Two gangs of guys are on the verge of a showdown for a girl’s nod of love. In order to avoid an unnecessary bloodbath, they ask her directly to pick one man. Reluctantly, she points at Karuppu, the leader of an outsider gang. Karuppu walks out of the scene with a smug smile and simply slides into a random dance number, “Otha sollaala.” He dances his brains out all the way back home, swaying tea shop, bus stop, streets, market, taxi stand, with his moves.

For those who feel that this sequence a little hyper-realistic, let me remind you, this is Aadukalam, a Vetrimaaran movie. Here, the reality is not something we have been familiarised with over the years through over-the-top stories, or hardcore realism in art-house flicks. Vetrimaaran’s realism is keenly constructed brick-by-brick from scratch and deeply rooted in the details. When you remember a scene from a Vetrimaaran movie, you remember a setting, with every detail he has simulated in the making of that scene.

Vada Chennai has been tagged as the magnum opus of Vetrimaaran ever since its launch, for so many reasons.  Be it the rumoured trilogy in the lines of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, the raw portrayal of life and people in North Chennai from early 1980s to 2000s, Dhanush donning the role of a carrom player, the massive retro style settings from the 80s, or an ensemble cast including director Ameer, Andrea Jeremiah, Aishwarya Rajesh, Daniel Balaji, and Samuthirakani, there are enough reasons for moviegoers to wait with fingers crossed for the release.

Apart from the rumours and guessing games, the makers seem reluctant to unveil more secrets of the movie. Vada Chennai is likely to unleash the full potential of Vetrimaaran as a filmmaker after the internationally acclaimed Visaraanai. With a supportive producer like Dhanush on his side, Vetrimaaran has all the reasons to sharpen his cinematic tools and vision.

This construction of a realistic mosaic through painstaking detailing is Vetrimaaran’s forte, and the same thing gives his characters a multidimensional quality. They grow inside us after the movie, and even haunt us for their realistic charm. He never sketches a character in black and white and almost all of them exist in the grey zone between right and wrong. All these characteristics sound perfect for a gangster classic and hence, Vada Chennai becomes one of the most anticipated flicks in recent times.

When a filmmaker turns to his roots for inspiration and characters, we get cinematic gems once in a while. Vada Chennai brings together Dhanush and his most trusted filmmaker after seven long years. Moreover, reports suggest that Vetrimaaran has dug deep in history and books for making the vintage setting perfect, both in body and soul. As moviegoers, we very rarely wait with such a patience for a movie, because Vetrimaaran is the only filmmaker who shows grit as grit, and makes us move, or rather haunts us afterwards.