Tamil Kudimagan Movie Review: This film asks the right questions, but the answers aren't all right

At one point in Tamil Kudimagan, a young kid from the household of the oppressor uses a casteist slur against the protagonist Chinnasamy (a terrific Cheran), who stops in his tracks midway, but moves on from there without saying a word. But Chinnasamy, who comes from the oppressed caste, isn’t one to give up without a fight. His fight isn’t physical because he understands the importance of fighting the system. He understands that the change isn’t going to happen in a day, but doesn’t wait for the change to happen from the outside. He chooses his destiny. He wants an out from this system and does everything in his power to ensure it happens. Chinnasamy is Cheran’s massiest role, and Tamil Kudimagan is his massiest film even if he is not fighting off 100 people and saying reams and reams of punch lines.

Cast: Cheran, Lal, Aruldoss, Vela Ramamoorthy, Sripriyanka, Deepshika

Director: Esakki Karvannan

Director Esakki Karvannan’s Tamil Kudimagan revolves around an oppressed Chinnasamy, who is not just the town’s washerman, but also the person who performs the last rite ceremony for the townsfolk. He is the only person in the town to continue this profession as the others from his caste have moved on in life to do other jobs. Chinnasamy tries to do it too, but the oppressors use all their caste pride and might to thwart any such idea. They want him to stay oppressed because only then they can stay as the oppressor. It is a vicious circle, and Karvannan does a terrific job of pointing out the blatant hypocrisy and the extent of toxicity. He doesn’t shy away from laying bare the ugly face of casteism and shows the vicious violence they are capable of just to uphold an invisible caste pride. When Chinnasamy’s sister falls in love with a boy from the oppressor caste, she is brutally beaten in the middle of the town with hardly anyone even registering a semblance of shock. It almost feels like an average Monday in those areas, and it is this apathy that is the most shocking. It is this incident that becomes the tipping point for Chinnasamy who decides to stop doing the last rites ceremony for a town that not only didn’t bother to help his family but just remained apathetic to his plight.

Sudalaiyandi (Lal) and Esakki (Aruldoss), the enforcers of the oppressor caste, leave no stone unturned to make Chinnasamy do his ‘kula thozhil’ after the death of their father, and these portions wonderfully showcase the might of the system that is with them. The only support Chinnasamy and his family receive is from a reformed casteist named Gandhi Periyar (Vela Ramamoorthy), who does have his heart in the right place but finds himself slipping into the saviour complex time and again. Take, for instance, the scene where he admonishes Chinnasamy’s mother for falling on the feet of Sudalai who threatens to kill her son. But when Sudalai comes all swords blazing, Gandhi Periyar doesn’t really stop him from swinging the blade. It is her cries and actions that make him relent. Once again, her pleas for sustenance outweigh Gandhi Periyar’s calls for bravado.

Tamil Kudimagan also points to the conditioning of the oppressed that pushes them to compromise and be subservient in the hope of leading a peaceful life without questioning the status quo. The film also questions how even Gods are subjected to casteism. The film also weighs in on the importance of education, and how it is the one lifeline that would pull the oppressed away from the cyclical world of casteism. The film amplifies the need for the dignity of labour, and more importantly, the right to do the work they want to do. The film also questions why caste hasn’t been abolished in democratic India, especially when every other progressive political party promises to do so. While these are must-needed points of discussion, the film relies on too much exposition that takes away from the impact of the scenes. While the visuals and music do the trick already, Karvannan’s need to drill the messages in with expository dialogues is a distraction. The same holds true for the overall generic and archaic nature of the romantic portions. Similarly, the film gives the women of the film a lot to say and do initially, but relegates them to the background, and uses them only as emotional crutches after a point.

With regards to casteism, renouncing caste is just one of the many steps that can change the system. Time and again, people have asked the oppressed to adjust, relax, change, renounce, abolish, and sacrifice. Why? Systemic changes are many a time initiated from the bottom, but the actual change has to come from the top. Will the oppressors look at the oppressed with a different outlook just because the latter renounced their caste and reservations? Why should the Chinnasamys be the only ones to not write their caste names in forms? Why can’t the “upper caste” people align themselves under the umbrella term of Tamil Kudi? Why can’t the ones browbeating about “giving” education and land to the ones they oppressed, also “give up” their caste?

The questions raised in Tamil Kudimagan are important. The makers proffer a solution too, which might seem like a wonderful step forward, but it comes with a glaring problem. In fact, the final act, which involves the police and the courts becomes a Shankar film that revelled in its excesses. Imagine a lot of us believing that corruption will be eradicated if the fear of being murdered is instilled in the minds of the corrupt. Imagine a lot more of us believing that beating up auditors was enough to retrieve black money from abroad that would make our nation a superpower. Such extreme solutions play on the psyche of the audience, who walk out thinking systemic changes are so simple. But is that reality? Tamil Kudimagan wants to change everything with one sweeping move but takes more than 3/4ths of its runtime to show how deep casteism is entrenched in society. This contradiction is what I'd remember from Tamil Kudimagan, which makes a lot of pertinent points, has convincing performances, and finds a strong voice to proliferate the concerns, but ends up pointing at a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.