Underplayed Gems

Mandela (2021)

Mandela poster
Original title
மண்டேலா
Country
India
Rated
M
Rating
7.1 of 10 from 33 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A local barber in a Tamil village becomes the deciding vote in a tight election between two political parties. His single vote suddenly carries enormous weight, and both sides try to win him over.

politicalsatiricallightheartedtensethought-provokinggroundedcharacter-drivenwitty

What happens

Mandela is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language political satire television film written and directed by Madonne Ashwin on his directorial debut and produced by S. Sashikanth and Ramachandra of YNOT Studios while director Balaji Mohan, co-produced the film under his banner Open Window Productions. The film being titled after the late South African President Nelson Mandela, stars Yogi Babu in the titular lead role while Sheela Rajkumar, Kanna Ravi, Sangili Murugan and G. M. Sundar play supportive roles. The music for the film is composed by Bharath Sankar, whereas cinematography and editing were handled by Vidhu Ayyanna and Philomin Raj respectively. The film is set on the backdrop of a village panchayat election scenario between two political parties where a local barber's vote will determine the fate of the election. The film was directly released via Star Vijay on 4 April 2021 and internationally through Netflix, the following day. The film received universal acclaim praising the script, performances and technical aspects of the film. It was shortlisted as one among the 14 Indian films to be nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 94th Academy Awards scheduled to be held in mid-2022. At the 68th National Film Awards, it won 2 awards for Best Debut Film of a Director and Best Screenplay (Dialogues), both for Madonne Ashwin. The film was remade in Telugu as Martin Luther King (2023). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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