It’s tricky retelling a story that many have watched on television and digital platforms. Four years after Special 26 comes this adaptation that contextualises the con-drama for a Tamil-Telugu milieu. Gang takes us to the 80s when bylanes in Tamil Nadu had boards of Kamal Haasan’s fan clubs, people quoted dialogues from Nayakan , vendors sold Gold Spot and a CBI officer could be driving a Fiat Premier Padmini.
The 80s were marked with angst; unemployment drove educated youngsters into desperation. Gang , the Telugu version of Thaana Serndha Koottam , is set in this pre-liberalisation era (there’s also a reference to the colas that will take over Gold Spot), and touches upon serious issues through a masala-laced film where the lead actor and his gang are thoroughly enjoying the parts they play. The icing on the cake is Suriya dubbing for the first time in Telugu. Despite the slight Tamil accent, he does it better than anyone else who has dubbed for him before.
Vignesh Shivan constructs the part-comic part-serious drama with a handful of characters trying to ace the interviews/tests to get recruited into police force, CBI, or just about any job that will help them earn. If one is well read enough to give complex and perhaps unwarranted explanation to ‘who killed Gandhi?’ another tries to smart talk his way through the CBI interview, knowing that the odds are against him.
The real fun begins when Suriya (posing at CBI officer Uttam Das played by Suresh Menon) and Ramya Krishna (the fake name Jhansi Rani gives her an edge) come together, along with Senthil, Sathyan and Sivashankar, to pull off con jobs from Karaikudi to Hyderabad. Each one has a reason to be in the gang. Most of them are tired of being unemployed and the very term salary is music to their ears. Then there’s Jhansi Rani who has eight daughters named after ‘Astha Lakshmi’, and Keerthy Suresh who justifies her small-time fraudulent acts.
The gang’s tryst in Hyderabad’s Old City is a hoot, with none of them adept in conversing in Hindi or Urdu. Ramya Krishna snaps out of her Sivagami mode and is at ease in this fun role. So is Suriya, shaking off the Singam series, and has a blast dancing to Anirudh Ravichander’s retro beats and channelling the anger of the 80s to good effect. Dinesh Krishnan’s cinematography adds to the period’s vibrancy.
The throwback to 80s feels a bit theatrical in some places, especially in recreating Chennai’s Mount Road and in Keerthy’s styling. A hero of the 80s, Murali (Karthik to Tamil audience) is shown as an officer on the verge of retirement. There’s a smart repartee between him and Suriya as to who’s the hero. Suriya’s height becomes a butt of joke but you know that eventually he will have the last word with Suresh Menon.
The portions showing the plight of Thambi Ramaiah (as Suriya’s father) and the friend Kalaiyarasan are dealt well, getting the necessary emotional connect without going overboard.
The sugar-coated take on issues continues almost till the end, until Suriya launches a mini sermon. Despite the dragging climax, Gang is enjoyable.
Gang
Cast : Suriya, Ramya Krishna, Keerthy Suresh
Direction : Vignesh Shivan
Music : Anirudh Ravichander
