam Murugadoss’s comic elements, though basic and of low dose, come in places where the tension
is extremely high and thereby lighten the atmosphere. Samuthirakanni, an
established brand in the new age Tamil film industry plays the role of Inspector Muthuvel,
a cop who tries to be honest but is forced to commit heinous crimes. And he gives
yet another impressive performance. Audience may never forget the sadistic
Inspector Rao, played by Ajay Ghosh. The savagely violent way he hits Paandi is
something which not a lot of people can forget in a short time.
Innovative camera work by S.Ramalingam adds to the success
of the movie. Particularly impressive shots include the torture sequences, the
swamp-chase and the encounter scenes. G.V.Prakash’s musical touch adds the element
of sorrow and pain to the movie.
Kudos to Vetrimaaran for giving a movie which is not going to fail in educating scores of people who have no idea of such cruelty happening. Visaaranai is only his 3rd Movie, but he is proving to be one of the best directors in our country. His ability to extract the required amount of work, which he feels is perfect, from his cast and technicians should be lauded. Creating a screenplay from a book, while retaining its core elements and also adding one's own thoughts is a tough process but Vetrimaaran has nailed it with Visaaranai. The movie is based on a book titled “Lockup”, written by “Auto” Chandran, an auto driver based in Coimbatore. “Lockup” contains Chandran’s experiences of undergoing torture at a Guntur Jail in 1983 and one of the characters in the movie is based on him. Visaaranai is a movie not to be missed and the next time you read about an “encounter-murder” in the newspapers, you will know that not all of it is entirely true, and that there might be a Paandi or a Murugesan involved, who was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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