I watched the Nayantara-starrer Dora a few days ago. And my god, that woman is kicking some ass! I went to see the movie only because it had a female lead — superstar Nayantara (one can safely call her that now) plays a role that is about neither redemption nor rediscovery with gusto and grace — and she had me hooked. The plot could be called cute at best, but I was crying and laughing and living with Nayantara who totally owned the film.
Now the thing about Dora is that it’s not a female actor cast in a ‘woman centric’ film. The film does not scream women’s rights or empowerment in any way. Take Nayantara out of the film and put in any hero in that role, and the fight-for justice-revenge-seeking-drama remains the same; it will ignite the same thrill and anger in you. And that’s what made all the difference. It was heartwarming to see the audience applaud and cheer during the mass moments written for her just as they would were it ‘thala’ or ‘thalapathi’. Also, it was a slice of a woman’s whole life, and not the glamorous or the romantic parts as one might have expected. No one in the theatre seemed disappointed with the lack of both. The ticket sales too are proof of this. Clearly, the female hero has arrived, and in style.
This week, I watch Pa. Pandi starring actors Raj Kiran and Revathi. Directed by actor Dhanush, this is a classic cinema ‘think-piece’ — the story of all families, of the grandparents and the lives they are living (are they living their lives or ours?), and finding love past one’s prime. Raj Kiran and Revathi play grandparents negotiating their worlds within their families as they try to rekindle the magic of their first love.
When Revathi stands under the rain in a red salwar kameez just taking it in, you’re reminded of the young girl who danced in the rain in Vaan Megam and Oho Megam Vandhudho. As the camera zooms into her face, two decades flash past in a moment and you realise that the actor here is telling us another story, of another woman who is not in her 20s. But the difference in age, reel and real, means nothing to the actor. She was telling a story then as she is now, and they’re different stories. But seeing a familiar face tell an unfamiliar story made it interesting, touched a raw nerve, embarrassed our inhibitions, and drew us in deftly.
Here too, the romance was underplayed and there was none of the glamour we are told that the audience wants. The audience gladly let themselves be drawn into the film — a speed-breaker of sorts in the current milieu. If Raj Kiran was the life of the film, Revathi was its soul. When they play the lead in the film, they can’t be called yesteryear actors, can they? They are actors, cast in a role, enacting a story. And they do it with finesse! The high point of the film for me was this: Revathi, now a grandmother, sitting behind grandpa Pandi (Raj Kiran) TWO SIDED on the bike. Take that for subversive old wine in new bottle!
Dora, Pa. Pandi and the other films with female leads in the pipeline make some things evident. Female actors young and old are game for experimenting, for growing as actors and carving a niche for themselves. They are daring and raring to go given the right atmosphere. The audience taste is constantly evolving but always accepting of the new. And stories of different kinds of women have always been around. Now that we are hearing them, writing them and wanting them told, I’d say “Bring it on, Tamil Cinema...women have arrived”.
(The writer is a city-based activist,in-your-face feminist and a media glutton)