waffles

As someone who didn't read the books, my knowledge of the characters and their motivations were wholly reliant on the movie. And up until that scene, I was trying to figure out where Nandini's loyalties lie and what her motivation is.

At first I thought she's loyal to her husband then we see her help Vanthiyathevan only for her to immediately sell him out to her husband and then in a surprise twist we see her conspiring with the Pandya spy. Even after Karikalan tells his story, her motivations remain a mystery because the story was so one-sided and its obvious there's more to it.

And so when we see her look longingly at the throne as she envisions her younger self sitting on it, everything about her character becomes crystal clear. We still don't know alot of her character history but we know what's most important. That Nadini is loyal to no man or kingdom. She is loyal only to herself and the throne is what has motivated her all this time.

The scene doesn't just introduce us to the true Nandini but it also recontextualizes the whole movie. Nandini was always a major player in the movie but after that scene the audience realizes that she IS the mastermind behind it all and the only one truly challenging her at this point is Kundavai

I also think it's such a clever way of translating what I'm sure is a lot of rich source material about her character into a simple and elegant scene.