Manusangada

Manusangada Movie Synopsis: A youngster has a tough time finding a burial ground for his father as the upper caste men in his village deny public cemetery to the lower caste people.

Manusangada Movie Review: Manusangada begins with a popular quote of former South African president Nelson Mandela – “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity”. Quite apt to this saying, the movie deals about the caste politics prevailing in a village and the blatant human rights violation meted out to a family.

Kolappan (Rajeev Anand), who works in a steel factory in Chennai, gets a call from his friend early in the morning, informing that his father has passed away. Upon reaching his home, where he meets his bereaved dear ones, including his mother, he is told that his father’s body can’t be taken through the public road to the cemetery – because they belong to the lower caste! Revathy (Sheela), Kolappan’s girlfriend, a city girl, wonders if such practices still exist in villages, to which the latter shoots back, ‘Did you expect people celebrate their lives together in villages?’

Kolappan, with the help of his friends and family members, decides to revolt against the injustice. The leader of the marginalised people in the village asks him to take up the matter legally, and he gets justice soon. However, the police and the upper caste people are in no mood to allow them to carry the body through the road. How the dejected protagonist and his kith and kin face the horrible situation forms the rest of the story.

The movie, which seems to have been shot on a shoe-string budget (evident from the documentary style of making), addresses a relevant issue in today’s times, and questions the credibility of our law and order system. There are instances where we, as viewers, empathise with the sad state of affairs and wish for the protagonist to take law into his hands, as in the innumerable films we have seen. But as the title Manusangada suggests, this is the story of average human beings who do not possess super powers, and are left to face their issues without any hope. The film declares solidarity to the sidelined sections of the society and shouts out loud that they are also human beings.