Thaneer Thaneer is a political drama and a universal human story based in a dry rural hamlet near Kovilpatti, in Tamil Nadu state of India. This is a film about administration negligance of suffering villagers, excessive bureaucratic regulation (Red tape), greed, power and powerlessness. When a remote village faces severe water shortages, the inhabitants adopt all possible means to bring their problem to the attention of the authorities. But the process soon reveals the apathetic attitude of politicians, bureaucrats and the press alike. A convict wanted for the murder of a local landlord turns the villagers' plight to his advantage and begins a co-operative scheme to transport water in a cart from a spring ten miles away.