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...

Kidugu (Cover, Tamil, 2023) Director: V Veera Murugan This is an all-out political bashing movie. In a state where the silver screen and political stage are closely intertwined, the ruling parties have used cinema to spread their brand of politics for years. The story goes back to the pre-independence era. The Justice Party (JP), the biggest party representing a large chunk of South India, parted ways from the Indian Congress Party (INC). JP felt INC was too Hindu in its outlook. JP claimed to be the sole representative of the downtrodden, and INC needed to do more. At the same time, JP was selling the idea that Hinduism and Lord Rama were just Northern India's subtle way of subjugating the Southerners. In a bizarre twist of events, JP's leaders, at one time, did not want to join the Union of India but rather become part of Pakistan. Its founder, EV Ramasamy, lamented that the 15th of August 1947 was a day of mourning, not a celebration. In 1972, Ramasamy was accused of disresp...