Pada

Kamal K.M.'s 2022 Malayalam film recounts a real event from 1996. Four men calling themselves Ayyankali Pada take the district collector of Palakkad hostage and demand the reversal of an amendment affecting the land rights of Adivasi communities. The film takes place almost entirely within that day and moves close to real time. Kunchacko Boban, Vinayakan, Joju George and Dileesh Pothan play the four men. The narrative does not make heroes of them; the plan is loose, the equipment inadequate, two of them are frightened. The tension comes less from what the police will do outside than from how decisions get made inside. The political ground is stated plainly: the removal of legal recourse for recovering Adivasi land in Kerala, and whose interest that served. The film conveys it through the event rather than through an explanatory speech. Who it's for: those who like political thrillers and are interested in Indigenous land struggles in India. Who it's not for: anyone watching without context; the film assumes some prior knowledge of Kerala politics.