Mandela is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language political satire comedy-drama television film written and directed by Madonne Ashwin on his directorial debut and produced by S. Sashikanth and Ramachandra of YNOT Studios while co-produced by Balaji Mohan of Open Window Productions. The film is titled after the late South African President Nelson Mandela. The film stars Yogi Babu in the main 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 Shankar, whereas cinematography and editing were handled by Vidhu Ayyanna and Philomin Raj.
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.
In a small village named Soorangudi in Tamil Nadu, the population of around 1000 people are split into two caste-based factions, Northerners and Southerners. When the long unopposed President of the Village becomes paralyzed months before election, his two sons decide to run for President. The election is also divided along caste lines, as elder son’s mother is a Northener and others is a Southener. Based on pre-polling it turns out the vote is split. The tie breaker vote falls upon a local hairstylist named Ilicha Vaayan alias Nelson Mandela (Yogi Babu) who recently joined the voter list. The rest of the movie is about who gets Nelson Mandela’s vote to win. In the process, Mandela gets the two contenders to improve the village by laying a road, building a school etc. with their wealth. The movie ends with a ‘surprise’ result to the election that is not disclosed but is inferred that the village of Soorangudi won.
Written by Madonne Ashwin
Directed by Madonne Ashwin
Starring Yogi Babu, Sheela Rajkumar
Music by Bharath Sankar
Country India
Language Tamil
Producer S. Sashikanth, Chakravarthy Ramachandra & Balaji Mohan
Cinematography Vidhu Ayyanna
Editor Philomin Raj
Production YNOT Studios, Reliance Entertainment, Open Window Productions & Wishberry Films
Distributor Netflix
