zetret I have watched all great Hollywood films, n this film is as good as , if not , scores of times better than a lot of em.Awesome direction and fine performances from Kamal, Pasupathy, Nasser, Abirami, Napoleon, great Music, this film captures the essence of South Tamil Nadu's "jallikattu" culture.The story moves, as narrated by two convicted prisoners, one being Virumandi(Kamal) who is about to be hanged and the other being Pasupathy. After hearing both the versions , a journalist comes to know the truth and the ensuing climax inside the jail, is a treat to watch.A movie of this calibre in Tamil cinema, is rare and kudos to Kamal.

jagdheesh The movie is too rooted in the culture of south Tamil Nadu for it to receive universal acclaim. Non-Tamil Speakers, Urban Tamil folks might have serious difficulty understanding the language and culture depicted in the film. The movie is about a brash, honest, foolish bumpkin who is caught up in the politics of two warring villages. The rivalry between castes, which is a highlight of South Indian politics, has been etched out neatly. The jail riot scenes remind you of Natural Born Killers vaguely but the jail set, actors and dialogues fit to the T. The capital punishment angle seems a tad bit forced into the movie as the movie doesn't really have anything to do with capital punishment apart from the cameo by a former Indian Judge. That apart, Virumaandi is one of the finest movies to have made it to Indian screens.The Pros: Brilliant acting, Clever dialogues, Interesting narration, Good Music The Cons: Made for a very niche audience

itparanorm Kamalahassan has proved a point with this village based script. Though his acting is not his magnum opus, his direction and screen play skills shines through out the movie.He has done meticulous work in sketching the plot and in small details of the village set. Pasupathy, napolean have done a commendable job. Songs and background score gel well with the story. Slightly inspired by the Hollywood movie "Life of David Gale", the movie stood out as unusual good movie among the clichéd kollywood movies. Abirami has done her role well, adding a pinch of romance to the movie. The gruesome fight scenes though realistic adds a negative attribute to the movie. All in all its an exceptional movie of its time.

pvramarao This movie is different and off-beat. Already with the way of innovative story telling (as a flashback narrated by two different people with opposite interests) which is a very BIG plus point, the recipe is spoilt with overthinking on Kamal's (the director) part to add a "message" to the film. The message (to abolish capital punishment) is a disjoint, not even fit as an appendix to this movie.This is really a story of one person, and should have been left like that - no need to add universally applicable messages. After all deeds done by Kamal and his villain, even those opposing capital punishment would feel these 2 guys deserve it. It is not important though made deliberately noticeable, that the villain got only life sentence whereas Kamal got death sentence. One couldn't care less.Its like - a spoilt recipe in the end which started innovatively with a brillant screenplay, and ran well though most of the film. Also, Kamal shouldn't have acted in this film - he should have just directed it - someone like Mohanlal would have lived in this movie, with much less (just adequate) action in some scenes. May be even Vikraman would have done a great job.