Plot Summary
Mandela starring Yogi Babu, is a movie about a barber in a small village in Tamil Nadu where the villagers are divided into two caste-based factions, which are Northerners and Southerners. The movie starts by showing how the two caste-based faction’s people fight for trivial matters. The two sets of people are always quarreling about who is the greatest among them. This results in violent activities as well. When the president of the village falls ill, that’s when the problem begins.
He was keeping the peace maintained as much as he could between the Northerners and Southerners as he has two wives, one from each cast. After the tragic incident where the president falls ill, the villagers seek advice from him about which one should take his place next. But the president advises that both his sons are not capable of running the village, so he objects to them. But without considering his advice, both the sons decide to go against his words and stand for the elections. Thus forming a massive rivalry between the brothers from different mothers. As they are both in a different caste, they show no mercy regarding the competition.
When one does something to convince the people, the other does something more than that, so it goes on and on. But one thing was for sure, the northerners would vote for the candidate from their caste, and the southerners would vote for theirs. When one tries to buy a vote from the other caste, they fail miserably. The day of the pre-polling comes, when the votes are counted, they get to know that both the candidates have an equal amount of votes. This brings confusion among people, and both the candidates start to think of ways to overcome this. That’s when they realize that there is a man who doesn’t even have a national identity. So his vote could be used if he applies for a national identity. That’s when Mandela is introduced.
He is a barber belonging to neither of the castes. So both the candidates approach him. Mandela is shocked as he was never treated well by the villagers. He gets offered numerous things from both parties. Mandela struggles to choose one candidate at once, so he is given time by the people and the candidates. During this time, he is being offered lots of different things to convince him. So Mandela seized this opportunity and tried to get as many things as he could. In trying to do so, the candidates get irritated for having to be friendly and deliver so many things of high monetary value for a man from a lower caste.
This turns into a new issue. Mandela is yet again treated poorly, and he suffers from it. The rest of the story revolves around how Mandela gets out of this situation and saves himself from the people who are so obsessed with caste pride.
The Politics
Mandela is so much more than a witty, comical movie. Yes! It’s much more. It depicts the stupidity of the people in rural areas who are still stuck in ancient times and are unable to come out of it. Furthermore, it shows how people are still suffering so much and struggle in enhancing the quality of their lives. All of this happens because of caste discrimination in India. The debutant director Madonne Ashwin has handled this sensitive case very carefully and has conveyed his message carefully to the audience while making it look like comedy on the surface, but deep down, it makes us question the contemporary social structure that is prevailing in some parts of the world right now.
The Humor
The screenplay writing in this movie is so good that you won’t believe this is from a debuting director. The counters and timing of the comedies are outstanding and definitely deserve appreciation. Because making the audience laugh is one of the hardest things to achieve for a movie director.
Other pros and cons
Pros: The casting in this movie is terrific. We see a lot of new faces, but all of them perform tirelessly. Director Madonne Ashwin has extracted the best out of them and has presented them on the screen in a pleasing manner.
Moreover, the music composition done by Bharat Shankar perfectly fits the mood of the movie. And brings out the emotions of the characters in an emphasizing way. Editor Philomin Raj has done a phenomenal job as the trailer of this movie is what made the audience anticipate it in the first place. The visuals in this movie are very pleasing. And contributes significantly to making this film embedded in the viewers’ minds. It takes the audience into Mandela’s world in no time.
Cons: The only issue I found in this movie was the ending. It definitely could have been better. It’s as if the director was stuck in figuring out a climax and came up with the most commonly used climax seen in movies.
Overall Verdict (4/5 Stars)
Mandela must not be missed for the fun, comedy. And message it conveys to the people who are still stuck ages back. You can watch Mandela on Netflix.
