The Extraordinary Legal Battle Of Chandru, Whose Life Inspired The Hit Movie 'Jai Bhim'

Justice Chandru, now in the spotlight because of Suriya-starrer Jai Bhim, was an onest lawyer and judge who always fought for people’s rights

- Lakshmi Subramanian

As advocate Chandru reads the newspaper, back straight, legs crossed, a tentative Alli reaches for another newspaper to mimic his actions. Seeing the little girl do this, Chandru shakes his head and smiles. Alli smiles back. They both get back to their papers.

This is one of the most widely shared images of the recently released Jai Bhim, but it holds a deeper meaning for Dr C. Sasikala, a senior assistant professor of anatomy at a government medical college in Tamil Nadu.

In 1994, Sasikala, then a young student from a backward village in Pappireddipatti town panchayat in Dharmapuri district, had gone to Chennai to study medicine. She got admission in a private college through the government quota. However, when she and her father reached the college to join the course, the administration backtracked and asked her to pay a huge fee.

Helpless, Sasikala reached out to Chandru through members of the Students’ Federation of India, and he approached the Madras High Court on her behalf. There was no immediate reprieve, and he asked her to write an improvement exam for class 12 and try again next year. She wrote both the school and medical entrance exam the following year and joined Chengalpattu Medical College.