Bison Kaalamaadan Ending Explained And Movie Recap: What Is The Meaning Of The Title?

Mari Selvraj’s latest, “Bison Kaalamaadan,” is his most accessible film to date, but with the director’s core style intact. Like every other Selvraj film, this one also hits you in the gut and leaves you awestruck by the end. The sports action drama (yes, that’s how it is being classified) is inspired by former Kabaddi player Manathi Ganesan and how he contributed to India’s emphatic gold medal win at the 1994 Asian Games. However, Selvraj’s film goes way beyond the formulaic sport biopic template, as the director puts our lead, Kittan, through unimaginable hardship thanks to the extremely volatile socio-political rural South Indian landscape of the late eighties. The result is a searing, gritty epic with a commentary on casteism—pretty much nobody does that better than Selvraj (check out “Pariyerum Perumal” if you still haven’t)—that keeps you hooked from start to finish. What further helps is a rip-roaring lead performance by Dhruv Vikram, who’s ably supported by a strong supporting cast, especially Pasupathy, who plays Kittan’s father, Velusamy. While “Bison…” has a neatly constructed ending, there’s a lot to talk about regarding the themes and intricacies of the film. Let’s get on with it.

Spoilers Ahead

What happens in the movie? 

The story kicks off in Japan, in the year 1994. Our man, Kittan, is left out of the Indian team participating in the all-important gold medal match against Pakistan in the Asian Games. That’s not exactly a surprise, as throughout his life Kittan has been facing this issue—somebody undeserving taking his place. Indian captain Rathinam argues with the coach for Kittan’s inclusion, but the coach (inarguably the most annoying character in the whole movie) is adamant about playing only senior players, because the match is against Pakistan—that’s one of the stupidest pieces of logic you can ever produce, but I’m not exactly surprised. Anyway, the match starts, but thanks to a controversial decision made by the referee, it gets called off, meaning there’ll be a rematch. You know for a fact that Kittan will get a crack at that, and will turn out to be the hero by the end, but that doesn’t take away anything from what unfolds in the next two and a half hours. 

How does Kittan get into Kabaddi?

It can very well be said that the game of Kabaddi runs in the blood of his family. Velusamy himself was a Kabaddi player, who named his son Kittan after his idol, Attur Kittan. But upon seeing his idol being murdered (Velusamy only saw the body, though), and that too with the humiliation of his iconic moustache being shaved off, the man never wanted his son to pursue the sport. It’s not that playing Kabaddi would directly ruin Kittan’s life, but being someone from a lower caste, there’s always the risk of him drawing the attention and disdain of the powerful people of the caste hierarchy, which happens to be a big deal. As a child though, Kittan never understood such things, and he immersed himself in the game. Kittan’s Kabaddi career takes the first serious leap when he is spotted by the PT teacher of his school, Kandeeban. Seeing the boy’s interest in Kabaddi and also his impeccable skills, Kandeeban decides to include Kittan in the school team.

What makes things complicated for Kittan?

All Kittan ever wanted to do in life was play Kabaddi. But he was unfortunate enough to be born in a place that never allowed him the peace he’d always yearned for. Kittan’s first taste of violence comes at the worst possible time you could imagine—while happily eating porotta at a local eatery—when local rebel Pandiaraja storms inside and mercilessly butchers two customers. Interestingly though, these two customers were throwing casteist slurs at Kittan only a while ago, but they couldn’t go far thanks to Kandeeban standing up for the boy. And the reason Pandiaraja took such extreme measures is also the same: these men are champions of caste-based discrimination. Not to mention, there’s a whole lot of men just like that, and Pandiaraja aspires to eradicate all of them. In that context, Pandiaraja doesn’t quite seem that much of an evil. His methods might be criminal, but the man is also fighting for a just cause. 

Speaking of Pandiaraja, one of the major highlights of the narrative is the eternal feud between him and this other man, Kandasamy, who hails from an upper-caste background. It started with Pandiaraja battering Kandasamy’s brother to death—again, the guy was a casteist—and has now become something that has no end in sight. Pandiaraja is worshipped by the people of Kittan’s village, Vanathi; obviously most of the people in the village belong to the lower caste communities. Halfway into the movie, Pandiaraja is attacked by Kandasamy’s goons, who almost bomb him to death. However, the man magically survives and eventually returns to take his revenge; more on that later. 

What does Kandasamy want from Kittan?

Kandasamy’s character initially seems like a textbook, one-note villain. He’s from the upper caste, hellbent on killing Pandiaraja—who’s the self-appointed face of marginalized people (no harm in that though)—that’s a recipe for evil. Except, there’s a hitch—Kandasamy himself is not a casteist, and more importantly, he absolutely loves Kabaddi. Naturally, when Kittan beats Kandasamy’s Kabaddi team, KB, with an injured hand, the man becomes very impressed by Kittan. So much so that he doesn’t hesitate to offer Kittan a chance to play for KB. Kittan might be from the village that worships his rival, but Kandasamy is not at all bothered by it. For him, only Kittan being a talented Kabaddi player matters. 

For Kittan, this comes both as a shock and a blessing. Up until now he was having trouble even getting an opportunity to participate. He was not allowed to play for his village team because of his family’s long-standing rivalry with Sethuram, who hated his guts. Sethuram’s personal vendetta against Kittan has a lot to do with his sister, Raani, being in love with Kittan. Raani, despite being as old as Kittan’s elder sister, Raaji, has always been in love with the boy. And while Kittan appears not too excited by Raani’s advances, eventually you realize that he also has the similar kind of feelings for her, since forever. The whole romantic subplot between Kittan and Raani is both borderline strange (for Indian cinema) and daringly unconventional. 

