DC

Tamil cinema’s current epidemic is directors auditioning themselves as leads, and Lokesh Kanagaraj is its latest carrier. In Arun Matheswaran’s DC, Kanagaraj is Devadas, a wronged hero discarded by society. He beats, shoots, maims and kills, but doesn’t like to be called a rowdy or a gangster. There are no backstories in DC; Das and his gang are a strange mix of delinquents with revolutionary blood running inside them. They have a leader, Arasu (Thalaivasal Vijay), whose aims and ideologies are equally nebulous, but in the first few scenes in the film the gang accosts a police vehicle to steal a weapons consignment. An inadvertent act by a cop leads to the gang exacting revenge by savagely murdering him, which in turn launches a more stringent manhunt. The police officer giving orders to the team entrusted with this task signs off with two words: be brutal.

Where does one begin while setting out to describe the control Arun Matheswaran’s exercises over his source material, in what is easily his most complete film? In a series of staging masterclasses, Arun finds crackling new ways to lift what’s on paper to deliver a moment that feels satisfying in so many ways that you forget that you’ve perhaps scene this exact situation plays out in a hundred gangster dramas before. You can point to the half dozen action blocks to make the case for Arun’s superior cinematic eye but it’s in the “smaller”, more tender moments that you see a new side to this filmmaker.

Das and the members of a rebel gang attack a moving police vehicle to seize weapons, triggering a nationwide crisis. They also kill an officer responsible for a farmer’s custodial death. The events push the police force, led by a cop, Bhojraj, to initiate a hunt for the gang and the weapons. While on the run, Das meets two women, Parvathi and Chandra, who change the course of his life. Lokesh Kanagaraj makes an assured acting debut in a role with minimal dialogue, compensated by the abundant rage in the action sequences. He stays true to the nature of Das without trying to oversell his presence. Sanjana Krishnamoorthy is elegant in a brief yet impactful appearance. The soul of the film, though, comes through Wamiqa Gabbi’s portrayal of Chandra, who refuses to be boxed into yet another traumatised prostitute. She brings resilience, vulnerability and dignity to a woman who wants to be seen beyond her flesh. The ensemble cast, comprising Krish Dayal, Sharath Ravi, Avinash Raghudevan, Jawahar Sakthi and Balaji Devi Prasad, all make their mark in well-etched roles.

Director Arun Matheswaran returns to familiar territory with DC — a world where ordinary people are crushed by a broken system, women carry the scars of male brutality, and revenge is the only language left for justice. Like Rocky and Saani Kaayidham before it, DC is steeped in blood, grief and moral ambiguity. This time, though, Arun wraps his recurring themes in a stylish revenge thriller with unexpected twists, pulsating action and enough emotional heft to justify the violence. Devadas (Lokesh Kanagaraj) is a gangster with no intention of leaving crime behind. He and his men are riding high after ambushing a police convoy and making off with a cache of discarded weapons. Around the same time, a grieving woman approaches Das, claiming policemen killed her husband and stole the money meant for her son’s education. Having carried the grief of losing his own mother for years, Das has a soft spot for women in distress, and decides to help her — killing the policeman responsible and forcing his own gang into hiding.

Redemption. There is something cathartic about seeing someone find a way to stand up despite the odds being heavily stacked against them. Such a redemptive arc isn’t accorded to the ordinary. It requires immense grit, perseverance, and of course, atleast a sliver of luck going your way. Probably why the majority, who resign to their fates, see the underdog as an extension of their own unfulfilled dreams. They want to root for the person who society leaves to rot. Be it Rocky, Saani Kaayidham, Captain Miller, or DC, director Arun Matheswaran is clear about the stories he wants to tell. These are not stories of the people Tamil cinema always loves to tell. These people are, let’s call them, Arun Matheswaran’s Irregulars. They are the people whose lives are forever on the fringe. People whose lives are never important enough for the majority. However, these stories didn’t always translate into convincing cinema since the sum of the parts didn’t do much for the whole. But the fourth time is the charm for Arun, and almost everything fell into place in DC, and it all started when he signed this one person called Anirudh Ravichander.