Mandela - movie review

Let me start with the verdict first, for a change. This movie is a master piece and should be immediately remade in every Indian language and propagated. Probably would request the election commission to buy the rights and distribute it whenever and wherever there is an election. Just like how Doordarshan scraped “Roja” and “Naam Iruvar” CD’s to dust as special movie screenings on Independence day and Gandhi Jayanthi.

The power of satire, when combined with real life issues, is unimaginably big. And when it translates as a movie on screen with decent performances by steady actors, it becomes even more powerful. And if the issue is something that is deep rooted and is a known malice like Bribery (as in Indian movie), Corruption and carelessness (Mudhalvan, Anniyan), caste related, politics (Amaidhipadai and several dozen more) each of those movies have shone brightly at the box office. Whether it caused any change in the society is anybody’s guess. But such movies make you feel energized and the message stays as long as the popcorn takes to digest after the movie is over, which is a big thing in itself. Mandela was released probably couple of days before election results were announced in TN, directly on some tv channel. I had skipped watching this movie, all this while, thinking it would be another preachy or outright clumsy one, riding on the fame of YogiBabu’s (hero) one liners. But was pleasantly surprised to find myself wrong on every count. The story has so many political touch points, right at the beginning when 2 towns fight for ownership of a common toilet, the tone is set and is maintained beautifully till the end. No lead character leave alone the titular one, would’ve have had such an entry scene in tamil cinema. Asleep on a “thooli” hanging from a tree, the hero is woken up to rush for an errand. He along with his sidekick, gets into the car only to get royally slapped. They run behind the car all the way to the venue without understanding where they are going and for what. Had it been any other movie commercial or otherwise, there would’ve been melancholy music or some melodrama associated with this scene for sure. The whole scene becomes laugh out loud funny, when the hero tells the sidekick that, probably the car driver doesn’t know how to drive doubles (like in cycle). Same goes for the opening scene where people attending nature’s call under trees are force loaded into a truck to utilize a single toilet built elsewhere. Best part being, no one checks whether there is water inside the toilet, leaving the people in bewilderment.

With the president of the town been paralyzed and force evicted from his position that comes up for election, his 2 sons fight each other in opposing parties one each for their own caste. When the total population is evenly split between the 2 castes, it’s the vote of the hero that becomes the deciding factor on who becomes the next president. The hook being, a new factory is being planned to be built on that town, with a promised bribe of 30 crores for the next president who favors the deal. How things change for the hero with his single vote, the shenanigans of each parties to buy his vote, going to the extent of auctioning it and how it all comes crashing down is beautifully and funnily depicted. Towards the climax when the hero realizes the power of his vote and makes the parties actually do good things for the village, it were all whistle clap worthy mass scenes nothing short of a Rajini movie. It probably is one of the best written scenes that showcases the power of a single vote. And the ending when the entire village stands behind the hero is typical mass masala stuff. Of all the superb dialogues in the movie, to me the standout one being, the question which the hero innocently asks “who is a good leader”. The scene and its response is rollickingly funny. And an even more funnier scene would be the way the hero gets a name, which happens to be Nelson Mandela. A really good movie in tamil after a really long time. Hope this one wins some award next year.