Uriyadi (உறியடி)

Uriyadi is a 2016 thriller film written, directed, and produced by Vijay Kumar. 

Director: Vijay Kumar

Cast: Mime Gopi, Vijay Kumar, Suruli

Music: Masala Coffee

Uriyadi, set in the 1990s, begins with four youngsters in an engineering college in Trichy. At first, they appear to be fairly typical boys. They’re from smaller towns and they’re enjoying being free, smoking and drinking and celebrating birthdays by smushing cake on the face.

When an old man is denied entry into the hotel they frequent, they stand up for him. When a girl is teased on a bus, one of them beats up the guy. What’s refreshing about first-time writer-director Vijay Kumar is that he doesn’t glamourise these guys, he doesn’t make them heroes. Two of these fights are superbly choreographed. 

Things take a political turn when a caste-based outfit decides to erect a statue for its martyred leader. Vijay Kumar shows us — even if not in great detail — how these small outfits form a party whose mission is to represent that particular caste, get votes from people belonging to that caste, get elected to power, and trade this power for favours from bigger parties. 

The rest of the film is what happens when the boys keep running into (accidentally and on purpose) and antagonising party underlings — but Uriyadi isn’t just a political film. It’s an adult film as well, a film that doesn’t try to shield the viewer from drug use and brutal violence. Even the love angle is a small flashback — this movie is all male, with one transgender who returns to the story in a way you don’t expect. 

Uriyadi isn’t just something you say good things about because it’s from a first-time filmmaker. He’s a solid filmmaker.