A rescue mission that almost never happened!

Manjummel Boys (Malayalam/ Tamil; 2024)

Director: Chidambaram

I was intrigued by this movie after reading two articles. The first detailed a legal dispute between Ilaiyaraaja's side and the producer. The dispute arose when the producer used Ilaiyaraaja's song composition as a background without obtaining permission. This incident added an exciting layer to the movie's production. The second article discussed the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary's directive to the Kodaikanal Police to investigate police brutality against complainants, which also played a role in the movie's plot.

This is a gripping tale of a rescue mission that took place in 2006. A group of young men from Majummel, Kochi, embarked on a trip to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, a popular tourist destination. While exploring, the men made a fateful decision to venture into a restricted area. Tragically, one of them fell into a seemingly bottomless pit. The story unfolds as the remaining men, faced with a group of apathetic officials who had essentially given up on their friend, embark on a daring mission to rescue him. 

This survival thriller is based on actual events. The cave the young men entered has a long and checked history. It was first described in 1821 by a British officer who christened it 'Devil Kitchen'. It caught people's attention when it was featured in 1991 Kamalhaasan's hit movie, 'Guna'. Since Guna, a mental patient in the film, used this cave as his hideout, it came to be referred to as 'Guna's Cave'. A catchy song from the movie, 'Kanmani Anbodan,' is used liberally in this movie and has become a bone of contention with Illayaraaja's camp.

As many as 16 victims have plunged into the pit in Guna's Cave, but none have been rescued. Even a Central Minister's relative had fallen into this hole. All the available resources could not rescue or not so much excavate his remains.

Roots of Guna Caves ©Shutterstock 

So, when the Majummel Boys ran to the Kodaikanal Police for help, the police were not too enthusiastic in carrying out rescue missions, looking at the cave's track record. In fact, they were beaten up, accusing them of trying to cover up a murder. The fire and forest departments were not helpful either. No officials dared to go in hoisted on ropes with so many urban legends floating around. Long story short, the boys and the local people hawked on the police and rescue teams. One of the Manjummel Boys, Kuttan (Suji David), volunteered to go in. After many tense moments, the victim (Subhash) was found alive and rescued. Kuttan went on to receive a State award for bravery. Subhash remains the only person rescued after plunging into the hole in Guna Caves.

This movie is a visual treat, with stunning cinematography that captures the beauty and danger of the cave. The camera work effectively conveys the tension and fear experienced by the characters, adding to the overall suspense of the film.

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An introduction to TN separatist movement!

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 performing their duties. They are just eyeing their remunerations and the medal that they will receive. The officers are just yeomen to their superiors and buying time. Nobody is interested in taking the extra mile or in what vital information he has to offer. The hierarchal order in the police is so toxic. The administrators are only interested in putting up a good image and recommendations from the public for work well done. The media keeps churning out half-truths. The whole machinery works for so-called development that purportedly improves peoples' lives, but in reality, it just fattens the coffers of the power that be. But he wants to do his job to do as a policeman. The first part of the offering showcases how this rookie comes face-to-face with the feared hooligan.

Pulavar Kaliya Perumal

The Makkal Padai is fashioned after Tamil Nadu Liberation Army (TNLA). TNLA is said to have formed after a reported incident when Indian Army personnel were sent to Sri Lanka during the LTTE insurgency. Apparently, the Indian soldiers raped or molested a big group of Tamil female detainees under their care. This fringe group had a bone to pick with the Indian Central Government, hence the formation of TNLA to liberate TN. Unable to garner support from the general public, they went underground, linked with the Communists and Naxalites to engage in arms struggles.

The gruesome train accident depicted realistically in the early part of the movie did actually happen. In 1987, The Rockfort Express train travelling between Madras and Trichy was derailed when Naxalites bombed a section of a rail track. Even though somebody did alert about the bombing, the message got lost in bureaucracy. Former Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram was supposed to have been travelling on that train.

TNLA was started by Pulavar Kaliya Perumal @ Vaithiyar (note a similar name in the movie - Perumal and Vaithiyar). It has strong links to the Communist Party of India - Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) but severed its ties to follow the Naxalites' path of arms struggle. It started as a sympathetic group to LLTE and fought for a separate nation within India. It is linked to many bomb blasts within the state. Many of its leaders have perished in bombing accidents or are behind bars. It remains a front behind many legitimate organisations and has established links with the sandalwood forest brigand Verrapan's group in Karnataka. 

Just for the record, CPI started in 1921. After the war with China in 1962, patriotism to India made it difficult to show allegiance to Mao. Mao's brand of Communism concentrated on peasant revolution, versus traditional Communism, which chose ruled by a selected group of workers named the proletariat. In 1967, armed peasants seized crops around Naxalbari and surrounding areas in West Bengal, which was already ruled by a communist government, as a revolt against their non-representation. The peasants controlled harvests and ran the villages like a government. They even ran a people's court to mete instant justice. The authorities shot it down, but it became a prototype for other people-controlled Naxalite-Maoist insurgency.

