A sensational theme that runs on a perfect pitch of searing gun-shots, jagged knives and galvanic air with a gangster backed anarchy set on the side of an ordinary man’s life, and how they collide, and then engage, all said with plenty of humour, wit and spunk, ‘Jigarthanda’ serves it hot!
It’s sheer aesthetics to watch a gang of lungi-clad ruffians steering their way clear (metaphorically too!) in an antique-ish red car with archetypal jazz BGM. And it’s Tamil cinema! Let’s just get all the dorky stuff out of the way to make it clear, this worked.
Aspiring film-maker Karthik (Siddharth) bags a producer who spreads out CDs of ‘gangster flicks’ (Nayagan and Thalapathy from our side, extending to Tarantino’s ‘Pulp fiction’ and Coppola’s ‘Godfather’), and insists that he’ll spend his money on a blood-guts-gore action movie. Karthik decides to stalk a real-life gangster to make his movie. The rest is, let’s say, spanking new!
The director-hero and his friend Oorni (Karunakaran), both shadow the gangster who holds sway in the blood-stained lanes of Madurai—Sethu (a mind-blowing Bobby Simha). The consternation coupled with bizarre excitement of Karthik and Oorni set the tone for the first half. Sethu charms (clearly, there isn’t another adjective for the gangster) with his gratuitous violence acts, and the screenplay smartly understates the villainy. We know he’s chilling and killing, but there is a Tarantinoesque feel of 'fantastic' to it!
Karthik ropes in Sethu’s assistants in a bid to research on the big guy. There’s Kayal (Lakshmi Menon) too, who is a small-time shop-lifter cum retail seller of saris, whom Karthik deploys as a pawn in his game. And right when the movie takes a break mid-way, is when you're more glued to your seats. A stunningly crisp first half leads to a more detailed second half. So what happens when you follow a gangster to make a movie? Venture out all those guesses, and even if you strike gold, you won't be thinking while watching this movie, because its paced smartly with fine-tuned twists and freakish turns.
Director Karthik Subbaraj dishes it out well—spectacular cinematography (Gavemic Ary), cutting-edge screenplay (Karthik Subbaraj), with an avant-garde background score (Santhosh Narayanan). 'Jigarthanda' has undoubtedly set new standards. The BGM as well as original score needs special mention. Something commonplace would have pulled the punch right out of the movie, but here, they sync so well that you could have played Johny 'Guitar' Watson's 'Gangster of Love' and still it would have fit perfectly!
The quirks that Subbaraj brings in, juxtaposing force of violence with something hilarious, or something in utter contrast to it, is great movie-making. Sethu, having a final talk over his food with his victim before slashing his ribs out, and the helper nags him about eating more idlis! A song from the 1961 'Pasamalar' playing out with a close-up of thespian Sivaji Ganesan and an infant when a gang unload their gun. Gangsters hand-counting the number of killings; The crowds will devour these.
Bobby Simha delights. He is not into the usual villainy. He's the illiterate but slick antagonist. Siddharth puts up a good show as well, with a superb Karunakaran in tow. Vijay Sethupathy makes a meaningful cameo, and so does Nassar. Lakshmi Menon's role perhaps is a slight let down, but then again, 'Jigarthanda' wasn't banking on romance!
Be it cold heart (the 'jigar' and 'thanda' portmanteau) brave heart or crazy heart, 'Jigarthanda' is that perfect interplay of ice-cool and scorching heat, playing out a superb gangster jingle inside your head in repeat mode!
Rating: 3.75/5