Jai Bhim

In Tamil Nadu, Rajakannu of the Irula community is accused of theft, taken into custody, tortured, and then disappeared. His wife Sengeni refuses to let it go, and the lawyer who takes the case forces the court to confront what it means for a person to vanish. T. J. Gnanavel wrote it from a real incident in 1993 and the case argued by Justice K. Chandru. Suriya plays the lawyer, but the film declines to make him the saviour; Sengeni's persistence holds the centre. Caste, police violence and state indifference are shown directly, and the release set off a serious political argument in Tamil Nadu. It went straight to streaming rather than to cinemas. Who it is for: viewers who value Indian cinema built on social justice. Who it is not for: anyone who needs distance from scenes of torture.