Vada Chennai

Vada Chennai

A young carrom player in North Chennai becomes a reluctant participant in a war between two feuding gangsters.

badelf@badelf

August 16, 2023

This script makes Hollywood gangster movies look like Saturday morning cartoons for kids. I count at least six gangsters, all of whom would have been at the top of their class at Harvard Business if they'd had that opportunity. And that isn't counting the 1 or 2 more brilliant operatives that are just in for revenge. All of them are fully developed characters in multi-way negotiations and struggle. It's complicated!

I don't know if it's because I'm getting old or because I don't have enough face time with Indians, but I had trouble keeping all those characters straight. The first 30–40 minutes, I felt like I was chasing the bus. When I caught it, though ... wow.

Yes, it's Tamil, and yes, it has shitty Hindi dub. I wish they'd stop doing that. "Come! Lay down here on this couch, Oedipus, and tell me why you think you have to dub it for mainland India."