Since the 2000’s The Bechdel test has been widely used in Hollywood cinema to determine whether or not a film is women-friendly: a film passes if it has 1) two named female characters 2) who talk to each other 3) about something other than a man. Internet furor after the release of Pacific Rim (that had high expectations, but failed the Bechdel test) has lead to the emergence of another test, The Mako Mori test — based on the female character in the film. The Mako Mori test too follows a three step process and a film passes it if it has 1) one female character 2) who gets her own narrative arc 3) that is not about supporting a man’s story. While the Bechdel test emphasizes on female relationships, the Mako Mori test looks at female independence and by co-existing these tests allow for a broader feminist interpretation of film.
A friend who works in Tamil Cinema and I had a bit of fun applying the two tests to Tamil films. There are films that unintentionally pass some parts of the test, and not so surprisingly, most fail. Visu’s family dramas, and more recently Sundar C’s films (Ambala (2015) for instance) have enough named women characters, but exist only to appease the male ego on and off-screen. There’s Snehidhiye (2000) from oh-so-long ago that passes both tests, but for the lack of any solid male characters. The same goes with Maya (2015), 36 Vayadhinile (2015)and every other film that is taken forward by leading heroines without a leading hero sharing screen space.
We thought, “Irudhi Suttru (2016)!” at this juncture, which had Rithika Singh steal eyeballs as even the gorgeous Madhavan played the lead. Our smiles went down once we realised that her win in the film is actually his. “Iraivi (2016)?” I suggested hopefully, for its three strong female characters. “No! It was a film about the men that happened to have women”, came back the reply.
We moved on to strong women characters. Padayappa’s (1999) Neelambari, Dhool’s (2003), Swarna akka, and Thimiru’s (2006) Eshwari, we began to list out. But they were all portrayed as conspiring villainous women, (Note to self: write a coloumn on that): their ambitions are limited to taking down the men, so the arrows point to the men again. There’s ‘Aachi’ Manorama’s spectacular performances in numerous films, and Rohini, Revathy and Saranya Manivannan’s memorable characters. Remembering Riythvika’s roles in Madras (2014) and Kabali (2016), we agree that strong women character parts are aplenty in Tamil Cinema, but then, they fall outside the scope of these two tests.
The talk of Kabali brought us to the women in that film. It was refreshing to hear Radhika Apte demanding water to soothe her legs, and watch Dhansika’s Yogi save the superstar, but its going to be a long wait before characters such as these retain their narratives without merging into the male narrative of the script.
Nalan Kumarasamy’s Soodhu Kavvum (2013) gave us a purview into the male psyche, but we couldn’t a film that explores the female psyche without being branded a ‘woman centric film’. Without being able to agree if the recent Kakapo and Kutram Kadithal (2014) pass or fail the tests, we ended our discussion. But we did agree upon this: The western tests don’t take into account our regional diversity and cultural roots. We need more nuance than the Bechdel and the Mako Mori Tests.
We are, therefore, going to have to devise our own feminist lens for interpreting Tamil Cinema. And just maybe, it will be named after us!
(The writer is a Chennai-based activist, in-your-face feminist and a media glutton)