MANDELA (2021)

Critic - No. 207

Director: Madonne Ashwain

Produced by: YNOT Studios, Reliance Entertainment, Open Window Productions, Wishberry Films

Casts: Yogi Babu, Sheela Rajkumar, Sangili Murugan, G.M.Sundar, Kanna Ravi 

Language: Tamil

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Music: Bharath Sankar

SYNOPSIS: 

Amid a local election with two rivals vying to win by any means necessary, Nelson Mandela (Yogi Babu) a barber lands in a curiously powerful position as the single deciding vote.

REVIEW:

Given the heated political atmosphere in India, there have been many interesting and effective political dramas that have come out but Mandela is one of the most focused social commentaries that also touches briefly on caste discrimination. 

 

Mandela touches upon the weakness and strength of India’s political and democratic structures. While cash for votes has sadly become a norm in India, it has been quite prevalent in Tamil Nadu. State politics is notorious for the political parties doling out freebies and cash in the run-up to the polls. In Mandela, director Madonne throws lights on what happens when the election loses its true credibility and the public gets seduced by the freebie or rather baits thrown by the political parties.

 Set in the backdrop of a remote village where the number of eligible voters is less than 700, the people are divided by caste. When the chief of the village gets a stroke, he refuses to pick any of his 2 sons (who are born to 2 of his wives from different caste) as his successor, they decide to contest an election to elect the new village chief. They are also tempted by a 30 crore corporate offer, embarked for the new village chief if he approves their contract to build a factory there. Boosted by greed and inflated egos, the brothers are ready to do anything to win the election, gathering a list of caste-driven voters. When they realised that they need 1 more vote to decide the winner of the election, they turn to a ‘village nobody’ (Yogi Babu) who was previously oppressed by the village due to his lower caste. 

 The film is embedded with lots of dry humour as well as situational comedic moments from the word go. With a deep understanding of today’s political climate, Mandela cleverly tackles each of them with black humour. The most likable factor of the film is the thick character build of Mandela. He goes through a roller coaster of emotions in the film and the audience is placed at the edge most of the time, empathising with him, thinking for him, and even laughing at him. Ther is an unusual auction scene towards the climax where each of the caste groups is planning on who to cut his hand. Even though it sounds intense, the way it has been conceived leaves us in splits. The film does become stagnant at a point with repeated scenes of Mandela receiving freebies but picks up pace towards the end.

No doubt Mandela is Yogi Babu’s best performance to date in his career. He shows so much varied emotions and often we forget that this is the same comedian we see in big slapstick comedy entertainers. Other actors such as Sheela, Sangili Murgan, Kanna Ravi and GM Sundar give their earnest performances as well. In fact every actor in the film, even the calefares are good! 

As suggested in the film, when a situation where the people win in an election than a political party, that’s where a truly democratic country will emerge. 

VERDICT:

Mandela is an engaging black comedy that throws light on the deep-running fault lines in India’s electoral process.

 

CELLULOID METER- 4/5: