Asuran

Asuran (2019) is a Tamil action drama from director Vetrimaaran that you can watch online on iFILM. A landless, lower-caste family is forced to run for their lives after the teenage son kills a wealthy upper-caste landowner — a single act that puts the whole household in the crosshairs.

The father, Sivasamy, played by Dhanush, is a quiet, deliberately meek man who once carried a much harder reputation. Now he drags his wife and children through the forests and paddy fields of rural Tamil Nadu while the dead man's clan hunts them down. The film cuts between this desperate flight and Sivasamy's buried past, and slowly reveals why a peaceable farmer is so afraid of his own capacity for violence. Manju Warrier, Pasupathy and Prakash Raj round out the cast.

Adapted from Poomani's novel Vekkai, this is less a revenge thriller than a hard look at caste, land and the rage handed down from father to son. It took India's National Film Award for Best Tamil Feature and gave Dhanush one of the defining performances of his career. Worth your time if you want social drama with real teeth rather than glossy action. Stream Asuran (2019) online on iFILM.