Once Upon A Time In Madras

“Once Upon A Time in Madras” is a 2024 Tamil hyperlink thriller movie directed and written by Prasadh Murugan. Produced under Friday Film Factory, the film boasts an ensemble cast featuring Bharath, Abhirami, Shaan, Anjali Nair, and Pavithra Lakshmi. The film takes us on a journey through one gun that changes a few lives and interweaves the fates of different characters belonging to different backgrounds.

The film begins with the retired army man “Rangaraj” accidentally killing a boy while hunting. As he tries to conceal his mistake, he pushes the gun into the Coovum canal, unwittingly putting the ball into motion. The poor working-class woman sanitation worker “Savitri” finds the weapon and intends using it to repay a debt owed to a merciless loan shark. But once she is attacked by her transgender daughter, she murders the perpetrator with the weapon and embarks on a dangerous chase.

At another place, Anitha's father, who is a hardcore casteist, finds a gun in his car and fatally shoots a young social worker by mistake, thinking that he is his daughter's boyfriend. The tragedy unfolds when he realizes his grave mistake too late. Raja, however, is an angry husband who needs money for his wife's kidney transplant and gets himself involved in a murder-for-hire. In a cruel twist of fate, the person he kills was the organ donor who was to save his wife's life. Tormented by guilt, Raja is later gunned down by the police.

The gun continues on its journey when “Madhi”, a bride, discovers that her husband is in love with their domestic servant. Her life turns into a hell when she learns that she is pregnant by her father-in-law, who had raped her. When her in-laws try to stop her from getting justice, she murders them with the same gun, reclaiming control.

“Once Upon A Time in Madras” is an intense and gripping thriller that deals with matters of social affairs, morality, and fate. With its unrelenting speed of action and interconnected narratives, the film keeps the spectator on tenterhooks. Through the script shrewdly interweaving a number of perceptions, the film depicts how violence can permeate society, making the film a strongly emotional as well as intellectually engaging spectacle.