Fine acting in a middling film about police brutality

Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban
Tamil (Zee5)
Director: RDM
Cast: Suresh Ravi, Raveena Ravi and Mime Gopi

‘Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban’ means ‘the policeman is your friend’. But people from poor and middle-class backgrounds dread going to the police station. The film, based on a true event, depicts why ordinary people have no faith in the department.

Vetrimaaran, who made ‘Visaranai’, a hard-hitting take on police brutality, is the producer. But ‘Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban’ isn’t as effective as ‘Visaranai’. Director RDM succeeds only partly in showing the trauma faced by an innocent man and his wife.

Suresh Ravi plays Prabhu, a food delivery boy caught by the police one night for no fault of his. The police hate the public questioning them. Suresh’s straightforwardness irks them and they show him what a lathi can do.

One scene starkly shows how the police prey on the poor. As they harass Prabhu on the road, they let go of a rich man in a swanky car. Prabhu’s colleague’s words ring true when he says the poor cannot show fear on their faces and money in their pockets.

As a pained, frustrated, and confused common man, Suresh Ravi makes you feel for him. Mime Gopi, essaying a corrupt policeman, is the film’s star. It is impossible not to hate him.

Philosophical monologues make the film slightly less organic. But the narrative ends on a self-aware note. A guilt-stricken constable says, “We policemen are supposed to be public servants. But we treat the public as servants.”