Virumandi

“Virumaandi” (2004) is an action drama film, and it features Kamla Haasan, Pasupathy, Napoleon, and Abhirami. It centres on interviews with two prison inmates: Kothala Thevar (Pasupathy), who is serving a life sentence, and Virumaandi (Kamal Haasan), who is awaiting execution. Through their contrasting accounts, they reflect on the choices that led them to prison and the paths their lives have taken. The narrative structure employs the Rashomon effect, presenting differing perspectives on the same events.

Angela Kathamuthu, a Chennai-based civil rights activist, interviewed prisoners in Madras Central Prison while doing dissertation research for her anti-death penalty advocacy. She even receives intel from death row inmates as well including Narayanan, who tips her off to widespread corruption by Deputy Jailer Peykkaman. On her second visit, a sit-in rally against the demolition is organised after the unexpected passing of Narayanan. Angela speaks to Kothala Thevar, imprisoned for helping carry out the murder of 24 people, who tells the story of how he came to be convicted. The plot follows Virumaandi, a cattle-herding farmer with a checkered history, and a wave of bloody skirmishes fuelled by long-standing family feuds and territorial tiffs. In the end, Virumaandi is convicted of murder and awarded the death penalty, while Kothala feels that justice has been achieved.

She opens up about her PhD work to abolish the death penalty, telling how her own father was hanged for killing her abusive husband, which spurred her own legal career. null She is then kidnapped by Kothala and decides to marry his nephew against her will. Annalaakshmi’s tragic suicide prompts Virumaandi to go on a revenge spree against Kothala’s gang and killers. As Angela collects evidence of political corruption and lobbying and petitions for his clemency, Virumaandi appeals for a verdict on his fate.

“Virumaandi,” Kamal Haasan’s riveting, action-fueled courtroom drama, probes justice, vengeance and the death penalty through Rashomon-esque strands of storytelling. Told almost entirely within the cage of an industrial prison complex, it plays out through the verbal fire cross-examination between two prisoners which exposes a web of institutional malpractice, generational misfortune, and ethical greyness. Kamal Haasan delivers a powerful performance in this bold and thought-provoking film.