Indian bandit returns filmmaker’s medal

Thieves broke into the rural home of a famous film director in southern India and stole gold, silver and cash, but they escaped unharmed. But a few days later, a small plastic bag sewn with thin sticks appeared outside the gate of the house, containing something wrapped in a white handkerchief.

Inside was a prestigious national award medal that director M Manikandan won for his film in 2021.

Accompanying it was a short handwritten note in Tamil, the regional language.

“Teacher, please forgive me,” the note said. “Your efforts are yours alone.”

The heist and partial return, with its small-town intrigue and generous absurdity, could have informed the kinds of films that Mr. Manikandan and other filmmakers from southern India make.

While Bollywood attracts a lot of attention and recognition abroad, some of India’s most fascinating and creative films are screened in languages ​​such as Tamil and Malayalam from theaters in diverse regions. Masu.

Mr. Manikandan got his breakthrough with a film that tells the story of two brothers living in a slum who steal eggs with one goal: to taste pizza. The film for which he won the stolen medal, “Kadaishi Vivasai” or “The Last Farmer”, was a commentary on the difficulties of agriculture in India. But the surreal development also exposed the absurdity of the country’s bureaucracy.

When an elderly farmer refuses to give up his land, he is falsely accused. Although the court recognizes his innocence, he still has to remain in jail for several weeks until the bureaucratic process is completed, so police officers are tasked with handling his little conspiracy.

“What are we going to do with the money?” the farmer says in the film, dismissing the idea of ​​quitting farming or selling his land. “Do you use it as a pillow when you sleep?”

The thieves who targeted Mr. Manikandan’s country home clearly had an idea of ​​what to do with the money. But there may also be conscience, or respect for art.

The house in Usilampatti town was broken into through the front door last week, said senior constable Satish Kumar, who is part of the local police intelligence team investigating the incident. Confiscated were gold chains and 40 grams of silver jewelry, worth approximately $1,200 in local currency, and a total weight of approximately 1 kilogram.

This is a one-bedroom property with an office and garden. Mr. Manikandan comes only occasionally and lives primarily in the state capital, Chennai, about 300 miles away.

“While the pugs guard the area, servants come in and out to feed the pugs and clean them,” Kumar said.

Kumar said thefts are common in the town, but most of them are solved thanks to CCTV footage. However, there were no clues in the robbery at Manikandan’s house.

Kumar said the film director’s manager found a plastic bag containing the medals on the east side of the property four days after the robbery and immediately called the police. Kumar and his team handed over the bag and medal to the police in the hope that they would eventually find a clue to the culprit. However, the results of the collected fingerprints did not match.