Vilangu - Well made and Engrossing!

Bharath Vijayakumar

Prasanth Pandiyaraj's debut Bruce Lee was a misfire. But it wasn't a film that took the safe route for a debut feature. It was an attempt at a zany comedy that went awry. With Vilangu, Prasanth opts for a relatively safer genre (thriller) and a different format (web series). Vilangu is also a comeback of sorts for its leading man, the unassuming Vemal.

Set predominantly inside a police station, Vilangu is about how Paridhi and his colleagues solve the mystery around an unidentified corpse. What sets Vilangu apart is that there is absolutely nothing gimmicky about it. It stays true to its small town setup and this actually becomes its USP. You really get the feel that you are watching these characters from close quarters.

The performances are pretty neat and there are some surprise packages. The actor playing Kicha, Bala Saravanan as the ruthless cop or even producer S.S. Chakravarthy who plays the DSP. They all look the part.

Prasanth makes good use of the format and ends each episode on a high. In fact, the suspense is surprisingly revealed a little earlier than you anticipate and the whodunit now sort of becomes a whydunit. And this actually works to its advantage. It is very difficult to keep yourself away from spoilers if you are active in social media. Just a day after Vilangu released, I saw a meme comparing the villains of Minnal Murali and Vilangu with the image of both the actors. Vilangu worked despite me being aware of the most crucial reveal. It probably would have worked a lot better had I been caught unawares with the reveal.

I am unsure about what to make of the police brutality in Vilangu. We just had Jai Bhim and Writer speak about the ugly side of this. To give it the benefit of doubt, there is no glorification of the police brutality in Vilangu. In fact, at times I was even tempted to see this as a critique of the system because none of these men are shown as clean or honest.They are just desperate to force a confession. I also wonder if there is an angle as to how the killer actually confesses to the only guy who doesn't resort to violence. Again, Paridhi (Vemal) isn't a saint, he is merely playing his part in the good cop, bad cop routine of theirs. But despite all this, the police brutality in Vilangu does come across as problematic if you have seen the pre release trailer. The romanticisation that is absent in the series can be found in all its glory there.

Bottomline:

A well made series that succeeds in its primary goal and keeps you engrossed for the most part.

Rating: 3/5