India, July 14 -- (SPOILER ALERT) There's a crucial scene at the very end in Anuraj Manohar's Narivetta, where Tovino Thomas' character Varghese comes face to face with Thaami (Pranav Teophine), one of the men from the tribal community. Both of them are in the middle of a riot, and as Thaami picks up his wooden spear to take aim, for a split second, Varghese thinks that the spear is aimed at him. But it's not. The spear zooms ahead just above his head and lands straight on the front glass shield of the police van.

This marks a clear-cut statement: Thaami is not angry at one specific police officer because of personal grudges; it is the entire corrupt system that is the main issue. Narivetta, a compelling and gritty new film that dramatis...