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Lokesh Kanagaraj is a writer-director of a decade’s standing. He has also made cameo appearances in a few films. But now he chooses to make a lead debut, and what a crazy debut it is! DC—The Bloody Valentine is a screwball (and I don’t mean comedic) ride through its vendetta track that is strewn with violence from beginning to end.
The initial credits mysteriously seemed to acknowledge—of all names—Sarat Chandra Das. He was the Bengali author of Devdas, the book, the play and the multiple film versions in multiple languages, including that overrated (and again violent) parody, Dev. D. But very soon, we come to know why. The hero, Devadas (Lokesh Kanagaraj himself) is a man disowned by his father (Kasthuri Raja) for unfair reasons, and not by any woman. His first love is Parvathy (Sanjana Krishnamoorthy), a singer in a shady ‘club,’ and his second the sex worker Chandra (Wamiqa Gabbi).
Three principal characters all accounted for֫—Devdas, Paro and Chandra (Mukhi), all right?
Now Devadas is angry. He has shot dead a corrupt cop who has killed a poor farmer who has accumulated money for his son’s education, and stolen the cash. The cops are looking for Devadas, headed by the vicious Bhojraj (Srikrishna Dayal). Tipped, they reach the venue where Devadas and his friends are hiding, and where he has developed a rapport and affection for Parvathy. In the whole fracas, Devadas’ friends escape unharmed, but Parvathy is wounded and the unscrupulous Bhojraj shoots her dead. Devadas is taken into custody, but manages to escape.
On the run, Devadas now comes across Chandra, who for 16 years has been trapped in a brothel, and has not seen the world outside. Devadas kills all the brothel’s male “customers” and agents, and escapes with Chandra, and with his friends. The interval point sees a crazy blurb: “Madness Meets Madness”!
Devadas’ friends consider Chandra a burden, but soon relent when she firmly decides to bring in the cash they seek to give the farmer by blackmailing her “respectable” ex-clients. She also does not rest till Devadas is freed when he is captured again by a tip-off. The final missions—of giving the cash to the bereaved farmer, killing Bhojraj and his coterie of corrupt officers, and finally making peace with his father—are accomplished by Devadas and the two lovers ride into the sunset.
A big mercy with this film is that while most pan-Indian released South films have a runtime of three hours plus, this one is crisply edited and is over in 144 minutes. Another mercy is that most of the songs are not dubbed in trite Hindi but are maintained in the original Tamil. There are a lot of English numbers that are slaves to beats but have ridiculous esoteric lyrics of which Gulzar (Geela geela pani, Humne dekhi hai unn ankhon ki mehekti Khushboo and the likes) would be proud. Anirudh Ravichander’s music is great fodder for Tamil listeners but is ho-hum for me. The background score is routinely loud.
Director and co-writer Arun Matheswaran does an imaginative job of his script and directs well. Lokesh Kanagaraj looks like a version of Allu Arjun with—please forgive me for this personal observation!—a dollop of Yesudas thrown in, But he acts perfectly. Wamiqa Gabbi once again impresses, but then, that’s her norm. Sanjana Krishnamoorthy is effective in her brief role.
As his friends, Avinash Raghudevan, Jawahar Sakthi and Pranav Teophine do well, and so does Kasthuri Raja as Das’ estranged father and the actor who plays the farmer. The rest of the cast is alright, as are the technical standards.
Overall, a surprisingly decent and underplayed actioner from the South, it marks Lokesh’s impressive lead debut.
Rating: ***
Sun Pictures’ DC—The Bloody Valentine Produced by: Kalanithi Maran Directed by: Arun Matheswaran Written by: Arun Matheswaran, Arun Ranjan & Franklin Jacob Music: Anirudh Ravichander Starring: Lokesh Kanagaraj, Wamiqa Gabbi, Sanjana Krishnamoorthy, Thalaivasal Vijay, Avinash Raghudevan, Srikrishna Dayal, Balaji Deviprasad, Jawahar Sakthi, Sharath Raj, Pranav Teophine, Kasthuri Raja & others
