Gangai Amaran and Roja are lovely as Dorairasu and Sandhanam, an adorable couple in a village. When their goat is killed by a truck belonging to a sand-mining mafia, Dorairasu goes to court, and you think it’s going to be a common man versus the System drama. But a weakling constable is assigned to protect Dorairasu, and slowly, the film becomes his coming-of -age story. ‘Lenin Pandian’ is one of those modestly mounted films that work because the performances are solid, and because the storytelling is clean and without frills. That’s the storyline and the quick review. A longer analysis follows, and it may contain some minor spoilers.
Dorairasu and Sandhanam live in Manamadurai. They have an age difference like the one Sivaji Ganesan and Radha had in Mudhal Mariyadhai, and Ilaiyaraaja underlines this with his musical cues from that movie. There’s a spaced-out quality to Dorairasu, and Sandhanam looks after him with care. Writer-director DD Balachandran tells the backstory of this couple with just the right flavour of sweetness. And his film works largely because of its simplicity. Lenin Pandian is a pretty basic movie in terms of technique, but it gets the basics right: characters we care about, a story we slowly get invested in, and a conflict that leaves you with mixed feelings. Sivaji Ganesan’s grandson Dharshan plays a constable with the grand name of Maravarman Sundarapandian. Shrrita Rao plays his wife, Priya. They are the younger couple in what, at first, appears to be a parallel storyline that unfolds in Sivagangai. This track is about a weak cop and his wife who is much stronger. It’s a reflection of the older couple’s dynamic.
The story gets going when Dorairasu’s goat is killed by a truck that belongs to the sand-mining mafia. At this early point, I admit I got a little scared. I thought this was going to be one of those earnest “issue movies” where the head of this mafia would be taught a lesson and Tamil Nadu would be saved. Thankfully, the twin narratives start clicking and we are soon in a very different zone. Yes, the sand mafia does function as the villain of the piece, but they remain in the background. Dorairasu goes to court to demand justice. He wanted to register a complaint about his dead goat, but the cops mocked him and then assaulted him. Dorairasu now wants his dignity back. The Maravarman storyline is also about dignity. The man made a mistake, and he is being punished endlessly for it. His superior officer assigns him to menial duties at the police station and swears that the man will never touch a gun.
Maravarman gets his gun when he is assigned to protect Dorairasu. A judge, nicely played by George Maryan, orders this arrangement, and Ilaiyaraaja celebrates it with a rousing song ‘Sarkarey solliruchu’, which made me wish Malaysia Vasudevan were still around to belt it out. This George Maryan character is an extension of the principal from Pariyerum Perumal. When he is asked to be the chief guest at a traditional ceremony in Vaniyambadi, he remarks that his father would not have been allowed to enter the town with slippers on. Education and authority have changed things for the next generation. This does not come off like a lecture but like a musing shared between two people. The low-key nature of Lenin Pandian is its secret strength. Even the bits of melodrama between Maravarman and Priya are kept in check. He feels humiliated in front of her rich family, and now he feels humiliated when she says she will get a job and support him while he studies for the UPSC exams. She simply asks him to get a reality check.
Dorairasu and Sandhanam see this couple as the children they don’t have, and we spend just enough time with this happy foursome to want good things to happen to them. And then the sand mafia strikes. It’s not in a way you expect. You want Dorairasu to remain safe, and you also want Maravarman to shed his cowardice and his hangups and become a man. Can both things happen? Or will the bad guys win? The last stretch of Lenin Pandian is realistic, in the sense that this is what would really happen when an ordinary man stands up against power. Maravarman gets his coming-of-age arc, but the cost makes us wonder if it has been worth it. The last stretch is truly heartbreaking. We don’t get the closure we want, but this is also the kind of film that sees that closure as a fantasy that doesn’t happen all that much in real life. The ending doesn’t shock you. In its modest manner, it reminds you about what life is like outside the movies that come with saviours. Lenin Pandian has its flaws, but it has a big heart. It gets more things right than wrong.
