Recently a Tamil movie was released, titled Rudra Thandavam. It received immense glare even prior to release, both by supporters and critics, and I became curious to watch it on screen. I am glad I saw it. The movie was engaging right from the word go. The movie is antithetical to all patterns and frameworks one is used to in Tamil movies which are essentially hero-centric. It reflects the extreme self-confidence of the Director, Mohan G, and the trust the producer placed in the Director. It is an advantage of being an upcoming Director. An upcoming Director is not limited by his formula or his pre-set images. The upcoming Directors have only one way to go: make your choice, give something different, give your best, and make a bet. The movie does not carry any big-name as the hero, which is again its strength. Its quality as I understood comes from its low budget, which I will explain later.

Story in Nutshell

The movie has a few threads running through. The story is built around the theme of the menace of drugs among the youth and how deeply it is entrenched in the Society especially, the youth. As one can expect the drug mafia is backed by a well-developed underground network and is well oiled. A conscientious police officer goes to catch two youngsters in the act of selling, on a routine operation that results in an accident. The story unfolds then. The officer gets entangled or framed in a case under PCR Act, and is sent to jail. The officer himself has been under the guilt of being the cause of the accident. Over this, is cleverly built the theme of drugs mafia and the controversy around the question of application of PCR Act and the widespread practice of conversion. The central character is a policeman played by Richard Rishi who has already worked with the Director. His character is again antithetical to the general perception of policemen in movies. He is a conscientious policeman and in trying to save a boy from drug offense he gets framed under more grave charges and more importantly under PCR Act. The youth who dies happens to belong to the Dalit community. The police officer chooses to brave it legally.

In the process of unraveling the drug distribution and underground network, he comes across the factor of religious conversion and how Ambedkar's name and Dalit identity are falsely projected and misapplied. Of course, the heroness comes only if there is a villain of matching caliber who is played by a seasoned actor Vasudev Menon. Vasudev Menon plays the cool character and there is no melodrama which is how life actually is. There are engaging court scenes characteristically played by an acclaimed actor Radha Ravi. This is the plot and controversies in a nutshell.

Movie Characteristics

As I mentioned, the salient contributory factor to the successful portrayal of this movie is its low budget. So, there are no needless songs, prolonged fights, standalone comedy scenes which are themselves comic, etc. From the first shot till the end every inch is linked and flows well. The songs which are there are quite integrated, and the fights are very natural. The Hero quite well fits the image of the police and a typical policeman who would fight with his bare hands and sticks. He is one who sticks to law and he is not going to go on a shooting spree. The movie moves quite fast and thanks to the low budget, there is no extravagance in music or sets or locations. The whole movie is very naturally portrayed and could have as well happened in reality. Low-budget movies are also not long and end where they should, and not drag needlessly in circles.  Maybe producers should put a cap on budgets. One more song, one more fight, and one

The movie is quite antithetical to any heroism. Since the hero is not one of the mass cadre-based personalities, the Director is not tied down by compulsions of strangulating the plot to suit the hero’s image and satisfy the appetite of his fans. Whatever is required is only portrayed by the Director. And the hero is totally played by the script. It feels so light to act when one is not burdened by heroism. Something which the audience can relate to. It is strictly woven around the story and story only and the actor is clinical in style.

The Narratives: Non-discussables

The biggest contribution as I see of the movie is that it has made non-discussable into discussable. The ideologically narrative-loaded Tamil movies are invariably driven by a single agenda right from the days of Independence. Tamil movies suffer from the limitation of certain stereotypes about religious connotations, ideological and philosophical connotations, and several ‘no-go’ areas. Director Mohan broke these boundaries with his earlier movie Draupadi itself and this movie takes the evolution even further. Here it takes it to even wide areas of PCR Act and Conversions which are potentially sensitive and have to be handled rather deftly. He has handled it comprehensively and adequately and yet remained above reproach. He has managed to convey his message without hurting anybody’s sensibilities. If some people did feel offended it reflects more their guilt and complicity than the movie characterization.

The movie beautifully depicts how the PCR Act could be getting misused and even policemen can become its victim. The movie no way questions PCR Act but brings out clearly the scope for miscarriage of justice. In fact, the provocation to apply PCR Act comes not from the victim but from the drug mafia which wants to frame the officer. This is probably true in real life as well wherein the victim is innocent and is being played upon by so-called public interest well-wishers. The innocent poor victims are often truthful and they are more understanding and merciful than the interlocutors. Of course, if there is exploitation that is still widespread, the convict should face justice. But, the application of the Act has to be discerning.  

Similarly, it brings out another important lesson of not trying to tie down the great leader Ambedkar under the identity of a community and to regard him as a mass leader of all communities. The scene where the Lawyer says, I am also a ‘Dalit’, I have not seen it even in the most revolutionary of the movies. So much for wokeism. Indeed, if one were to go by the general comments the movie elicited, it received wide acclaim for this portrayal.

The most subtle sub-theme portrayed and which is delicately woven with the main story is regarding religious conversion. That is woven along with the application of the PCR Act and it brings out effectively the prevalence, mode, and scale of conversion. It definitely will make anybody think seriously about this issue and do soul searching. Somehow the responses to this have been muted and probably the ecosystem is weighed down by the weight of the issue.

The subject should be indeed very controversial as otherwise why none of the big-time actors neither commanded nor even criticized it. The silence exposed their vulnerabilities to wokeness and satke. Mercifully the audience is not governed by such wokeness and they have gone purely by its merit which goes to prove their maturity. Henceforth the Directors or actors cannot blame the audience for the poor quality of films. It is not correct to blame the taste of the audience or their appreciative abilities for your shortcomings.

The encouraging factor is Director Mohan has promised to continue his r and come with another path-breaking revolutionary theme. From the steeliness in his talk and the gleam in his eyes, one can make out he has something up his sleeve. I am booking my show in advance. Best wishes.

Image Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noD8uV0xcOw (0:15)

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