Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (VTK, The Scorched Forest: Part 1 - The Kindling, Tamil) is a compelling film. Disclaimer: I really can’t bear gangster films with violence, blood and gore, but here I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Actually the title, apparently drawn from a Subramania Bharati poem, literally means, very poetically, ‘the forest whose ashes have cooled’. The film is currently running in theatres all India, including Bombay, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore, see bookmyshow.

The film is about Muthu (Silambarasan Rajendar aka STR, Simbu), who struggles to support his family in a small Tamil Nadu village, and eventually looks for a job in Bombay. Although he works in a parotta place, he unintentionally gets involved in gangland crime, and becomes a cog in a Tamil gang, whose rivals are a Malayali gang. Like many others, all he wants is to send his family money, and is keen to quit the horrific crime business—but can he? Silambarasan is brilliant, playing a convincing Muthu. There’s also a side of romance—I didn’t really buy into the woman—but Muthu’s journey is fascinating because he remains so ordinary and un-heroic even as he rises in the hierarchy, without flashy choreographed fights, or demolishing 10 villains at a go.