FC Disruptors: Supreme Sundar

Khalid Rahman's Thallumaala has a beautiful English translation: Ballad of Brawls. Like its title suggests, the film is a tight yet poetic ode to the art of fighting. And a supreme (pardon our puns) reason for that is stunt choreographer Supreme Sundar. The ace stuntman's vision comes out in various innovative ways in the film. Just like how there are different kinds of fights — one that hurts the body, mind and ego, as Tovino's Wazim explains in the film — Sundar's stunt pieces are their own animals in Thallumaala. They unfold as cartoonish brawls playing out in slo-mo at times, and land as thundering, bloodied punches during others. Sundar's choreography, which can be seen as a glorious love letter to his art, subverts the Indian mass film brawl with the right amount of cheekiness.