Official Trailer:
Aaranya Kaanadm trailer itself was so different when it came out – breaking the convention. The opening villain introduction scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie. After watching it you realize this is a director with complete understanding of the neo-noir genre, and with a vision. Usually in their first movies, directors play it safe when it comes to the story they want to tell. But not Thiagarajan Kumararaja. This movie broke many Tamil movie trends and stereotypes when it came out – few examples, in villain introduction scene we come to know he is impotent, being poor doesn’t mean they are honest – a Tamil movie cliche. Thanks to our censor board, movie came with good number of cuts. Even with cuts, movie worked great. Watching it now, movie still feels fresh and fun. Now with OTT, let’s hope we get to see the uncut version (before our patriarchal government comes up with censorship for OTT also).
Aaranya Kaanadm is a story about what happens in the life of complex web of interlinking characters – Subbu need to escape from Singam Perumal, Pasupathy need to get back his kidnapped wife from Singam Perumal, Koduka Puli need to save his dad Kaalaiyan, and these mixed up with two warring gangs, in a day. Like the title implies the characters in the movie are governed by the laws of the jungle. There is no good or bad, right or wrong. If your action helps you to survive that is the right thing to do. Characters are named after animals, Singam Perumal, Pasupathy, Chittu, Gajendran, Gajapathy, Mayilvaganam, Kasturi, Kaalaiyan, and Koduka Puli. Then we have Subbu (fox), and Sappai (mouse). Post the movie, it is fun to analyze how few animals escape from their predators like how the fox escapes from Singam with the help of the mouse.
While there is Scorsese and Tarantinesque influence (great to see that), the characters and events are local. All characters are grey and broken. We don’t get their full stories…we only get to see how they behave in a particular day. Like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, characters discuss topics unrelated to the story. But the story moves forward. Ungalukku Rajni pidikkuma allathu Kamal pidikkuma stretch and the speaker phone discussion in the car, both lead to a turning point in the movie. Similarly, Gajendran-Gajapathy introduction story about chopped finger reminded me of Deparado. One can keep talking about pop-culture references – use of songs, choice of shots – in the movie. There is a reference to Baasha too. And the hilarious astrologer episode 🤣 Twists and turns in the movie are violently funny, and hard to guess. Tough to keep ahead of the director. The oppressed woman transitions to a femme fatale? Relationship between Subbu and Sappai? Kaalaiyan and the stash of powder?
Whether it is screenplay, staging of scenes, dialogues, BGM, cinematography, and performances, movie scores in every aspect. I can’t find any that didn’t work. What strikes you are the dialogues and BGM (Yuvan Shankar Raja). Unnnala mudiyalana enna yen adikkara? by Subbu to Singam Perumal followed by scenes later with Enna dokku-ayittengala? by Pasupathy to Singam Perumal – different context but same meaning. Reply to Phone-la yaruNNe, Anniya? queryis a riot. Unakku Appa-na romba pidikkuma?…Illa, Aana Avaru ennoda Appa does something in you. And the final clincher, Ella aambalayum Sappathan…Sappaiyum Oru aambalathan. Choice of background music aptly conveys the emotion on the screen without hyping it. Whether it is Gajendran entry segment or Koduka Puli hiding the stash part. Following the director, YSR also bucks the trend with his BGM choices. Just check out his composition for the final showdown between Pasupathy and the two opposing gangs.
We had to wait eight years to get to see Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s second movie, Super Deluxe. Hope we don’t have to wait another 8 years for his next work. At the end, the question remains, Ungalukku Rajni pidikkuma, Kamal pidikkuma? (Do you like Rajni or Kamal?) 😄
Astrologer Scene:
Aaranya Kaandam BGM: