Gowtam Tinnanuri’s directorial, Kingdom, brings forth the story of two brothers who were separated from each other in their teenage years. Where the elder one rose to become the leader of a tribal community, the younger found his place as a constable in the police force. Suri, the younger one, kept searching for his brother for 18 years, and then one day he got to know that he was alive and residing on an island named Bivi in Sri Lanka. So let’s find out if Suri was able to meet his brother and bring him back to India.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to the tribal people in 1920?
In the year 1920, the British forces wanted to excavate the gold reserves in the Srikakulam coastal belt. The area was inhabited by a local tribe who were asked to vacate their land and settle somewhere else. The tribe wasn’t ready to abandon their land, and they stood up against the British forces, even knowing that they were heavily outnumbered. The leader of the tribe, who was considered to be a descendant of God, fought with all his might but ultimately perished on the battlefield. It was prophesied that, one day, the leader of the tribe would return, and until then, the survivors would have to take care of each other. A boy named Bairagi was told that he must recognize the leader when he came in front of his eyes. Bairagi eventually became the spiritual leader of the tribe, and he waited for the day when his leader would arrive and his people would thrive.
The tribal people had to ultimately leave their land, and they reached Bivi Island in Sri Lanka, but even there, life remained harsh and unforgiving for them. Over a period of time, they made a deal with one of the largest cartels in Sri Lanka, the Lankan cartel. The cartel leaders, Saravanan and Odiyappam, protected the tribals from the locals, and in return the tribal men provided manpower. It was a profitable deal for Odiyappam and Saravanan, as the tribals put their lives at risk and were at the forefront of all the smuggling operations. Many times, the naval forces caught hold of the tribals, and the poor souls were either put behind bars or killed.
Why did Suri get separated from his brother?
Suri was a police constable, and he often got in trouble, as he did not hesitate in going against his superiors if he felt that they were in the wrong. One time, he slapped senior officers, just so that a man who was going to be killed in a staged encounter could escape the police station. Suri always knew the consequences of going against his superiors or not following the chain of command, but still he did not hesitate in listening to his conscience. This disobedient attitude of Suri did not go unnoticed, but instead of punishing him, his superiors decided to use his anger to their benefit. They knew that Suri had been searching for his brother for the last 18 years, and they decided to pitch him a deal. They told him that there was an arms deal poised to happen at the Jaffna port, which he had to go and stop. He was told that, along with the Lankan cartel, the same tribal people who had abandoned the Srikakulam coastal belt in India and settled on Bivi Island were going to be at the helm of affairs. The catch was that the leader of the tribal people was Siva, Suri’s brother, who had been missing for the last 18 years. In a flashback sequence, we saw that Suri and Siva were inseparable when they were young. Siva, being the elder brother, was quite protective of Suri, and he made sure that nothing bad happened to him. Their father used to abuse their mother, and one fateful day, things got out of hand. The father started beating the brothers when Siva retaliated and killed him (though the truth was a bit different, which we will discuss later). Siva’s uncle asked him to leave town and go into hiding, and after that day Suri never heard from his brother. For years, Suri had been looking for his brother, the one man he loved most in the world. Now he had an actual opportunity, and he knew that he was going to seize it with both hands.
How did Suri win the trust of the Lankan Cartel?
While Odiyappam (one of the leaders of the Lankan cartel) trusted the tribal people and treated them well, his son, Murugan, didn’t like them one bit. Given the opportunity, he would have treated them as slaves, but obviously he had to stay in his lane while his father was around. Suri was sent to Jaffna, and he met his brother soon after that. It was an emotional reunion, and Siva’s wife told Suri how fondly he’d talked about him and how guilty he felt for not being able to go back to him. While Suri had kept looking for his brother for the last 18 years, Siva too hadn’t slept properly since the day he had left home. Suri was told by Bairagi that even though he was Siva’s brother, he would always be an outsider to them. Suri didn’t have any problems with that, because as long as he was with his brother, he didn’t need anything else. Suri was constantly leaking information about the cartel’s activities. One time, Siva and his men had to collect smuggled gold, but the naval forces arrived at the scene, causing the entire operation to fail. Because of that, four men were held responsible by the cartel and taken into custody. Murugan wanted to kill them, and Suri knew that if that happened, their blood would be on his hands. So, he decided to go against his superior, Jayaprakash, and help the tribal people retrieve the gold, which was now at the naval base. Suri was an impulsive and emotional man, and he just couldn’t see innocent people losing their lives because of him. He made a deal with the Lankan cartel that if he was able to bring the gold consignment, then they would release those four people, and additionally, let a woman named Meenakshi get off Bivi Island, travel to the mainland, and meet her newborn. Now that was a big deal since, according to the cartel rules, the tribal women were not allowed to leave the island. But that one time, Odiyappam and Saravanan decided to break the rules and give Suri what he wanted. Murugan was obviously not happy with his decision, but he didn’t have an option but to agree to his father.
