Visaranai

Visaaranai
File:Visaranai film release poster.jpg Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Vetrimaaran
Produced by	Dhanush Vetrimaaran (uncredited)
Written by	Vetrimaaran
Story by	original story by M. Chandrakumar additional story by Vetrimaaran
Based on	Lock Up by M. Chandrakumar
Starring	Dinesh Anandhi Aadukalam Murugadoss Samuthirakani
Music by	G. V. Prakash Kumar
Cinematography	S. Ramalingam
Edited by	Kishore Te. co-editor G. B. Venkatesh
Production company	Wunderbar Films Grass Root Film Company
Distributed by	Lyca Productions
Release dates	12 September 2015(Venice) 5 February 2016(India)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Visaranai (English: Interrogation) is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language docudrama crime thriller film written and directed by Vetrimaaran based on the novel Lock Up by M. Chandrakumar. Featuring Dinesh, Anandhi and Aadukalam Murugadoss in the lead roles, the film deals with police brutality, corruption, and loss of innocence in the face of injustice.

The film premiered in the Orrizonti (Horizons) section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival, where it won the Amnesty International Italia Award. The film was released in India on 5 February 2016 and received highly positive reviews from both critics and audience alike. Many debates opened up regarding film in Tamil Nadu. At the 63rd National Film Awards, the film won three honours: Best Feature Film in Tamil, Best Supporting Actor for Samuthirakani and Best Editing for Kishore Te.

Cast

• Dinesh Ravi as Pandi Ravi
• Samuthirakani as Muthuvel
• Kishore as K. K.
• Anandhi as Shanthi
• Aadukalam Murugadoss as Murugan
• Alva Vasu
• Ajay Ghosh as Vishveshwara Rao
• E. Ramdoss as Ramachandran
• Munnar Ramesh as Ramesh
• Misha Ghoshal as Sindhu
• Dhaya Senthil as Neethipathi
• Saravana Subbiah as Saravanan
• Muthukumar as Rathnasamy
• Cheran Raj as Goule
• Pradheesh Raj as Kumar
• Silambarasan Rathnasamy as Afzal

Plot

Pandi (Dinesh Ravi), Murugan (Aadukalam Murugadoss), Afzal (Silambarasan Rathnasamy), Kumar (Pradheesh Raj) are homeless Tamil labourers who are working in Andhra Pradesh and living in parks and working to make ends meet. A Tamil man Muthuvel is shown to be undertaking some operation in Andhra Pradesh along with a group of men. The life of the four labourers takes a turn for worse when they are caught, beaten and tortured brutally in police lock-up for a theft they did not commit, due to police's need to close a robbery case they are dealing with. The four resist the torture and refuse to confess, but are forced to give-in due to the police brutality. However, when produced in court, they speak out the true set of events to the judge, who buys their story. They are also able to get release due to help from Muthuvel (Samuthirakani), who is shown to be a policeman, and who helps the convicts go free by translating for them in court and vouching for them. Before the men can leave, Muthuvel enlists their help to kidnap a high profile accountant K.K (Kishore) who has been handling the black money accounts of the opposition party. The men are brought back to Tamil Nadu, and Kumar is dropped on the way.

The remaining three men are asked by Muthuvel to clean the police station before leaving. A deeper plot behind the sequence of events leading to the kidnap unveils, and takes center stage. This kidnap was mastered by the Assistant Commissioner of police (A.C.P), who has taken a bribe of 2 crores from the political party ruling the state, to use Kishore in court and take down the opposition party in the state. Meanwhile, the D.C.P., who is on the payroll of the opposition party, convinces the A.C.P. to play a double game and get 3 crores (30 million) rupees from the opposition party as well. However, buying the A.C.P's bluff, the opposition party fears that Kishore gave up their secrets and orders the D.C.P. to interrogate him, during which he dies. The cops present at the scene and involved in this mess now brainstorm on how to cover it up.

After the discussion, the A.C.P catches Pandi and Afzal in an adjoining bathroom and suspect that they have overheard the cover-up plan by the syndicate of corrupt cops. The cops fearing being publicly exposed by Pandi and his friends who have spoken out in court earlier, decide to frame Pandi and his friends as wanted robbers in an existing A.T.M case, and eliminate them using the cover of a police encounter. Muthuvel, who is fed up with the corruption and immorality of the events so far, is unwilling to cooperate with the other corrupt cops initially, but he is cornered by the others to cooperate since he is too deeply involved now. Fearing Muthuvel's betrayal, a plan is hatched to also eliminate him in the backdrop of the fake story of the police encounter. As a satire on the media and public being easily maneuvered away from the topic of justice, at the end the cops discuss that the issue of the fake encounters can be covered up by diverting the media and public's mind to focus on the death of Muthuvel, and tapping into the public sympathy.

Only the portion shown in Andhra Pradesh (the first half) is said to be real while the rest is fictional.

Production

The film was adapted from novel titled Lock up, written by M. Chandrakumar, an auto rickshaw driver in Coimbatore. Vetrimaaran choosed to begin the film before the schedule for his other venture Vada Chennai (2016) and signed up actors Attakathi Dinesh and Aadukalam Murugadoss to play convicts in the film. The film earlier had the working titles of Kutravaali and Lock-Up, during the first schedule in Guindy. The first half of the film was finished completely in September 2014 in locations across Hyderabad. The director later announced that the film would be an experimental film lasting only 60 minutes. Anandhi joined the cast as heroine in October 2014, being selected after Vetrimaran was impressed with her performance in his production venture, Poriyaalan (2014) and Prabhu Solomon's Kayal (2014). Telugu film actor Ajay Ghosh stated that he played the role of an inspector in the film and would appear throughout the first half.

Critical reception

IndiaGlitz.com had rated the film 4.5 out of 5 and said, "Visaranai is by no means only an art or docu film, but fits into the commercial arena as well as it has thrills, especially a nail biting climax, humour, action, a little painful love story in the background and above all filled with real life incidents which one can easily relate to". Twitch Film viewed Visarnai as a top class film about reality comparable to 2012 Cannes favourite Gangs of Wasseypur. The Hindu wrote "Visaranai is beautifully filmed, though there isn't much room for beauty. The frames appear to have been snatched from the back alleys of life. The verité illusion is aided by the utterly lifelike performances—even if the word “performance” seems wrong.". Rediff wrote "Director Vetrimaaran deserves credit for having extracted the best from all his actors. They are so remarkable you sense their terror as they stutter and stumble with their broken and bruised bodies. The hard-hitting screenplay is relentless, making no effort to shield you from the harsh realities of the ruthless world we live in today." Behindwoods wrote "Some may call Visaranai to be a violent film, while most of the others may say it is a brilliant piece of art that is so real and suspenseful. But if you’re a fan of crime thriller or film that depicts pain, do not miss it!"

Awards

63rd National Film Awards

• National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil
• National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor – Samuthirakani
• National Film Award for Best Editing – Kishore Te

External links

• Visaranai at IMDb