Visaranai -- Movie Review

This movie was released in February 2016. We had heard a lot about this movie but it was last week that the movie was brought to our notice again. I recalled that this movie was India's entry for the Oscars in the category best foreign language film.

Pandi

Visaranai means interrogation. 4 daily wage earners from Tamil Nadu work in Andra Pradesh. They stay in a nearby park and somehow try to make ends meet. The movie starts with Pandi, who works in a shop. At day break, a few men stop at Pandi's shop and ask him for an address. Pandi recognizes that they are from Tamil Nadu and chats with them. The men are reluctant to part with information and then Pandi notices that one of them has a gun and stops chatting with them and asks them to leave. This group consists of policeman who are on a undercover mission. The day turns worse for Pandi as a policeman (not the undercover group) arrests him and he sees his friends: Murugan and Kumar also arrested.
Image Courtesy: www.thehindu.com

Unable to understand what is going on, the 3 of them are beaten up and tortured so that they can

Kumar, Pandi, Afzal, and Murugan

reveal where they hid the money. None of them know what is going on and are not involved in the robbery but no one seems interested as they continue to share that they know nothing of the robbery. They meet their other friend, Afzal, the next day who was tortured for their address and that is how the other 3 friends were picked up. Apparently, a high-profile robbery has been committed and the police has identified these 4 as the con men who committed the crime. The policeman want them to accept the crime in front of a judge. Because of the beatings and the torture, all the others, except Pandi, are willing to plead guilty for a crime they did not commit.

Image Courtesy: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/regional/visaranai-is-indias-official-oscar-entry-10-facts-you-must-know-3044732/

When they are brought in front of the judge, Pandi proclaims their innocence. The judge, surprised at being addressed, and not able to understand Pandi, calls for a translator. The inspector on the undercover mission, who is at another judge's chambers volunteers. All four are released. The inspector asks them for help. They gladly volunteer. What happens to them after that forms the rest of the story.  

The movie is based on a real life incident and is based on a book by M Chandra Kumar (Kumar). There are quite a few scenes of violence as befitting a police interrogation. These scenes can be quite horrifying to watch so do not watch with children.