A few days ago I entered an ultra-luxury theatre in suburban Bengaluru to watch this movie without reading a single review, completely open-minded. Even the title card in full scarlet red and blazing black theme caught my imagination and I fell in love with the music too, instantly. I felt I was in for a very different theatrical experience for the next few hours. “No art passes our conscience in the way a film does and goes directly to our feelings,” said the celebrated Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. This filmmaker, incidentally, explored beautifully the deep psychological torment of the human psyche.
The film opens with a gang of armed and masked men intercepting police vehicles and escaping with their ammunition. Somehow, it didn’t look staged and you are immediately sucked into the world of the outlaws and you actually want them to escape from the scene of theft. In the scenes that ensue, you come to comprehend why Devadas and his group of men, who seem to be on an eternal run after killing a policeman in a ruthless fashion, are doing so—and the reason even appears justifiable to us. The success of the movie lies in the fact that though it is basically a gangster saga, it still feels so relatable and you just seem to root for these henchmen because they all have a justifiable back story and their despondency carries a deep inner angst and agony.
The background score simply elevates the mesmerising celluloid canvas created by the cinematographer and the art director, who have, of course, brought to life the exact vision of the director Arun Matheswaran. As Devadas and his men are staying in their hideout, supposedly a small-time bar, the scenes where he meets singer Parvathy will stay in our memory forever since the visuals are so alluring and captivating. Kudos to the director who has shown that women can be so sensual and appealing even when they are fully clad.
In yet another action set piece which is brilliantly shot, the bar singer tragically dies in an accidental shootout. The broken pieces of glass strewn around and the reflections in the mirror shards are so brilliantly captured. Loki was at his brilliant best in the scene where he breaks down and pleads not to kill his lady love. This is something remarkable. Here, the man gave the best answer to all the merciless trolls he had been subjected to.
The movie from here picks up more pace, and when he meets Chandra at a place which boasts a Vincent Van Gogh painting and a Salvador Dalí clock, it is visually so aesthetic and just lifts the overall viewing experience. The theatre already erupts with the hint of Raga of Revenge playing in the backdrop, and what follows is complete hysteria and mayhem, with Devadas going on a killing spree of all those men who had wronged the women. This interval block is a complete high-octane sequence with mind-blowing music which brings you to the edge of the entire gamut of emotions. You truly experience that kind of gay abandon and you say to yourself that justice is definitely served to them, forgetting that they are merely characters in a movie.
The Bonnie and Clyde movie poster adorning the room of Chandra hints at the kind of events that are going to unfold. The scene where Chandra walks out with so many corpses lying in the corridor, witnessing the trail of destruction caused by Devadas, Wamiqa seems to have nailed that expression where she slowly and surely is walking towards her freedom, with that electrifying BGM of Anirudh thunderously reverberating in the background. This is easily one of the classic high points of the movie.
What follows is a Bonnie and Clyde-style spree of action and murder by the romantically inclined duo, echoing the iconic pairing once played by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. Our DC duo is no less. The BGM in the wedding scene and their great escape again give goosebump moments. We seem to be completely in love with them already and also tend to be convinced about what they are fighting against.
What follows are more action set pieces, and the writing is brilliant in scenes where they picturise the tactics used by Chandra to collect money. When she wants to collect money from one last person, she goes on a rampage and pulls the trigger. In that scene, Chandra comes all guns blazing and Devadas turns his back to the camera so that we can’t take our eyes off the expression of a bewildered but vengeful Chandra, so meticulously portrayed by Wamiqa.
All the supporting cast, including the lead cop, have literally lived their parts, and this does add more dimension and depth to the storytelling. The final 30 minutes also have razor-sharp writing, and we are completely hooked and we want the duo to somehow escape the clutches of the policemen and escape to oblivion. The final climax is also shot extremely well, with Anirudh’s Raga of Revenge playing in beast mode, elevating the picturisation to a different level altogether.
Well, what worked in DC… in fact, everything and everyone. It was a resounding success of collective efforts which created the perfect painting on a bloodshed canvas. Only Anirudh’s BGM without proper writing or characterization would never have worked. For Lokesh, who was unnecessarily trolled for a single mediocre movie, this was a silencing of critics through a powerhouse performance which will surely fetch repeat audiences for this movie.
Kudos to the director for not objectifying women and giving them scope for substantial performance. Always, as a woman, I used to think women should be known more for their brawn and brain and not play some obscure damsel-in-distress roles. Absolutely loved the director for depicting how Chandra comes and rescues Das. Applause to the man at the helm for this.
Gracias, DC team, for giving us this electrifying theatre experience. We didn’t seem to mind the violence this time.
As the legendary Martin Scorsese has often expressed, it is the job of a director to make the audience care about your obsession. When watching DC, the audience did notice the passion, style, obsession and vision of the filmmaker in what he was trying to convey. Whether or not we can relate to the characters, we could resonate with their helplessness in a big way, and that is why this crew and the movie have come out triumphant.