Suri, together with Siva and his men, risked his life but brought back the gold consignment. But in order to save his own and his brother’s life, his cover was blown, and Siva got to know that he was working for the local police. Suri and Siva would have been killed by the local forces, but the former made a call to the headquarters and told them that he was stuck there. Nonetheless, the cartel was happy since they got the gold and Suri even won the trust of Bairagi and other tribal people, since he had put his life at risk to save them.
Was Suri able to bring Siva back to India?
There were two things that happened after that gold mission: firstly, Murugan’s ego was hurt, and he made it a point to teach the tribal people a lesson, and secondly, Siva didn’t know if he could trust his own brother, since he had hidden the fact that he was on an undercover mission. Siva was a part of the tribal community, and he wanted to make sure that their interests were safeguarded. Suri, on the other hand, was just interested in going back to India with his brother. Yes, he didn’t do anything to harm the tribal people, but for him, his brother was his priority.
Murugan killed his father, and he told Saravanan that he had accidentally fallen in the pool and lost his life. Murugan claimed his father’s position and became one of the leaders of the cartel. Murugan’s main aim was to kill Siva and Suri and tell the tribal community the consequences of going against him. I believe that his work was made easy when one of Jayaprakash’s spies came and told him that one of the brothers was spying for the Indian police. What Suri didn’t know was that Jayaprakash had several other moles in the cartel and even among the tribal community. So he even had people who were keeping a close watch on Suri’s movements. Jayaprakash’s actual plan was not to stop the arms deal but to uproot the entire system by turning the cartel and the tribal people against each other. The entire tribal community was at Murugan’s place to have dinner and pay their respects to his late father when Murugan got to know about that information. Siva wanted to save his brother, and so he took the blame for being the Indian spy. Moreover, we got to know that it was not Siva, but Suri who had killed his father. Siva had taken the blame because he didn’t want his younger brother to suffer. That was the kind of love both brothers had between them, and so it was not surprising that Siva took the blame for being an undercover agent.
Before coming to Murugan’s place, Siva and Suri had had a heated argument. Suri went to Madhu’s place (a doctor by profession who was also one of the agents working for Jayaprakash), and she stopped him from going to Murugan’s place, as she knew that Suri wouldn’t survive if he went there. By the time Suri got there, his brother, together with many other tribal members, had been slaughtered by Murugan’s men. Suri couldn’t take his brother back to India, a regret that I believe would stay with him for a lifetime. He lay near his brother’s dead body and cried his heart out. There was a fire burning inside him, and I believe that Murugan, by killing Siva, had awakened a demon who was going to obliterate him and his entire syndicate.
How Did Suri Become The Prophesied Tribal Leader?
In Kingdom’s ending, Suri went near the ship which Bairagi had been repairing every day: the same vessel that once carried the tribal people to Bivi Island. Suri tried pulling the ship into the water, and at that moment Bairagi remembered what he had once been told by his elders. When he saw blood oozing out of Suri’s veins, the sand shifting beneath his feet, the rage in his eyes, and an angst that fueled his intentions and made him insurmountable, he knew that their leader had arrived. Suri killed Murugan and his entire gang and avenged his brother’s death. Suri was crowned the king of the tribe and vowed to fight for the community till his last breath. I believe that there is a huge possibility that the makers might come up with a sequel to Kingdom since there are a lot of things that are still unresolved. Formerly, the tribal community had no clue that Suri was the spy and not his brother Siva. So they might turn against him when they get to know about it. Also, Suri didn’t know that Madhu knew about what was going to happen with Siva when he went to Murugan’s place. I think Suri will find it extremely difficult to forgive her once he comes to know about it.
Kingdom ended on a potential cliffhanger, and we got to know that Murugan had another brother, about whom nobody knew. It seems he will eventually become the leader of the Lankan cartel and wage a war against Suri and the tribal community. Also Jayaprakash will make sure to put as many obstacles as he can in In Suri’s path. So the road ahead is not going to be easy for Suri, and we’ll have to wait for part 2 to figure out if he stands by his resolve and, moreover, if he is able to bring back the tribal community to their homeland, i.e., the Srikakulam coastal belt in India.
