RIFLE RANGE BOY: We can plan weddings, but death?

Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimaiyil (TTT)

(Under the Leadership of Chief Thambi, Tamil;2026)
Director: Nithish Sahadev

During my teenage years, one of my old relatives died. As close relatives, we, the children, had to show our faces. I distinctly remember that the day she died was the third day of the Chinese New Year. A huge crowd had gathered in front of her house. The deceased's family lived in one of the city council's closely knit houses provided to its staff.

The relative's immediate neighbour was a Chinese family who had no qualms about displaying their displeasure at having an 'inauspicious' event on the day when good fortune is supposed to flow in. The lady of the house gave strict instructions to the mourners not to cross the imaginary line that separated the two houses. She closed all doors and windows and even drew all the curtains. She would periodically come out, light a few firecrackers, and immediately go back in and lock herself in her 'high castle'.

Initially, I was clueless about her antics, but it later became clear as day when I overheard one of the deceased's sons explaining the whole imbroglio.

Chinese New Year is a time to recharge one's life for the following year. It is time to cleanse, ward off evil, and usher in uninterrupted prosperity (read: money) for the following year. So, having a dead body in the neighbour's house at a time to draw in good vibes did not augur well in her books. Hence, the closure of doors and windows, and the drawing of curtains. For good measure, a few crackers were thrown in to scare away the demons.

I often wondered how long the family had been cooped up in their home, afraid to draw in negative energy, perhaps for fifteen days, as the New Year celebrations ended on Chap Goh Meh, the fifteenth day.

Watching TTT somehow brought back memories of that event, which happened almost 50 years ago. TTT is a dark comedy that would not excite the usual die-hard fans of Tamil cinema. Nevertheless, I found the story quite fascinating, leaving me in stitches all the way through, much to the chagrin of my wife, who found laughing at someone's wedding and funeral to be in poor taste.

TTT is a comedy with punchy, sarcastic dialogue that hits viewers a few seconds after delivery, not spontaneously. The fact that the main character, Jeeva, maintains a deadpan expression makes it all better.

In a traditional Tamil household, a wedding is a thousand-year investment. A wedding is a contract for life, decided by the Divine Forces, and does not last only for a lifetime but for seven births. Hence, the elders are very particular that it is done right. Every external event is scrutinised and interpreted as a sign from the Gods as an indicator of the affirmative or otherwise. That is probably why celestial bodies' consellations are also calculated to ward off negative energies from the so-called negative planetary alignments. Anyway, weddings are expensive affairs, and the compulsion to do it right is always there.

So, in the movie, when one neighbour plans a lavish wedding for his daughter, he gets all so upset when his neighbour's 80-year-old decided to kick the bucket on the eve of the wedding. The neighbours had never been on good terms anyway. The bride's father thinks that it is the old man's vengeance to ruin his daughter's event.

A local politician vying for the post of panchayat chairmanship is drawn in to calm both parties. The issue is that the dead man's son insists that the funeral must happen at the very same time as the wedding is due to happen. For the mourners' family, that timing would ensure his safe passage of his soul to moksha. Their neighbour, on the other hand, feels it is bad taste to have a wedding troupe and the hearse passing each other at the same time.

Along the way, there are further clashes of egos, unnecessary meddling of long-lost relatives, caste politics, an upset groom, a possible runaway bride situation and a barrel load of laughter. Spoiler alert - Nature has its own sinister way to balance everything out. Nice. 4.5/5.