R ARIVANANTHAM
In India, politicians of all hues and big corporate have established higher education institutes by grabbing large chunks of government land at throw away price and making an one-time investment to get life-time dividends. In the garb of charity and corporate social responsibility (CSR), they mint money and making higher education a distant dream for the meritorious poor students.
With an avowed aim to create awareness among the parents and aspirant students who want to pursue higher education in the so-called institutes, debutant director Mathimaaran, a former assistant of director and filmmaker Vetrimaaran, helmed a film titled ‘Selfie’ – a film that daringly tears into education mafia ruling the roost with focused storytelling.
Vetrimaaran is known for making good films based on some real-life incidents like custodial deaths. Close on these heels, his disciple has handled this sensitive issue deftly. Really, the film works as a gripping tale that presents a front row seat to college admission scams and the price some students have to pay for it. The film also talks about the obsession parents have built around the need to enrol their children into engineering college without any consideration to their own interests. This is an eye-opener for all stakeholders like parents, students, policy-makers and educational experts to put an end to this mafia and make education free for all.
The so-called educational mafia spends a lot on eye-catchy advertisements and paying hefty commission to agents as well as alumni to enrol students. They also use the social media to reach out to aspirant students.
GV Prakash Kumar plays Kanal, a village lad who’s pushed by his father into joining an engineering course. A few weeks in, Kanal realises he needs to earn extra bucks by taking up part time jobs to meet his expenses. However, when he learns that the easy way to make quick money is by is earning commission off selling college seats, he doesn’t think twice before jumping in. Little does he realise the risk of getting his hands dirty in this business which is completely managed by Ravi Varma (Gautham Menon), a local thug who has connections far and wide. Kanal’s life turns upside down when he gets embroiled in the college admission racket.
Selfie, which features GV Prakash Kumar in one of his most earnest performances in recent times, works to a large extent because it keeps its focus on the scam. If not for the racing screenplay, the film would’ve struggled to engage audiences with most of the story unfolding against a college backdrop. The choice to cast Gautham Menon as the antagonist works in the film’s favour as well. You don’t get major conflict scenes between Gautham and Prakash but the way these characters are written, make up for the major clash that’s usually awaited between the hero and villain in mainstream cinema.
