Why the 'Ordinary' Man Hiding a Violent Past is Cinema's Recurring Trope

Think of Muthuvel Pandian, the protagonist of Jailer, a meek retiree who makes YouTube videos with his grandson, dutifully polishes his shoes and blends into the wallpaper of a domestic household.

But at the first sign of danger, he flips literally, in frames, into a killer, exposing a previously undiscovered layer of violence and villainy.

This contrast is a leitmotif of the most massive blockbusters from Baasha to Leo and Theri, but its appeal goes far beyond just action.

The reason for this appeal is the psychological wish to have some alter ego that can surprise and terrify even ourselves

We crave such protagonists because they do what we wish to do but cannot act on every dark impulse that makes us feel like monsters. 

In real life, most of us are forced to live in perpetual self-denial.

We get up every morning and exercise a modicum of willpower so that we can function as ‘decent’ and ‘normal’ members of society. Our emails, professional demeanour, and even the way we queue at ATMs are all carefully calibrated to not offend public decorum. 

Psychologist Carl Jung referred to this repression as a 'Shadow ', the unsavoury impulses buried deep within the psyche. The moment any given hero casually sheds this shadow to commit an act of unspeakable 'evil', it serves as a convenient catharsis. We are happy to root for him, for we see parts of ourselves in the villain too. After all, aren't we all capable of being more violent, vulgar, selfish, cruel, rude, vicious and nasty than we normally permit ourselves to be?

The sheer magnetism of such stories lies in this juxtaposition of extremes

But the best twists are those when the hero's apparently mundane personality turns out to be a mask.

It turns out that the man who patiently browses the vegetable section at the grocery store could be the most dangerous person in the universe. That is the kind of narrative that makes you want to rush to the nearest mirror and affirm your deepest suspicions, for who among us hasn't secretly believed that there is some vast well of latent power, volatility, or even malice within that remains unexploited? 

Their very existence is a reminder that no single personality is large enough to contain a human being. 

It is the mix of the gentle and the vicious that makes people tick, and the way such stories make us root for the 'monster' in all of us to rise and take charge is one factor that makes these movies a hit.