Some filmmakers might show this gradual progression of life in montages or transition effects Gautham himself has done it. When you adapt a literary piece of text for screen, there is a tendency to trim reams of pages that might take up the bulk of the screentime. In other words, it can be argued that Muthu’s story can be told only this way. Therefore, there is no urgency to rush over the story, no urgency for immediate pay-offs. In VTK, the narrative itself is procedural in nature. He has been using voice-over as a device to further the narrative. Gautham usually has this urgency to get into the protagonist’s head and ‘narrate’ his story, but that has been course-corrected. Simbu and Gautham Menon on ‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu,’ friendship, and the ‘Atman’ philosophy But what I can confidently say is that the world VTK tries to construct in the first half is exquisite - both in terms of writing and direction. By doing so, Gautham creates a mood piece with space and leisure that makes it hard to tell whether I enjoyed it to its entirety or if something felt lost in translation. He seems interested in capturing the life of Muthu in real time. And Gautham Menon anyway isn’t interested in telling the story of a gangster he seems content with the journey itself. Instead, we get a nice procedural drama that is both a blessing and a curse. In fact, it doesn’t even claim to belong to the gangster genre. Let’s get this out of the way: Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu isn’t your regular gangster film. At least that is how VTK opens, with Muthu (Silambarasan) being the ember in a dying fire who gets thrown out of it, as if to imply that he is a survivor. The dying embers of a forest fire end up elsewhere as a flame-throwing machine.Īt least this seems to be the lyrical idea that must have ignited a spark in Gautham Menon to adapt Jeyamohan’s short story, now as Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu ( VTK).