Through his Capital Film Works production company, S.P.B.Charan has encouraged new filmmakers whose films don't follow the beaten track. Barring Venkat Prabhu (Chennai 600028), the directors haven't always delivered on their promise. But his latest find, director Thiagarajan Kumararaja, truly hits the bull's eye with Aayanya Kaandam. A tale about Chennai gangsters told with smartness, wit and vision, the film is engrossing, entertaining and most of all, exhilarating.

When an opportunity to steal some drugs from another gangster opens up, Singaperumal(Jackie Shroff), an aging gangster, wants no part of it. But his henchman Pasupathy(Sampath Raj), ready to move on up, wants to take the chance. But the drugs fall into the hands of a drunkard(Guru Somasundaram) and his son Kodukapuli(Master Vasanth), who see it as a chance to make some money. Meanwhile, Singaperumal's mistress Subbu(Yasmin Ponnappa) and another of his henchmen Sappai(Ravi Krishna) fall for each other and make plans of their own.

Aaranya Kaandam's narrative isn't complicated since things do proceed chronologically for the most part (except for some trackbacks, like the way we see Sampath gain possession of his getaway bike). But the film demands our attention since the plot is wound rather tightly and everything isn't spelt out for us. We are required to connect the dots and fill in some blanks in order to follow everything that unfolds on screen. There are no redundant scenes or loose ends and everything, whether its Ravi Krishna playing his video game or Jackie Shroff searching for his pistol or Yasmin talking about Baasha, has its place. All this, along with the twists and turns in the story and the unpredictability of what's going to happen keeps us riveted to the screen from beginning to end.

The film's characters are truly original. Quirky but never over-the-top, they are all vividly realized. That's the main reason we begin to care for them though we don't know much about them. We are scared about what's gonna happen when the doorbell rings and Ravi Krishna and Yasmin scramble around looking for their clothes and we fervently hope Guru Somasundaram and Master Vasanth don't run into anyone when they go back to their room looking for a scrap of paper. These are surefire signs of our involvement in the film the its characters.

The film effortlessly blends humor into the proceedings. And its not all dark humor, where we laugh at the morbid nature of the proceedings. The script is genuinely funny. If Master Vasanth's direct, pointed questions are spontaneously funny, Guru Somasundaram's general cluelessness makes us alternate between laughing at him and feeling sorry for him. Ajay Raj's stories about women are colorful and hilarious(while his Rajni-Kamal comparison is very original, the punchline given by Yasmin much later comes as a funny surprise). Even more impressive is how smoothly and effectively the movie transitions into and out of the humor. Whether its suspense(as in the car when the henchmen debate the merits of a speakerphone) or impending terror(when Jackie Shroff drawls out "Small World") that follows the humor, the transitions are hardly noticeable.

Kumararaja guides everything long with a firm hand. Reminding us of Quentin Tarantino, he pulls together the vibrant characters, the lean plot that moves forward relentlessly, the memorable dialogs and bursts of in-your-face, stylized violence into an intoxicating mix. And his sly touches(after Ravi Krishna beds Yasmin, the cinema poster behind Jackie Shroff is for Mudhal Anubhavam!) are enjoyable too.

If the director's filmmaking style seems influenced by Tarantino, Aaranya Kaandam seems like his homage to Pulp Fiction. There's the dramatic story about a dreaded gangster, which can be likened to the tale about the gangster's reaction to a man giving his wife a foot massage in Pulp Fiction; there's the gangster's act of asking another man to take his wife out; there's the storyline of a couple forced to go on the run to escape the gangster; and there's the shot where we look at two gangsters from inside a car's trunk, which is identical to a shot of Travolta and Jackson.

Guru Somasundaram and Master Vasanth are the scene stealers in the ensemble cast. They are both completely natural and make a nice father-son pair whose roles are reversed most of the time. One-time hunk Jackie Shroff makes a convincing gangster who tries to hide his impotence through violence while Sampath Raj once again proves that he can take on any role convincingly. Ravi Krishna's usually irritating voice helps define his character as an innocent loser who is ready to turn into a while knight who helps the damsel in distress while Yasmin at times goes a bit overboard with the cutesy act but is convincing by the time the movie ends.

Yuvan, not distracted by the need to deliver songs based on some template, provides a background score that is brilliant. The tunes that accompany Sampath's escape from the police and the Western-style standoff between him and a rowdy are standouts and the grand, operatic score he gives the bloody fight sequence plays an important part in transforming the brutality into beauty. The film's tone and muted color scheme add to the gritty feel and the grainy look that is given to the chase sequences make them interesting.