Chennai City Gangsters Movie Review: Gangsters without the gang or the stars
Chennai City Gangsters Movie Synopsis:
Two thieves lose their boss's money and recruit four washed-up conmen to pull off increasingly ridiculous heists to pay him back.
Chennai City Gangsters Movie Review:
Written By:
Abhinav Subramanian
You know that friend who tells the same story at every party? Chennai City Gangsters is that friend with a film budget. This comedy parade of familiar faces doing familiar shtick feels less like a movie and more like someone's favorite playlist got sentient and decided to rob a bank.The setup involves orphaned thieves Pandi ( Vaibhav ) and Poochi (Manikandan) botching a fake robbery for their boss's boss—a scheme where Pasupathy (Livingston) plays middleman to Saleem's (Shihan Hussaini) insurance fraud. After losing the loot at a bar (naturally), they team up with Nettai (Redin Kingsley) who introduces them to the "legendary" Chennai City Gangsters: Split Soosai (Anandraj), whose personality literally splits when he hears police sirens, Memory Das (Mottai Rajendran), who, well, will let you guess what his quirk is, and assorted other gangsters who wouldn't scare a pigeon. Together, this motley crew hatches an absurd heist to repay Saleem.Director Vikram Rajeshwar seems to operate on quantity over quality, firing jokes like a malfunctioning comedy cannon. The film treats its plot as optional scaffolding for sketch comedy, but forgets that even sketch comedy needs timing. Characters exist purely as one-note gags: Pandi moons over his crush Jeni ( Athulya Ravi ) between bungled crimes, while each gang member gets exactly one personality quirk milked dry. It's comedy by committee, where everyone's a dimwit by design, hoping collective stupidity equals collective laughs.Sure, broken clocks and all that, so occasionally something lands. The second half finds minor rhythm when Anandraj's cop mode kicks in, turning on his own crew. Vaibhav, Manikandan, and Redin Kingsley work with what they're given, which isn't much beyond "play fools, make faces." Mottai Rajendran's been doing his thing for more than a decade now, bless him.File this under 'films that exist,' nothing more, nothing less.
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Time of India
2 days ago
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Chennai City Gangsters Movie Review: Gangsters without the gang or the stars
Chennai City Gangsters Movie Synopsis: Two thieves lose their boss's money and recruit four washed-up conmen to pull off increasingly ridiculous heists to pay him back. Chennai City Gangsters Movie Review: Written By: Abhinav Subramanian You know that friend who tells the same story at every party? Chennai City Gangsters is that friend with a film budget. This comedy parade of familiar faces doing familiar shtick feels less like a movie and more like someone's favorite playlist got sentient and decided to rob a setup involves orphaned thieves Pandi ( Vaibhav ) and Poochi (Manikandan) botching a fake robbery for their boss's boss—a scheme where Pasupathy (Livingston) plays middleman to Saleem's (Shihan Hussaini) insurance fraud. After losing the loot at a bar (naturally), they team up with Nettai (Redin Kingsley) who introduces them to the "legendary" Chennai City Gangsters: Split Soosai (Anandraj), whose personality literally splits when he hears police sirens, Memory Das (Mottai Rajendran), who, well, will let you guess what his quirk is, and assorted other gangsters who wouldn't scare a pigeon. Together, this motley crew hatches an absurd heist to repay Vikram Rajeshwar seems to operate on quantity over quality, firing jokes like a malfunctioning comedy cannon. The film treats its plot as optional scaffolding for sketch comedy, but forgets that even sketch comedy needs timing. Characters exist purely as one-note gags: Pandi moons over his crush Jeni ( Athulya Ravi ) between bungled crimes, while each gang member gets exactly one personality quirk milked dry. It's comedy by committee, where everyone's a dimwit by design, hoping collective stupidity equals collective broken clocks and all that, so occasionally something lands. The second half finds minor rhythm when Anandraj's cop mode kicks in, turning on his own crew. Vaibhav, Manikandan, and Redin Kingsley work with what they're given, which isn't much beyond "play fools, make faces." Mottai Rajendran's been doing his thing for more than a decade now, bless this under 'films that exist,' nothing more, nothing less.
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Chennai City Gangsters also stars Bigg Boss Tamil-fame Manikanda Rajesh in his first full-fledged role after the show. "As a newcomer, I couldn't have asked for a better film to get an entry into cinema. I would constantly observe and learn from Anandaraj, Sunil, Vaibhav, and others. I lived every moment of it. Honestly, I was quite scared during my first scene, but Vaibhav was encouraging, and I felt welcomed," he says, underlining that the experience boosted his confidence. Talking about how her approach to acting was influenced by working with talented filmmaker-actors like Samuthirakani, Suseenthiran, Mysskin, and Sasikumar, Athulya says, "Each of these directors brought a unique flavour to the films. I wasn't aware of how to explore scripts as I was a newcomer when I had the opportunity to work with these veterans, but now I dig deep into how these filmmakers write each scene and what they have in mind while writing it. As a result, I've approached both my upcoming films, Diesel and Mr X, differently," she says.
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Tamil cinema recently made the headlines after the Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan TR starrer Thug Life hit the big screens. While the movie tanked at the box office, a new lineup of films is hitting the theaters soon. If you're planning to watch new Tamil movies in theaters this week, don't miss this complete list with details. 3 New Tamil movies releasing in theaters 1. Kuberaa Cast: Dhanush, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Rashmika Mandanna, Jim Sarbh, Dilip Tahil, Sayaji Shinde, Sunaina, Divya Dekate, Koushik Mahata Director: Sekhar Kammula Release Date: June 20, 2025 Kuberaa, starring Dhanush and Nagarjuna Akkineni in lead roles, is a social thriller, bilingually made in Telugu and Tamil. The film features the Captain Miller actor as a beggar who is roped into a chartered accountant's conniving scheme. To swindle money from business tycoons through calculated methods, the story takes a turn when the beggar turns out to be sharper than he lets himself be. Aside from the lead actors, Rashmika Mandanna, Jim Sarbh, Dilip Tahil, Sayaji Shinde, Sunaina, and more play essential roles in the ensemble cast. 2. DNA DNA starring Atharvaa Murali and Nimisha Sajayan in the lead roles is a crime action thriller directed by Nelson Venkatesan, who co-wrote the screenplay along with Athisha Vino. The film narrates the tale of an unlikely couple entering wedlock, with the bride having a history of mental illness. However, things take a turn when she suspects that her newborn baby has been swapped by someone, with her husband turning the world upside down to help her. Apart from the leads, the movie has actors Balaji Sakthivel, Ramesh Thilak, Viji Chandrasekhar, Chetan, and more in supporting roles. 3. Chennai City Gangsters Cast: Vaibhav, Athulya Ravi, Manikandan Rajesh, Anandaraj, Livingston, Rajendran, John Vijay Director: Vikram Rajeshwar, Arun Keshav Release Date: June 20, 2025 Chennai City Gangsters is an upcoming comedy heist movie. The film, directed by the duo Vikram Rajeshwar and Arun Keshav, features the story of two men who accidentally lose money they had for safekeeping. As they are desperate to return the money, they meet with four eccentric cons, leading them down a spiral of hilarious moments for a bank robbery. With Vaibhav in the lead, the film has actors like Athulya Ravi, Manikandan Rajesh, Anandaraj, Livingston, Rajendran, and more in key roles. Apart from the mentioned films, the Tamil dubbed versions of cinematic ventures like Elio and Aamir Khan starrer Sitaare Zameen Par are also hitting the big screens.
