A lot of movies are released every year in different languages. But few movies won the audience’s hearts because of their unique storyline. If you like political movies then Mandela is definitely a great film that will make you watch it from beginning to end. The lead cast Yogi Babu is the heart and soul of the movie and it’s one of his best films to date. He is portrayed as a common man who struggles to fit himself in a society that rejects him for his identity. The movie excitedly shows how one man’s vote can change the whole result of the election.
It is a fantastic comedy movie that is filled with lots of emotions and real incidents. It is based on the autobiographical book Long Walk to Freedom by South African President Nelson Mandela published in 1995.
Continue reading the article to know all the details of the Mandela Movie along with where you can download the movie to watch so that you can decide if it is worth watching or not.
About Mandela Movie
Mandela is an Indian Tamil-language political satire movie that was released in 2021. The movie is written and directed by Madonne Ashwin as his directorial debut and produced by S. Sashikanth and Ramachandra of YNOT Studios. It is co-produced by director Balaji Mohan under his banner Open Window Productions. The film is named after Nelson Mandela who is the late South African President.
The star cast of the movie includes Yogi Babu in the titular lead role and the supporting roles are played by Sheela Rajkumar, Kanna Ravi, Sangili Murugan, and G. M. Sundar. The music for the Mandela film is composed by Bharath Sankar and cinematography and editing are done by Vidhu Ayyanna and Philomin Raj respectively.
The movie was directly released on Star Vijay on 4th April 2021 and was internationally distributed through Netflix the next day. The film is based on the backdrop of a village panchayat election between two political parties and a local barber’s vote will decide the fate of this election.
The Cast of the Mandela Movie
Here we have mentioned the star cast of the Mandela movie along with their roles in the movie as follows:
- The lead actor Yogi Babu as Nelson Mandela or Smile
- Sheela Rajkumar as Thenmozhi
- Sangili Murugan as Periya Ayya
- G. M. Sundar as Rathnam
- Deepa Shankar as Rathnam’s wife
- Kanna Ravi as Mathi
- Senthi Kumari as Valli
- George Maryan as BLO Officer
- Saranya Ravikumar as Vairamuthu
- Prasanna Balachandran as Sudalai
- Mukesh as supporting role
The Plot of the Mandela Movie
The movie starts in a small village in Tamil Nadu named Soorangudi. The population of the village was around 1000 people who are split into two caste-based factions and are known as Northerners and Southerners. As the unopposed president of the village gets paralyzed months before the election, his two sons decide to run an election for president. The election is divided along the caste line because the mother of the elder son is Northerner while the other one is Southerner. As the pre-polling turns out the vote is split, and the tie-breaker vote depends on a local hair stylist named Smile alias Nelson Mandela who has recently joined the voter list.
The rest of the movie is all about which brother gets the vote of Nelson Mandela and wins. During the whole election process, Mandela makes the two participants improve the village by laying a road, building a school, and other works with their wealth. The movie’s ending is quite interesting as it comes as a ‘surprise’. The result of the election is not disclosed but it is inferred that the village of Soorangudi won.
Production of the Movie
The Mandela movie was first announced by the debutant director Madonne Ashwin in July 2019. The principal photography of the film started on the same day and Yogi Babu was selected to play the lead role in the film as a barber. Later the famous director Balaji Mohan came on board to co-produce the film under his open windows production banner.
Madonne came up with the script of the movie for Balaji who expressed his interest in setting up a production venture. But to have a wide reach, he went to producer S. Sashikanth to jointly produce the film. About the script, Balaji stated that it is a social satire set against a rural backdrop. The movie talks about quite a few things that are relevant in today’s scenario. While the movie will have humor, it will be more sensible and meaningful as well. The shooting of the film was wrapped up in November 2019 within just one schedule.
