RIFLE RANGE BOY

Viduthalai Part 1 (விடுதலை, Independence; 2023) Director: Vetri Maaran This story is mentioned to be a creation of fiction. Still, a connoisseur  of Indian, especially contemporary Tamil Nadu (TN) politics, would realise that it is a compilation of a hodgepodge of events around TN in the 1980s and 1990s. The movie is based on a short story titled 'Thunaivan' written by  Jeyamohan. In this movie version, an honest rookie police constable, Kumaresan, is stationed in a god-forsaken place on the borders of TN. This place is active with Naxalite activities, and the tribal people are said to be harbouring a wanted criminal, Perumal @ Vathiyar. He is said to be heading a terrorist group named Makkal Padai (People's Army) which masterminded many destructive activities, including a bomb blast and derailing a train, which caused much damage and lives lost. Kumaresan falls in love with a tribal girl and soon realises everything is not as it seems. The police are not interested in perf...

Sarpatta Paramparai (சர்பட்ட பரம்பரை, Tamil, 2021) Written, Directed by Pa Ranjith One can learn a thing or two by watching films, i.e. if one is bothered to check the backstory. This is one rare full-length boxing film in Tamil, coming from a land that usually infuses familial masala to the storyline. In keeping with the timeline the story is set in, in the 1970s, there is ample sprinkling of Tamil Nadu politics to set the mood. For once, we see actors who really look their part as boxers. The make-up, boxing techniques and the make-believe props that cradles us back to the mid-1970s are convincing enough. Before watching this film, I did not know that boxing was a passionate sport in northern Madras even before the 1940s. Boxing came to India with the British. In Tamil Nadu, it was named 'kuttu chandei', and it came with its own set of rules. Boxers could not hit each others' faces, not the body. In the early 1940s, it seems there was a black British boxer (some say he is...