Kuselan 2008

Balakrishnan Pasupathy is a poor barber living in the small village of Marayoor, sharing a modest life with his wife Sridevi Meena and their three children. He runs a humble barbershop in the marketplace, while his neighbor Shanmugam [Vadivelu] operates a far more developed salon with staff and revolving chairs, drawing in customers that Balakrishnan sometimes cannot reach. The family faces constant pressure over school fees, and a local troublemaker, Kuppusamy [Livingston], disrupts the flow of visitors to Balakrishnan’s shop. A glimmer of hope comes when Balakrishnan manages to secure his daughter’s return to school after the nun at the school offers to pay the fees herself, easing some of the financial strain.

The village receives an unexpected visitor: Nagercoil Nagaraj [Santhanam], who explains that Kollywood star Ashok Kumar [Rajinikanth] will be in town for several movie shoots. The anticipation swells as Ashok Kumar arrives along with a crew that includes Nayanthara Nayanthara and others such as Nizhalgal Ravi Nizhalgal Ravi. Senthilnathan IPS Prabhu arrives with heavy police reinforcements to maintain order, while the local dynamics shift under the glare of fame. Balakrishnan clings to a faint hope that his old friendship with Ashok Kumar might be remembered, even as the town’s gossip swells around the celebrity presence.

Shanmugam’s wife, Sona Sona Heiden, asks her husband for a simple photograph with Ashok Kumar, and Shanmugam attempts several schemes to pull it off. He eventually succeeds in getting a photo of Ashok Kumar with the star’s wife and brings it back to the village, but the reveal sows doubt: many locals begin to question whether Balakrishnan’s stories of friendship are genuine. The tension grows when Balakrishnan’s eldest daughter’s school function brings Ashok Kumar to the campus, marking his last filming day. In a heartfelt moment, Ashok Kumar delivers an emotionally charged speech that revisits his own years of poverty and his best friend Balakrishnan, recounting how Balakrishnan supported him—clothes for duty, even selling his ear studs to help him reach Madras.

Moved by the memories, Balakrishnan’s family seeks forgiveness for having doubted him, and Ashok Kumar himself arrives to reaffirm the bond between them. The actor then makes a life-changing offer: move to Chennai so that Balakrishnan and his family can have a home near his barbershop. Balakrishnan initially declines, but Ashok Kumar insists that the family is all he has, and he arranges for their stay nearby. Before Ashok Kumar leaves, Balakrishnan feeds him a peanut candy, a simple gesture that seals a quiet moment of shared joy. In a final, public affirmation, Ashok Kumar proclaims Balakrishnan his best friend, bringing the village to a heartful, jubilant conclusion and underscoring the enduring power of loyalty and kinship over fame.