(NB There is an active movement to take Tamil Nadu out of the Republic of India. There is a feeling that TN is treated as a stepchild compared to the other states. The present political parties are mostly all self-professed atheists who oppose the current rise of Hindu consciousness in India. Ironically, a region that is testimony to the glory of Hindu architecture and knowledge has spiralled into this. And 'God's own Country' @ Kerala is governed by a godless Communist government!)

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'OnlyFans' of Tamil politics!

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 disrespecting Lord Rama on Ram Jayanthi by garlanding Him with a garland of slippers.

JP and subsequent offshoots of parties that followed, like DK, DMK and AIADMK, were not only unabashed atheists but anti-Hindus.

Many scriptwriters of the Tamil cinema of the late 1940s and 50s had politics on their minds when they released film after film that reflected their brand of politics - atheism, anti-Hindu and Dravidaism. Dravidaism probably is the remnant of Max Müller's now-defunct 'Aryan Migration Theory'. The theory posits that the original inhabitants of Mahenjo Daro and Harappa were herded away by galloping horsemen from the steppes of the North, bringing with them knowledge, civilisation and Hinduism. The persecuted people came to occupy the Southern part of India and were named Dravidaians. Hogwash, say modern scholars. Dravida means someone from the South, that is all. In anything, mitochondrial studies of ancient corpses suggest an 'Out of India' kind of migration to Persia and beyond

Since 2014, a wave of change has hit India, Tamil Nadu included. Ironically, the state boasting many mind-boggling places that honour various Hindu representations could stay anti-Hindu forever. BJP, the most prominent Hindu nationalistic party, made its move to Tamil Nadu in a big way.

DMK controls Kollywood and the mass media. Its cronies also usurp the chain of film distribution. This film rebuts all the messages subliminally imparted in Chennai mainstream movies. It is a hit-back film against decades of Dravidian propaganda. As none of the theatres in Tamil Nadu was willing to screen this film, the makers decided to screen it free on YouTube and hoped to reimburse production costs by crowdfunding.

A viewer well-versed in local TN politics will be familiar with its storyline. It is hard-hitting against politicians and Dravidian parties at large. The police department, which appears to be working in cahoots, is shown as spineless as leaders and their lackeys control the man in blue via remote control. Joe Public is given the runaround as politicians, businessmen, and gangsters have a field day.

Five friends go on a killing spree to avenge two people who were killed for demanding justice. Their father was falsely accused of stealing temple jewellery and was cheated of the temple land.

It is not a high-quality production, but its dialogues are explicit and hard-hitting on the parties referred to in real life. The film will only excite keen followers of Tamil Nadu's local politics.

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Victim or participant?

Queen (Web series, S1, E1-11, Tamil; 2019)
MX Player

It is no secret. Even though there is a declaration at the beginning of each episode that its story is a work of fiction and that any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental, it is as plain as day. There is no doubt that this web series is a fictionalised version of the former Chief Minister's life and times and a one-time highest-grossing actress in the Southern cinema, J Jayalalitha.

The give away signs are the characteristic vermilion pottu with a vertical extension, the similarity in the protagonist's familial and educational backgrounds, the fact that the 'Queen' aka Shakthi Sheshadri was a state top scorer like Jayalalitha and that both were of Brahmin ancestry. It does not take much imagination to realise that GM Ravichandran (GMR) is a plagiarisation of MG Ramachandran (MGR). The story is told as flashbacks from an interview which is reminiscent of the classic bare-it-all interaction between the former First Lady of Tamil Nadu and host Simi Garewal.

'Rendezvous with Simi Garewal'

Besides being a googling session to differentiate between fact and fiction, the programme also delves into the philosophical outlook of problems of poverty, single motherhood, the man-eat-man world of acting, the dog-eat-dog world of politics, the patriarchal control of society, the manipulative nature of politicians, mental illness, women empowerment and many more.

The actress who needs no introduction in the Tamil cinema, Ramya Krishnan (or Neelampuri of Padayappa fame), assumes the iconic leader's role. 

Parents try to impose and restrict for wanting to provide the best and avert mistakes that they had encountered and wish had known better. The free-spirited children look at it as clipping the wings, restricting the freedom to explore their full potential. The parents look at their kids as the guidance-seeking that toddlers that they once were. In the children's eyes, the parents are forever that 35-year old who is out to destroy their 'fun'. 

 We have often heard that it is a man's world and how, despite all the works by the bra-burning feminists since the 60s, the fairer sex is still trampled upon.  On the other hand, many females play the victim card and charm to participate and springboard up the ladder using the same system they refer to as toxic, masculine toxicity.

An engaging web series with good nostalgia feel, a good guessing game and profound thoughts on life.

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