Release of the Mandela Movie
It was disclosed that the theater owners and distributors issued a red card against the movie’s production house YNOT Studios because of the digital release of Dhanush’s movie Jagame Thandhiram in 2021. They stated that the distributors will not screen any of the upcoming films of the YNOT production company. This is the reason YNOT Studios decided to release the film directly on television by premiering it on Star Vijay on 4 April 2021. Later the film would be globally streamed through Netflix on 9 April 2021. However, the Netflix release was done earlier on 5 April 2021 because they wanted to release the film before the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Elections. The theatrical premiere of the movie was held at PVR Cinemas in Chennai on 31 March 2021.
The Soundtrack of the Movie
The music for Mandela Movie is composed by Bharath Sankar of the Oorka band. The soundtrack album has a total of six tracks and the lyrics of the songs are written by Yugabharathi, Arivu, Mamiliva Randriamihajasoa, Pradeep Kumar, and Bharath Sankar. One of the songs titled “Oru Needhi Onbadhu Saadhi” was released as a single track on 19 March 2021 and the remaining songs were released on 28 March 2021 under the Sony Music label. The following are the six songs from Mandela Movie as mentioned below:
1. Oru Needhi Onbadhu Saadhi which is sung by Anthakudi Ilayaraja
2. Yela Yelo which is sung by Arivu.
3. Mic Testing which is sung by Mano Eswaranand Dhanush
4. Ela Mandela which is sung by Anthony Daasan and Musa Mashiane
5. Mandela Tribute which is sung by Bharath Sankar
6. Iaino – To Live which is sung by Bharath Sankar, Tsanta Randri, Vololona Randriamihajasoa
Awards won by Mandela Movie
The Mandela film received all-around critical acclaim for the script, performances, and technical aspects of the movie. The movie was shortlisted among the 14 Indian films to be nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 94th Academy Awards that was 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 for the Dialogues and both awards were won by Madonne Ashwin.
- Madonne Ashwin won two awards as Best Debut Film of a Director and Best Screenplay Dialogue on 22 July 2022 at the 68th National Film Awards.
- YNOT studios was nominated for the Best Film award on 10-11th September 2022 at the 10th South Indian International Movie awards.
- Madonne Ashwin also won Best Debut Director on 10-11th September 2022 at the South Indian International Movie awards.
- S. Sashikanth, Chakravarthy Ramachandra, and Balaji Mohan were Nominated on 9 October 2022 for Best Film at the 67th Filmfare Awards South.
- Madonne Ashwin was nominated for Best Director at the 67th Filmfare Awards.
- Sheela Rajkumar was nominated for Best Supporting Role at the 67th Filmfare Awards.
Controversy about the Movie
There occurred several controversies over this film. People from the Maruthuvar community and Barber’s profession have criticized the film for the poor portrayal of their profession and community in the movie. SK Raja who is the president of the Tamil Nadu Barbers Welfare Association blamed the filmmakers by stating that it denigrates their community and profession and shows discrimination and social injustice. After that on 21 April, a petition was filed by R Munusamy who is the president of the Tamil Nadu HairDressers Union, alleging that the film includes several objectionable scenes that speak badly about the barber community.
Where is the Mandela movie available to download?
As mentioned above, the Mandela movie was directly released on Star Vijay Channel, so many of the viewers might have missed its premiere. If you want to download and watch the Mandela movie then it is available on Netflix on which you can enjoy the movie in the best quality. The movie is also available on various pirated sites but does not use them as the site might be risky. So the legal way to stream or download the movie is to download it legally on Netflix.
The bottom line
Overall, Mandela is a great Tamil language movie that is based on a political story along with a good comedy touch. The movie is titled after Nelson Mandela who was a great leader and dedicated his life to equality and justice. The movie also amazingly shows how one person’s vote changes the whole scenario. The fate of a local barber will turn overnight when his vote will decide the winner of the village election. It is shown how he brings some changes to people’s life just by his vote.
So if you are a fan of Tamil cinema or like to watch movies based on politics then you should definitely not miss this one. The best thing is that the end of the movie comes with a surprise and makes it worth watching!