Back to where we were, Kittan’s decision to play for KB makes a lot of sense, as that finally provides him the proper opportunity to showcase his talent. Our guy has endured a lot already, including getting his hand broken by random thugs; Kandasamy’s promise of him being able to play without getting affected by all the chaos around is too good to be true and very hard to resist for Kittan. So he joins KB, despite being in the Pandiaraja clan. And for a while, it goes tremendously well, until one day, Pandiaraja happens. That man was always supposed to return, and after what Kandasamy’s gang did to him, the only way Pandiaraja could retaliate was by murdering a bunch of Kandasamy minions. How does that become a problem for Kittan? A large portion of Kandasamy’s people start thinking Kittan has something to do with it, since he comes from a place where Pandiaraja is everything. Kandasamy asks Kittan to leave the team and go home, which he does, absolutely frustrated and heartbroken at the whole thing. 

What happens to Pandiaraja and Kandasamy?

While Kandasamy asks Kittan to leave his team, he clarifies that the reason for him to do so is Kittan’s welfare. A player like Kittan, who is destined for greatness, should not be affected by all this meaningless violence; Kandasamy acknowledges that the whole thing between him and Pandiaraja has reached a point where both of them can’t really stop it, and it can end only one way. Wishing Kittan the best for the rest of his life, Kandasamy sends him to play for the Wind Paper Mill team.

Kandasamy and Pandiaraja may have been loggerheads, but one common thing about these two is that both, at some point in their lives, have tried helping our protagonist, Kittan. Like how Kandasamy has helped Kittan with his Kabaddi career, Pandiaraja practically saves Kittan’s romantic life by stopping Raani from getting married off to a random guy. Pandiaraja has always stood up against every wrong thing in the society, and this is no exception. Sadly though, he falls in a trap, and this time around, Kandasamy’s men ensure that Pandiaraja takes his last breath. The news of Pandiaraja’s death terrifies everyone in Kittan’s village, creating panic all around. Though, soon after, Kandasamy meets the same fate as his (now dead) rival. Kandasamy and Pandiaraja both die, but their deaths create a huge mess, turning the whole area into a chaotic war zone.

What is the significance of the bison?

Early in the film, we see Velusamy unintentionally getting involved in an unfortunate fight inside a bus, with his son and daughter around. What’s his fault? He was taking a goat to sacrifice in the name of the holy deity, Kaalamaadan. While the film is devoid of supernatural influence, it is shown that Kittan’s raw energy is a blessing from Kaalamaadan, who is portrayed as a bull-headed god. When Kittan sees a bison head in Kandeeban’s house, he immediately gets drawn to it. For Kandeeban, it is only a taxidermy mount, but Kittan sees it differently and finds a connection to it with all of his heart and soul. After a while, Kandeeban is attacked by a group of men, who seem to be mad at him for having “someone of lower caste,” Kittan, on the backseat of his bike. Upon seeing his teacher getting beaten, a rage boils inside Kittan, and he draws energy from the bison and becomes one. Obviously, it’s more psychological than physical. The bison becomes Kittan’s source of strength and also his identity. At times we see him headbutting during fights when he is extremely agitated. This is a representation of both his power and also the pent-up anger. Even on the field of Kabaddi, Kittan moves like a bull and earns the title of “Bison,” justifying the title of the film. 

How does Kittan achieve his dreams?

Kittan’s road to ultimate glory has always been a journey filled with more thorns than petals. Despite being the best player in the entirety of Tamil Nadu, he had a hard time getting into the state team. In fact, had national team captain Rathinam not intervened, he wouldn’t have made it. Similarly, the Indian team selectors also wanted to keep him out because of regional and caste prejudice. Especially with two Tamil players on the team already, one being the captain, Kittan’s chances to represent India were almost non-existent. But like Rathinam, the South Indian selector decides to fight for him tooth and nail and gets Kittan into the national team, even at the cost of his own job. When Kittan gets the news, though, his village is burning with chaos. Despite trying his best to get his son out safely in the dead of the night, Velusamy unfortunately comes across a group of policemen who heckle him and Kittan, refusing to believe the guy is a Kabaddi player who is going to Madras to join the national team. Fortunately, Kittan is let go, and he reaches Japan, carrying all the insults, beatings, and humiliation he had to suffer to get here.

Even in Japan, Kittan is not spared of misfortune. The national team coach doesn’t treat him with respect, probably because of his caste and skin color. Considering the man is also not fond of Rathinam, it is blasphemous to even expect for him to like Kittan and be fair to him. But thanks to Rathinam putting his position on the line, Kittan gets on the team for the rematch of the final. His start is a bit shaky, but soon he comes into his element. A rare mistake costs both him and Rathinam getting out of the field, but thanks to India snatching an important point by catching one of Pakistan’s raiders, one player between Rathinam and Kittan gets the chance to return to the field. Instead of sending himself, Rathinam puts his faith in the Bison, and the rest is history. Kittan wins three points in the final minute, helping India clinch the game by one point. The film closes with Kittan receiving the Arjuna award, which is a fitting ending for a champion like him. 

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