Gevi (கெவி)

Around 800 years ago,

the Sultan who ruled the city now known as Madurai,

like many rulers before him,

imposed unbearably heavy taxes

and governed with ruthless tyranny.

As a result, the people lost their livelihoods

and began migrating toward the regions of the Western Ghats.

They traveled through the Western Ghats,

enduring countless hardships along untrodden forest paths,

until they finally discovered a place suitable for settlement.

A mound-shaped stretch of land nestled in a valley.

Surrounded by mountains on all sides, they named it Gevi.

There, they began a new life through hunting and farming,

building everything they needed to survive.

Centuries later, around the 1800s, during British rule,

British officers, unable to bear the scorching heat of Tamil Nadu,

commissioned a team led by B.S. Ward to search for cooler highlands.

The expedition split into several groups

and began exploring the forests of Tamil Nadu.

One of the groups, led by B. S. Ward,

after days of traveling through Periyakulam

and the Kumbakarai Falls of Theni,

discovered the Gevi,

a tribe unknown to the outside world until then.

Beyond the region inhabited by the Gevi tribe,

B.S. Ward spotted another hill.

Unable to find a proper route to reach it,

he travelled in a palanquin carried by members of the Gevi tribe

and eventually reached a plateau.

The land discovered that day, with the help of the Gevi people,

is what we now know as the famous hill station of Kodaikanal.

When the British departed India,

Gevi came to be known as Vellagevi.

Yet, the palanquin that once carried the British

still rests upon their shoulders.

Governments have changed,

rulers have changed,

powers have shifted,

and centuries have passed.

Yet the people of Vellagevi still wait for a road.

Present-day Vellagevi.

Hello, hi, and namaste!

You're listening to Kodai FM 100.5.

The election date's coming out at the end of this month.

All parties are rolling up their sleeves and diving deep into campaign mode.

Word is, the ruling party's expected to win.

Hey, Shankar!

Hey, Shankar!

Is anyone in the field, man?!

Hey! Can someone hear me?!

Brother!

There's a landslide on Kanaku's land!

Our people are trapped inside!

- Come quickly, guys! - There's a landslide on Kanaku's land!

- Come on, everyone! - What're you saying?!

Only if we hurry can we see what happened!

- Grab the ropes! - Let's go, people!

- You got it? - Yeah, come on!

- Take the rope, let's move out! - Go quickly!

Faster, everyone!

- I don't even know what might've happened! - Hey, it's our folks! Come quickly!

Come on! Come on!

- Come on, brother! - Come quickly!

See who's stuck down there!

Check if someone's caught under the sand, man!

Start assembling the palanquin.

Bro, you get down.

Muthaiyya!

What are you staring at?! Lift him!

Get him up! Easy now!

Careful!

Lift him up.

Come this way. Careful!

Lift him up.

Four of you quickly go and assemble the palanquin.

Uncle, step aside!

- Tie the rope! - Tie the rope, pull hard, man!

Come on! Lift him up.

Grab his leg, don't let go!

Now, everyone together. Lift!

Pull him up!

Hold him properly!

Grab his shirt.

Hold tight, everybody!

Lift him, quick!

- First thing, get him to the hospital! - Go now!

Watch your step!

To our sir who's here to fight corruption!

God bless him! God bless!

To our sir who's here to fight corruption!

God bless him! God bless!

To our sir who's here to fight corruption!

God bless him! God bless!

- The one who stood against caste! - Live long! Live long!

- The one who stood against caste! - Live long! Live long!

- The party that stands for women's rights! - KMK!

- The party that stands for women's rights! - KMK!

- The party that stands for women's rights! - KMK!

- The party that stands for women's rights! - KMK!

Sir?

After the election, please help with my promotion.

- Yes, yes, I'll handle it. - Sir.

We're not even sure if we'll get those 350 votes.

You still don't understand people.

Political leaders like me know them best!

Narasimha,

they're hungry!

They bark only until they're fed.

That's true, sir.

- Hey, Nagu? - Yes, sir?

Like how a dog wags its tail at the sight of a bone.

Similarly,

if we give a thousand or two thousand, they'll vote without asking!

What else can they do?

Come on, everyone, hurry!

We have to save him somehow!

- Let's keep at it. - What happened?

Why are you taking him to the village and not the hospital?

Arumugam is dead!

Save him at least! Quick, get him to the clinic!

- Run faster now! - Move! Go, go!

- Don't stop, keep going! - Run faster!

- Keep going. - Hurry!

Go, go. Keep going.

Before we reached the border, he had lost half his breath.

We couldn't save even one, uncle.

Let's at least save this one.

- Move quickly! - Keep going.

Come quickly.

Hurry, folks!

- Hold him tight! Don't let go. - Hurry!

Let's hurry up! Come on, everyone!

Hurry!

- The light of our children! - Long live, long live.

- The hope of the poor! - Long live, long live.

- The guardian of the hills! - Long live, long live.

- The son of this soil! - Long live, long live.

- The pride of our land! - Long live, long live.

- Your vote means everything! - KMK!

- Your vote means everything! - KMK!

- The party that will end poverty. - KMK!

- The party the people trust. - KMK!

- The party the people trust. - KMK!

Narasimha, go check what's happening.

- Hey, Mani! Follow me. - Come with me.

He's lying there, not moving.

What do you mean?

Muruga, wait!

Everyone, hold on!

Check if there's still life in him.

Maniya! Hey, Maniya!

He's not breathing.

He's gone.

Maniya left us too soon.

Welcome, all of you.

Did you come here just to count how many lives are buried here?

Five men were unjustly buried alive by this soil.

Now tell me, what can you do about it?

When you were in power,

we didn't even exist to you!

Now that elections are near, you suddenly remember us?

How will anyone know?

Our lives are like tender greens, they get plucked and forgotten!

Malaiya, I understand your pain.

But it was nature's doing.

Why blame the MLA for this?

It isn't fair to do so.

I agree, landslides are natural.

If we had a hospital here,

we could have saved those still fighting for their lives.

Malaiya!

The problem is, there's no hospital in our village.

I understand your anger, man.

I'm telling you.

We'll handle everything!

We lost five people,

and you are still handling it!

Malaiya…

Crossing the line now, are you?

We will figure something out and make it happen.

Okay? Come along.

Don't create a scene during the election!

This matters more to you than our lives, right?

Do what must be done.

- I'm saying we lost lives... - Come with me!

Get your hands off me!

He raised his hand on my leader!

- Charles, hold on! - Don't spare him! Thrash him!

Stop! Wait!

Why aren't you hitting him? Go!

Sir!

- Hey, you! - Sir, please spare me!

- How dare you lay your hand on the MLA? - I didn't do it on purpose.

We gave you a place to stay and spoke to you with respect,

- yet you still don't know your place! - Hear me out, sir.

You're making a mistake, sir.

- Don't say that, sir… - I'll make sure you cease to exist!

Who do you think you are to lay hands on someone like him?

Hey, listen to me!

Listen to me!