Citizen

Saravana Subbiah's 2001 Tamil film opens with three senior officials abducted in broad daylight. The man who takes them calls himself Citizen; following the trail, the officer running the investigation comes upon a village erased from the map. The subject is a place left off the record. The village does not exist in official documents and none of the rights of those living there function; the narrative joins this to a mystery plot and gives the reason for the crime late but plainly. Ajith Kumar leads and appears in several disguises. The narrative follows the mainstream action template, but state records and the question of citizenship are its direct subject, and that separates it from similar films. Who it's for: those who like 2000s Tamil thrillers. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a measured narrative; the film raises both violence and emotion openly.