Karnan is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action drama film about a village of lower caste people who struggle with discrimination at the hands of the neighboring higher caste villages, local companies and the police; and Karnan, a hotheaded young man who leads them to push back at their oppressors.
The film starts with the death of Karnan's sister due to an epileptic seizure, as buses and cars pass by without stopping to help her. As she dies, she is shown transitioning into a spirit with a goddess mask, to watch over her village.
Some time later, Karnan decides to disobey his mother and attempts the yearly challenge to wield the village sword, which involves jumping across a river and cutting a large fish in a single clean cut. He succeeds, and in doing so becomes the first person in the village to wield the sword in 8 years. Unfortunately, this causes a rivalry with Vadamalaiyaan, a young village elder and the brother of Karnan's lover.
Over the course of the movie, Karnan grows more and more unhappy with the treatment of his village - their women cannot attend college because the bus stop of the neighboring village is too hostile, referees in games cheat in favor of higher caste villages, and buses won't even stop for the pregnant women of the village as they are in labor. Karnan retaliates by helping the village youth vandalize a bus. He then has to deal with the fallout from the police.
This film provides examples of:
- Animal Motifs: Throughout the film, many animals are used as metaphors for the happenings. There is:
- A donkey who has had its front legs tied by its owner at the start of the film, which Karnan frees just before he vandalizes the bus, and which eventually is seen running free with a new baby donkey, symbolizing the freedom that the next generation of Karnan's village will have after the events of the film.
- An eagle who snatches a woman's chicks every day, and who the villages worship and beg to stop in spite of this behavior. It symbolizes the treatment of the villagers by upper caste people.
- The fish cut cleanly in half at the start by Karnan parallels the fish that is later caught by the police chief, and foreshadows that the police chief will also be beheaded in the end.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Karnan's dead sister watches over the village, as a sort of goddess or spirit of vengeance or justice. She visits Karnan's grandfather in a dream and tells him where to find money that she buried for her sister's dowry. She is also shown watching the living at various crucial moments in the film.
- Corrupt Cop: Local policemen either ignore or join in the caste discrimination. The local police chief becomes the antagonist.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Karnan is named after a tragic character from the Mahabharata, who is raised by a poor charioteer, and made a vassal king by Emperor Duryodhana. Like the mythological king, Karnan suffers throughout the film for being low-caste, yet takes great pride in his family.
- Off with His Head!: As foreshadowed by the cut fish, the headless god statue that the villagers worship, and the uncompleted headless mural of the village's leader, the police officer who antagonizes the village ends up beheaded by Karnan.
- Police Brutality: The local police are generally brutal towards the villagers, but there is one particularly harsh scene of extreme violence towards Karnan.
- Protagonist Title: Karnan
- Type Caste: As with the Mari Selvaraj's other film Pariyerum Perumal, this movie explores the reality of caste discrimination in India - showing a village in 1997 who is mistreated because of their lower caste status.
