Conversations in native dialect are usually the essence of Madurai-Theni-Dindigul-based films. For a long time, films that use these three districts as base have always been the ones that discuss violence. Debutant director Naga’s Vanmurai Paguthi is no exception but, the movie has a lot more to say as well.
The entire screenplay of Vanmurai Paguthi is written completely with the ‘what next?’ suspense element. Though the story seems to be cliched, the takeaway for the audience from this movie is not.
It starts with a death and ends with a death, figuratively conveying that no story has a beginning or end. The movie’s end credits roll when the police begin the investigation, and we are not shown that this is going to be an endless loop of events.
As the movie’s name suggests, it could have had a lot of sickle stunts and bloodshed. But, the writer has limited the action sequences and focused completely on detailing why the this ‘paguthi‘ (region) is full of ‘vanmurai‘ (violence). There are very strong justifications for every death happening in the story. However, nothing is unexpected or forced, and seems to be organic.
One more stereotype the filmmaker has broken here is the characterisation of the protagonist. Tamil cinema’s heroes have mostly been Mr Perfect, and ethical. Even if he is shown as a thief or rouge, they try to substantiate the action. Only a few filmmakers have kept their male leads to be imperfect ones throughout the narration.
Vanmurai Paguthi’s Muniswamy, played by Manikandan, is one such imperfect being. It is his short temper and anger that put him in trouble every time. And, when he tries to find a way out, he again falls into chaos, because he is angry all the time.
Manikandan is one right choice for the role. The actor has slipped under the skin for the role. Almost everyone in the movie is cast well. Like what we saw in Merku Thodarchi Malai, the filmmaker has cast all his characters picked right from the premise of his story.
There are a few shortcomings, too. For instance, the female lead, Thavamani, played by Rafiajaffer, has prominence in the screenplay but less screen space. In fact, the whole movie is a bit male dominated. There are a lot of female characters, but the treatment of women through dialogues seems to be chauvinistic. Maybe, the director has tried to show the true nature of the geography.
Howbeit, there are some authentic conversations like the one happening at a hospital between a wounded man, his wife and his brother’s wife. These conversations are actually the ones that add true life to this flick. The cuss words, sarcastic statements and humour-blend dialogues are native enough to engage and entertain the audience.
Naga could have concentrated on choosing the sings as there was a lot of mispronunciation in the songs. Also, proper rehearsals could have been given to supporting actors and atmosphere artistes as there are scenes where they look at the camera.
Vanmurai Paguthi is like any other central Tamilnadu films, but unlike them, it has a purpose which is delivered well on a strong narration. Hope we can expect more from this crew that is able to show reflections of the soil and its stories.