Gangers movie review: An in-form Vadivelu and Sundar C keep this light-hearted, simplistic yet trite film afloat

Indian Express

24-04-2025

Gangers movie review: Sundar C is a rather enigmatic filmmaker who understands the kind of nuanced conversations around cinema on social media, and still makes a film that would invariably be contentious in such a space. In fact, in a recent interview, Sundar C said that his films don't have a lot of bloodshed, voyeuristic camera angles, double-meaning dialogues, and glamour for the sake of it. But then, Gangers is like an antithesis to his belief system as the film has bloodshed, voyeuristic camera angles, double-meaning dialogues, glamour for the sake of it, and… oodles of humour that salvages the film whenever it dips into unsavoury territories.
Gangers is essentially a heist film, but takes its own sweet time to reach here. The path towards this aspect of the narrative is filled with a lot of hits and misses when it comes to the unending barrage of jokes. The entire first half of the 150-minute film is more or less the set-up, almost like the first act. It feels we are looking at a mishmash of multiple plot points, and in our head, we are playing 'Where did we see this before?' and are not really invested in what is unfolding on the screen. Yes, there is Vadivelu in one of his best comedy roles in years. Yes, there is Sundar C doing things he has already done in many of his films, including Aranmanai. Yes, there are the likes of Munishkanth, Bagavathi Perumal, and Kalaiyan doing things that the usual Sundar C ensemble of comedians do best. Yes, there is Catherine Tresa, who plays a role that, for the most part, has a lot of gravitas, but also doubles up as the 'glam' quotient of the film. And yet, it is the final heist portions that bring the roof down despite Gangers being pegged as a laugh-a-minute film.
One of the best things about Gangers is that the film never takes itself too seriously, and doesn't want the audience to do it either. Sundar C plays Saravanan, the new PT instructor of a school where a girl mysteriously disappears. This is a town where such incidents happen dime a dozen, and the only one fighting against the antagonists is the computer Science teacher Sujitha (Catherine Tresa). Lest we think of it as a rather serious film, you have another PT teacher Singaram (Vadivelu), who does everything he can to make us laugh, including relentless ogling at Sujitha, and finding himself at the wrong locations at the wrong time. There is a vigilante film in Gangers. There is a comedy of errors in Gangers. There is a PSA about the ill effects of drugs among students in Gangers. There is a three-pronged romance in Gangers. Heck, there is even a Shawshank Redemption in Gangers. Probably why the film suffers from an overwhelming sense of overstuffedness. There are just too many things happening with too little impact on the proceedings.
However, the 2nd and 3rd acts culminate in a rib-tickling final hour that hits it out of the park with each gag becoming increasingly outlandish and invariably funny. Even when there is a 'club song' that comes out of nowhere… wait, who am I kidding? We all know there is a 'club song' waiting to happen, and it features the teacher who has been trying to save the children of her town, and has become part of the heist squad just because she wants justice to prevail. In fact, till that moment, of course, there is the usual meet-and-greet scenes between the protagonists that follow the Sundar C template, but her actions are given a veneer of dignity. In many ways, it is one of the better-written characters in the film, and it makes one wonder why Sundar C couldn't just carry on with her just being ogled at by one, and not many, in the name of a club song. But there is an outlandish piece of writing that tries to justify her presence in the song. Does it make sense? Probably not, but no doubt that it is ingenious. It is a pity that this ingenuity goes missing a few scenes later when there is an actor in drag, and the humour is downright crass.
It makes you wonder what goes through Sundar C's head when he writes these scenes. Take, for instance, the way the heist happens and things get resolved. It might seem pedestrian and too simplistic, but there are also moments where the writing shines through. There are actually smart resolutions, which bookend scenes that can best be described as random and a riot. For an extended time in the narrative, the film becomes a referential one with Sundar C's filmography finding its way into the plot. However, this doesn't exist in vacuum, and there are just the right pointers to allow this indulgence. And when there is a final hurrah to the heist, facilitated by one of Sundar C's films, you can't help but wonder why these smarts had to be withheld to go for the low-hanging fruits of humour.
It is interesting how Sundar C manages to dish out such films with confidence and consistency. He is probably one of the very few Indian filmmakers who has multiple simplistic IPs in his kitty. Do you want a horror comedy franchise? Do you want a heist franchise involving a few good-for-nothing people who somehow do something to save the day? Do you want a double hero film with all the masala templates coming together to give a straight-forward comedy of errors? You only have one person to go to, and that is Sundar C. He can take any detours in between to do films that he wants to 'experiment' with, and he can always come back to the Aranamanai franchise, the Kalakalappu franchise, and possibly, the Gangers franchise, and rest assured that the audience would come in droves to give the film a shot.
More than anything else, Gangers is almost like Sundar C's homage to his own brand of films, and a reminder why Vadivelu, the comedian, still has it in him to make scores of people laugh at the drop of a hat. Of course, Vadivelu had a terrific turn as the protagonist of Mari Selvaraj's Maamannan. But this is the Vadivelu that even Vadivelu likes to be. He gets the dance right, the expressions right, the crassness right, the dialogue delivery right, and even the slapstick right. There are more than a few kinks that need to be straightened out, but full points to Sundar C for giving Tamil cinema its Vadivelu back, and how!