DC review: Arun Matheswaran's revenge saga is brutal, beautiful and bold

DC movie review: Director Arun Matheswaran's DC, starring Lokesh Kanagaraj and Wamiqa Gabbi, is an engaging and arresting revenge thriller that dials up on violence, while embracing it. Composer Anirudh's work does its magic and stays with you long after the credits roll.Lokesh Kanagaraj and Wamiqa Gabbi's DC released in theatres on August 7.Director Arun Matheswaran returns to familiar territory with DC — a world where ordinary people are crushed by a broken system, women carry the scars of male brutality, and revenge is the only language left for justice. Like Rocky and Saani Kaayidham before it, DC is steeped in blood, grief and moral ambiguity. This time, though, Arun wraps his recurring themes in a stylish revenge thriller with unexpected twists, pulsating action and enough emotional heft to justify the violence.Devadas (Lokesh Kanagaraj) is a gangster with no intention of leaving crime behind. He and his men are riding high after ambushing a police convoy and making off with a cache of discarded weapons. Around the same time, a grieving woman approaches Das, claiming policemen killed her husband and stole the money meant for her son's education. Having carried the grief of losing his own mother for years, Das has a soft spot for women in distress, and decides to help her — killing the policeman responsible and forcing his own gang into hiding.The police soon close in, setting off a tense cat-and-mouse chase between Das's gang and the officers hunting them down. On the run, Das crosses paths with bar singer Parvathi (Sanjana) and Chandra (Wamiqa Gabbi) — two women whose arrival reshapes the course of his life even as the walls close in around him.Arun Matheswaran's films — Rocky, Saani Kaayidham, and now DC — share recurring themes: battered protagonists let down by the system, broken and devoid of emotion, robbed of parental figures; and women who are victims of sexual violence seeking revenge of their own. DC is cut from the same cloth, but it's the treatment that sets it apart. Despite being a revenge action thriller, DC tells a rooted story about people who have no means to fight the system, training its lens on power-hungry, money-hungry vultures who oppress, exploit and kill. Lokesh Kanagaraj's brooding Devadas steps into the role of their saviour.There's a nuance and flair here that was missing from Arun's earlier work. DC isn't just about style and aesthetics — Das gets a real backstory, and so do Parvathi and Chandra. Some of it is told, some of it shown, but the impact runs deep. This retelling borrows the core idea of the classic Devdas and flips it into a film built on human relationships and drama. Devadas isn't simply a ruffian on a killing spree — his anger is rooted in grief, and it's earned. When Parvathi briefly enters his life, he knows he shouldn't get close to her, but can't help himself. The film also weaves in callbacks to Lokesh Kanagaraj's own affection for the song Chakku Chakku Vathikuchi and his on-screen mannerisms; one action sequence has him eliminating villains with a kada, echoing his directorial touch in Vijay's Master.That level of detail isn't limited to Devadas — it extends to Parvathi, Chandra and gang member Kitty (Avinash Raghudevan) too. The writing frames Parvathi and Chandra as two wronged women, chained by the men around them, and lets every character grow into a well-rounded arc with a satisfying payoff.DC's greatest strengths are its stylised action and thumping music. Blood, bullets and gore are aplenty, yet the violence never feels gratuitous — it folds into the narrative, carried further by Anirudh's background score and songs. This is easily Anirudh's best work in recent times, and his music elevates DC into something close to what pop culture calls a "peak cinematic experience."Parvathi and Chandra's lives are weighed down by the men around them — the world judges them, but the writing never does. It shows them as women who had no choice but to sell themselves to survive. In one scene, Chandra declares "everything has a price" and reclaims what was rightfully hers after nearly two decades of exploitation. Parvathi's arc ends in tragedy, but she remains the catalyst for Devadas's transformation.Director Lokesh Kanagaraj, who built his name in Tamil cinema without industry backing, makes a confident acting debut in DC. His performance is largely satisfying, though he falls slightly short in scenes demanding raw rage, grief and emotional vulnerability. Sanjana makes the most of her limited screen time.DC gives Wamiqa Gabbi her Kill Bill moment, and it's one of the best theatrical experiences in recent memory — the scene she picks up the gun for the first time, the rage is palpable and impossible not to cheer for. Lokesh's performance in that scene works precisely because he lets Wamiqa shine while staying the grounding force.Krish Dhayal's performance as the police officer behind Das and gang makes you want to hate him and that's the biggest justice to his character. Ashraf, played by Balaji Deviprasad, is a police officer torn between the brutality of his profession and the family moments he constantly sacrifices. Das's friends, played by Avinash Raghudevan, Jawahar Sakthi and Pranav Teophine, lend solid support, adding both warmth and weight to the narrative.Arun Matheswaran's films have always been technically superior, and DC is no exception — the action, cinematographer Mukesh's striking frames, and editor GK Prasanna's crisp cuts all work in tandem to make DC one of the best revenge thrillers of the year.That said, DC isn't without flaws, particularly in its opening hour, where the dialogues feel a touch amateurish and hollow. But in the larger scheme of things, these flaws feel negligible.At its heart, DC is less interested in glorifying violence than in understanding the grief that fuels it. Arun Matheswaran finally marries his visual flair with emotionally resonant writing, while Anirudh's career-best score amplifies every beat. The result is an arresting revenge thriller that lingers long after the final frame.- EndsPublished On: Aug 7, 2026 14:39 IST