Mudhalvan

A television reporter puts hard questions to the chief minister on live air. The man loses his temper and challenges him: he will hand over the office for a day. The reporter accepts. What he does in twenty-four hours resonates with the public, and a one-day joke turns into a real political career. The subject is not politics but how much difference a single honest day can make. The first half works the idea fast and enjoyably; the second brings the man in power up against his own limits and the narrative gets heavier. The form is large-scale Tamil cinema: crowd scenes, song sequences and long speeches. Shankar's known method applies, placing social anger inside a popular genre shape. Its influence did not stay within Tamil cinema. The same story was remade in Hindi in 2001 and that version became known nationally; the one-day chief minister premise has since been cited in Indian political argument. Arjun Sarja plays the reporter and Raghuvaran the chief minister, with Manisha Koirala in the cast. A. R. Rahman wrote the music. Who it is for: viewers who like popular Indian cinema and political genre films. Who it is not for: anyone sensitive about running time; the film is close to three hours and repeats itself in the second half.