‘Baththa’ movie review: Balaji Tharaneetharan returns with a delightfully funny, moving comedy-drama

Who are we when we no longer perform the role society forced upon us? In life, we may never realise what we have repressed that led us to put on that mask, all the while causing that rust in others. In Baththa, director Balaji Tharaneetharan’s first theatrical release in eight years, a dreaded don, the titular Baththa (Vijay Sethupathi), remembers who he truly is when he inadvertently crosses paths with a schoolboy.

Set in 1986, the seed of Balaji Tharaneetharan’s story is something many of us can easily relate to. When I was studying in a primary school in Thiruvottiyur, Chennai, a particularly difficult classmate terrorised our class, claiming to be a relative of a local gangster. That gangster’s reputation was well-known. One rumour had it that he bit off an enemy’s ear before swallowing it whole. In Baththa, Sabari (a wonderful Sai Prithvi Raj) experiences an event that shakes him to his core — a much-feared don named Baththa thrashes a bloodied man in the middle of the street. When he narrates it to his mates, they all come up with stories they heard of the gangster: “Baththa has a pet lion in a cage,” “Baththa once broke through a jail cell with just sheer strength,” “Baththa once heard a man slander his name from miles away,” and so on. Baththa can do this. Baththa can do that. Baththa is The Undertaker of this world, who we all know has seven lives.

Baththa (Tamil)

Director: Balaji Tharaneetharan

Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Lijomol Jose, Sai Prithvi Raj, Sahasra, Arjun Chidambaram

Runtime: 159 minutes

Storyline: A dreaded don rediscovers the child within him when an unlikely encounter forces him to confront the person he has buried beneath the mask of fear