Here’s a story from the rural village of Guntur which makes its way to the international film festival in Venice. Visaranai is the story of how 3 innocent laborers were trapped in a murky robbery case by the Police department. In order to suppress the rising pressure from the higher officials they trap in three innocent laborers, who then were thrown into jail and tortured in the violent and piercingly magnetic Vetri Maaran’s new movie VISARANAI!!
How it all started:
Based on Chandra Kumar's first-hand experiences from his book, Lock Up, which was the main base for Visaranai, revolves around the time when Guntur district police arrested Kumar and his friends. Where they have been allegedly tortured for 15 days for no reason. These experience’s spurred him to write this book emphasising on the police atrocities as well as his opinion that the poor don't have a voice to either express their opinions nor to speak freely.
Storyline:
It all starts with a robbery in the Brindavan Colony, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. The police officials are under a lot of pressure to close this high-profile case as their only clue to this crime is that the alleged robbers spoke Tamil fluently. With this flimsy part of affirmation, the police begin their hunt and an innocent laborer returning home after a late night show gets caught.
Accolades and Appreciation:
This film has managed to make it big! Even “bigger than all of us” claims Vetri Maaran. Which was solely based on the horrendous experiences and incidents faced by Chandra Kumar (the writer of the novel) in Guntur Jilla. The film has received good reviews nor just from critics but also from South stars like Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Maniratnam. The book has received the Best Document of Human Rights Award in 2006 and also made it to the 72nd Venice International Film Festival. And now, to top it all, Visaaranai is India's official entry to the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film Category.
I strongly feel that Lockup deaths and police harassment will no longer be mere newspaper reports after watching Visaaranai, as the film sends across a chilling message throughout. Wish we could just remake this thriller saga in our very own style and represent it in on silver screen.
Check out the trailer below,
