Vaadivaasal: The Arena

Chellayipuram—famed for hosting the most exhilarating jallikattu contests of strength between man and bull. This year, Pichi, from distant Usilanoor, is here to face the Kaari bull, the zamindar’s pride, both menacing in appearance and undefeated in the bull-taming contest. It’s been two years since his father Ambuli had been gored to death by this same beast. In the billowing dust of the arena, as Pichi grabs hold of the Kaari’s horn in an attempt to make it bow its head, watching the contest from his high perch with narrowing eyes is the zamindar. Will his prize animal—and, by association, the zamindar himself—be finally humbled by this ordinary young man?