MADRAS...nalla Madras.

Madras - Pa.Ranjith's second directorial following his critically acclaimed Attakaththi. We have had a half dozen films dealing with life of Madras, especially North Madras, in the past out of which only very few did well at the box office. People in South of Chennai like to refer their area as South Chennai. Whereas people in the North like to call it as North Madras. They feel it as a prestigious and proud thing. Capturing the life of North Madras is not an easy task. Being a North Madras resident, Ranjith has done justice to the script. After Selvaraghavan's Pudhupettai, 'Madras" is the only North Chennai based flick that gives a grip to the story. A wall which is felt as a prestigious issue between two political parties of the same area is the main character of the movie. Leading to the rivalry between youths and politicians for the wall is the plot. Political war for the wall leads to many fueds and deaths. The story is handled well by Ranjith comprising love, revenge, betrayal and sentiment. The effort to tell the politics behind the wall is good. Though a predictable story it doesn't make the audience to feel restless. Taking revenge for a friend inside a political plot is a good try. Except for the 15 mins in second half, slow and steady screenplay gives boost to the movie's phase. Screenplay too was mostly predictable. But this does not affect the flow.The last 20 mins gives the unexpected feel making the story different from typical tamil film. The director could have been more careful in the language used in the movie. There is even a separate page dedicated to Madras Tamil in Wikipedia. So, the dialogues could have been more interesting if the team was able to do more research on the language with such historical importance. Cinematography by Murali gives fresh feel of North Madras. Shots showing the wall from different perceptions is really good. Especially the shot before interval block which shows the wall from a certain  distance is great. As most of the stunts happen at nights, lighting and camera through narrow lanes of the housing board colony is handled perfectly. No unnecessary shakes of the camera. Karthi as Kaali is a perfect choice. Portraying a typical North Madras youth with that kinda local attitude must have been a challenging task. His performance shows the efforts put by Karthi and Ranjith. Catherine Teresa as Kalaiarasi gives a feel good appearance in the movie. Characters have been chosen with utmost care.  Kalai as Karthi's friend Anbu, Vinod as Mari and Nandakumar as Kannan are the best choices for the characters. All the characters bring the life of North Madras in front of our eyes. Locations play the major role. Perambur and Vyasarpadi housing board complexes have been used for the entire movie. The choice of the wall is perfect one. Songs in Santhosh Narayan's music have already topped the charts.The background score of the film gives a good feel. There are movies which have been great hits besides weak story line. But Santhosh's tracks adds flavour to Madras's line. His effort for chosen scripts shows the talent of a promising composer. Stunts though not extraordinary are realistic. Predictable story and predictable screenplay but great way of narration makes the movie a must watch one. Running full pack shows even in the second week proves that Madras is a not another movie with rivalry and gansgster background. Only a few could turn movies with such plot into a masterpiece.