Ka Pae Ranasingam

Due credit to Virumandi, the debutant filmmaker, for his writing (dialogues) is razor sharp in places. There is also a touch of simplicity in the manner his scenes are crafted, an appreciable quality since most debut filmmakers fall for the trappings of Tamil cinema and try to go overboard with the drama quotient. State apathy doesn’t hit you hard — or slap you across the face, if you will — like in a Shankar film. It happens, it is usual and there is nothing you can do to change it. There is no feeling of helplessness or desperation that these scenes leave in you. It doesn’t move you, at all, and that there is how reality sans fiction feels like.

This political drama doesn’t focus on the drama that plays out in the corridors of power. But, it unravels the everyday struggle of common people, whose cry for help never reaches those in power. If you so desire to get your government’s attention then be ready to make a grand public spectacle that has the potential to dominate the air time of news channels. Of course, the real issues of the country will be overshadowed by the coverage of the sudden death of a celebrity. The film draws a parallel between how the death of actor Sridevi captured the imagination of the public over countless other tragedies. And Virumandi gets almost everything right with his political, social, environmental and economical observations that mirror the reality of today. Virumandi creates an engrossing ambience that gives you a sense of having lived through the struggles of Ramanathapuram natives.