Rajinikanth’s decision to act in a second overtly political film, Kaala, written and directed by Pa. Ranjith, surprised many initially. When the duo’s previous film, Kabali, released in 2016, there were murmurs that the actor was being used to further the political agenda of the director, who is inspired by the ideals and politics of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Rajini’s decision to do a second film with Ranjith perhaps lends credence to the fact he, at least partly, agrees with the director.

Staying true to his politics, Ranjith’s second film with the actor tackles a fair share of issues: it speaks of landlessness among the urban poor, criticises the nationalist politics of north India, the problems inherent in beautifying cities and the struggle to articulate land rights in the context of the urban poor.

Speaking to The Hindu, Ranjith said he wanted to open up a discussion on the issue of landlessness of not just Dalits but oppressed people across the world. “Land ownership gives confidence and security. It gives a sense of respect. For Dalits, it is all the more important. Even after all these years, Dalits don’t have land. How come almost all the land in villages is owned by dominant castes? How can one person own 100 acres but a Dalit zero acres? Land distribution is very important,” he insisted.

Writer Stalin Rajangam said while the film puts the spotlight on land rights of the urban poor, it fails to articulate the issue to the extent it should have.

“In villages, we talk about land for the tiller. We talk about how one who tills the land has ownership rights over it. There are ‘Vivasaya urimai maanadu’ (famers rights conferences) in villages. In the context of cities, it is much more complicated. This film articulates the point that people in the city, who have lived on a piece of land for long, have ownership rights over it. This ‘right to land’ in an urban set-up has been well established,” said Rajangam.

Two schools of thought

Among intellectuals, one school of thought is that Kaala only burnishes Rajinikanth’s already established working class image, which he has built by playing characters such as a milk man, an autorickshaw driver and so on in many of his earlier films.

Another is critical of Ranjith for ‘helping’ Rajinikanth build a friendly, progressive and secular image in Tamil Nadu ahead of the launch his political party.

“Landlessness and the plight of the urban poor have been addressed by other films in the past. What Ranjith does in Kaala, and Kabali before it, is to code Dalit symbolisms into a struggle for Tamil rights. This is also strategic as a pure ‘Dalit identity’ film will not be taken to easily by Rajinikanth fans,” said Karthick Ram Manoharan, assistant professor at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata. “At a time when Rajinikanth's commitment to people's movements in Tamil Nadu is being questioned, the film gives the star the image of being both subaltern and Tamil,” he added.

Politically aligned social media users quickly latched on to the comment made by Rajinikanth to the effect that ‘anti-social elements’ had influenced the protests against Vedanta’s Thoothukudi copper plant, and panned the actor for making contradictory statements in his movies and in real life. In a long sequence in the film, Kaala, played by Rajinikanth, is shown leading a protest against a real estate project that is indeed marred by ‘antisocial elements’, which is then exploited by the police.

In a way, the film does manage to establish a link between the on-screen do-gooder and the actor’s off-screen persona as he stands on the cusp of launching his political party.