Smart, spontaneous, packed with action, bravado and heat, it’s these expressions that you’ll remember days after seeing Gangs of Tooting Broadway.
The urban crime drama set in 2009, a day before the Sri Lankan Tamil Protests outside The Houses of Parliament is centered in the midst of South London’s Tamil community.
It tells the tale of Arun (Nav Sidhu) and his efforts to prevent his younger brother Ruthi (Kabelan Verlkumar) from being drawn into the villainous Tamil gang world.
Offering a rare insight into a concealed community, the emotionally charged thriller manages to address criminality, drugs and brutality in 90 minutes, before contributing the conventional lecture of “Just don’t do it!.”
It almost immediately hammers home to Arun that, even though much time has passed, the gang culture he left behind hasn’t forgotten him.
Without a well-chosen cast that brings the story to life, this would have just been a low-gloss suspenseful adventure.
But Sidhu holds solid as the man who seems to be carrying a lot of baggage on his shoulders, though he’s just downright intimidating with his nail-biting, exhausted-facial gaze.
We often roll our eyes disapprovingly at UK thug flicks, but Gangs of Tooting Broadway is a devilishly well turned-out satisfier that’s well worth a watch.
‘Gangs of Tooting Broadway’ will be released on DVD on February 4.
