By noon, the Chennai police commissioner arrived at Balakrishnan’s hospice bed, handcuffs ready. The actor smiled, his oxygen mask fogging.

On Thursday night, Balakrishnan himself did something unprecedented. He found Tamilyogi Nanban.

And the film itself? It was devastating. Balakrishnan played a dying inventor who builds an AI to see his late daughter one last time. In the climax, the AI asks, "Why do you cling to memories, when they hurt so much?" And Balakrishnan, with real tears, real labored breath, whispers: "Because without them, I never lived at all."

Two hours later, the commissioner returned the handcuffs to his belt. "No arrest. My wife said if I arrest you, I'm sleeping on the sofa for a month."

Silence for ten minutes.