How far can a group or party try to convince a voter to vote for their candidate? Mandela travels through the life of a Barber (Yogi babu) who turns from Zero to hero in few days but gets trapped in a confused situation.
People call him different names. Discrimination based on caste and his job is evident in initial scenes. Initially,writer Madonne Ashwin invests time in establishing the character.

His ‘open’ saloon, the tools that he uses and the place where he sleeps sums up his position in the society. Ashwin throws a rare trouble to the north and south groups in the village. Ashwin succeeded in creating ample satire moments to make audience laugh and think. Without going to mock everything in politics, Ashwin opt to find humour in the desperation of the 2 groups to ensure their vote.

Yogi babu really steals the show as the protagonist. From the suppressed to the bold voter, he makes the transition believable and brings out his career-best performance. Sheela gets a well written character. Her performance in the scenes where she disagree with Mandela in few occasions felt very authentic.

Companion boy’s performance was also fine.After ‘Oru kidayin karunai mannu’, George maryan gives a memorable performance especially in the auction scenes.

The only drawback I felt was that the practical possibility of key incidents is very less.But that never affected my watch experience.

Debutant Madonne Ashwin deserve praise for highlighting the importance of voting without pages of preachy dialogues.Just go for it without a second thought.
Verdict: Must watch

Where to watch: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81272107?trkid=13747225&s=a&t=twt&preventIntent=true