Throughout Parasakthi, Sivakarthikeyan mentions he is not against Hindi but the imposition of the language, notes A Ganesh Nadar.
1952's popular film Parasakthi had Sivaji Ganesan deliver fiery dialogues that are famous in Tamil Nadu even today.
M Karunanidhi, later Tamil Nadu's chief minister, wrote those dialogues in Parasakthi.
A film with the same title released this past weekend, distributed by Karunanidhi's grandson Udhayanidhi Stalin's production house Red Giant Movies.
Parasakthi is based on the anti-Hindi agitation that took place in Tamil Nadu in the 1960s.
Parasakthi 2026 begins with a train being set on fire by anti-Hindi agitators after making sure everyone gets down.
The problems start when Hindi is announced as the connecting language between states.
When the train is set on fire, the prime minister relents and declares that English will be the connecting language till 1964 after which the matter will come up for consideration again.
The prime minister passes away in 1964 and Hindi is once again considered the national language.
In a college in Tamil Nadu, students are watching a Hindi movie starring Shammi Kapoor. It is stopped midway, and the 1952 Parasakthi is played instead. This provokes a squabble among the students about their language preference.
Elsewhere, in a post office, mothers cannot send money to their children because the money order forms, earlier available in Tamil and English, are now available only in Hindi.
The anti-Hindi agitation recommences in Tamil Nadu.
A train is set on fire by the film's lead, Sivakarthikeyan, who plays a student leader. He is chased by an Intelligence Bureau officer (Ravi Mohan), who is convinced that those who oppose Hindi are anti-national and goes to any extent to quell the agitation.
Throughout Parasakthi, we have Ravi Mohan chasing Sivakarthikeyan.
In one scene, Sivakarthikeyan hangs upside down, awaiting police torture.
Ravi Mohan walks in carrying a transistor playing Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitamb, hum rahe na hum, tum rahe na tum.
You can't miss the irony here, then the IB man proceeds to pull the student leader's nails out.
Sreeleela plays Sivakarthikeyan's perky neighbour, a Telugu girl who speaks Tamil and Hindi.
Sivakarthikeyan gets a job as a coal hauler in a train. He decides to apply for a job as a TTE (Traveling Train Examiner) for which he needs to learn Hindi, and Sreeleela does the needful.
That is the beginning of their love affair, which the audience in the theatre enjoyed. Incidentally, the average age of the audience in the theatre I saw Parasakthi was 20.
Director Sudha Kongara takes great care to make sure the film looks like the 1960s.
The posters on the walls are of movies of that time. The cars are of that time as are the police uniforms.
Music Director G V Prakash Kumar makes sure the music also sounds like the 1960s.
The only thing that jars is that you don't expect Indian cops to act so ruthlessly against their fellow countrymen.
You also get a fair idea why the movie suffered 38 cuts for a censor certificate.
A prime minister acts like Jawaharlal Nehru, but his name is never mentioned.
There is another prime minister who acts like Indira Gandhi, but her name is not mentioned.
In one scene, the hero tells her, 'Your father promised us that English will be the connecting language as long as the non-Hindi speaking states need it.'
Tamil Nadu's first non-Congress chief minister Annadurai (yes, the actor looks like him) appears in the movie and his name is mentioned.
When the hero needs signatures of those who are against Hindi, he gets them from students not only in Tamil Nadu but also from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Bengal.
Rana Daggubatti delivers the Telugu signed papers.
Throughout Parasakthi, Sivakarthikeyan mentions he is not against Hindi but the imposition of the language.
This line is regularly repeated by the present state government in Tamil Nadu and the present central government regularly repeats that it is not imposing Hindi.
Therein lies the reason why this movie was made and released at this particular time, four months before the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
© 2026