I watched today this talked about movie released last year – Madras (2014) starring Karthi and Catherine Tresa, Directed by Attakathi Pa. Ranjith. It is a hero film but still a fine one that Kollywood should be proud of. I should have watched it earlier, belated congrats to Director and to Actor Karthi for doing the film.
I was blown away by the story which is all about a wall of a LIG (low income group) flat. The wall is not narrating the story here, it’s an inanimate object simply lying there with events/politics/murders happening around it for years. Director has skillfully used the wall as a symbol to chide the absurdity of prevailing politics in India. His screen play pivoted strongly to the area and its people, not deviating a bit from the locality, no side stories, no flashbacks and no foreign duet songs.
The story is about how two rival political gangs living in a neighbourhood fight for right to use the high wall for their individual party promotion. People’s emotions are kindled effortlessly by interest groups and mutual killings happen over generations all in the name of saving the “honour” of the wall. Kali (Karthi) and Anbu (Kalaiyarasan) are childhood friends and local football players growing up in a poor neighbourhood in North Madras (Vyasarpadi area), not a common locality for Tamil cinema with Maan Karate being a recent movie shot here. Kali falls in love with a girl Kalaiarasi (Catherine Tresa) ailing from the same area. Kali though employed in IT industry with a good pay gets involved in locality issues in order to help Anbu grow in his political ambitions, things take sudden turn for worst when rival gang decides to murder Anbu. After much blood bath at both side, we get to climax where we see Kali and Kalaiarasi teaching to kids behind the same wall in a relatively calmer time.
