All of us know of the horrifying murder of Infosys techie Swathi, and the immense manhunt that followed to nab the killer. The 24-year-old was allegedly hacked to death by Ramkumar, an engineering graduate from Tirunelveli. According to police reports, he was stalking her for over a month in pursuit of love.
Sounds filmy, doesn’t it? Because it is. It is exactly the stuff some Tamil films are made of. Going by the number of films, it seems like the dream storyline of several commercial-filmmakers.
Right from the times of Rajinikanth to Kamal Haasan to the modern youth icons Dhanush and Simbhu, films and heroes have glorified stalking. The concept of stalking has become so synonymous with romance that we can’t even tell them apart anymore.
Kamal, the most celebrated romantic hero of south Indian cinema, has stalked his fair share of beautiful heroines in films. In 'Singara Velan’, he went to the extent of modifying a childhood picture of his “lady love” to find out what she looked like in the present. He then found her, stalked her despite her disinterest, and just couldn’t take no for an answer. He ultimately managed to woo Khushbu — with lewd lyrics.
Superstar Rajini is no exception. His stalking of Soundarya in 'Padayappa’ to ask for her hand in marriage is seen as mild persuasion. The comic “vaanga pazhagalam” dialogue from 'Sivaji’, where he stalked heroine Shriya Saran’s family, was not only irritating, but creepy. He found out where the family lived, went to their house, and ultimately got Shriya to agree to marry him with his persistence.
Vikram followed suit. In 'Sethu’, he was seen harassing a shy, helpless girl, going to the extent of kidnapping and threatening her and forcing her into “loving” him.
Thanks to Dhanush’s ‘Kolaveri di’, the latest trend is the ‘soup boys’, as the rejected men are officially called now. The song is about a ‘fair girl’ with a ‘black heart’ rejecting him, and "spoiling" his life. The film ‘3’ in which the song was featured, is about Dhanush falling in love with Shruti Haasan. He followed her after school hours, joined the same tuition centre as her and even followed her home.
Worse was ‘Adidaa avala’, a cult hit of sorts among the youth, from the film ‘Mayakkam Enna’. The film’s lyrics are a ‘clarion call’, so to speak, to physically abuse and kill a woman who rejects a man. Once again, it’s our youth icon Dhanush who does it for us.
How can we forget Simbu’s hot pursuit of Trisha in the top hit ‘Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya’. They lived in the same building and were neighbours. Our hero fell in love with the girl-next-door and couldn’t stop following her wherever she went. I’d be creeped out if I had a neighbour who walked behind me all the time.
Even the ever-so-charming Madhavan has had a faux pas. In his debut ‘Minnale’, he went as far as posing as the man whom the girl’s parents had found as a match for her. In his much adored flick 'Alaipayudhe’, though there were no violent threats involved like in many other films, Madhavan followed the heroine, Shalini, on her train journeys every day to and from college, and ultimately got her to fall for him.
Oh, is our dreamy Surya any different? In 'Vaaranam Aayiram’, he set a new benchmark in stalking by following his dream girl all the way to US — with blessings from his own father. Does this mean parents encourage it too? The father character too had stalked the mother, Simran. Seems like “romantic” stalking transcends generations.
Ultimately, the male lead is always the aspirational character who turns the odds against him to prove to the female lead who called him ‘porukki’ (rogue) for following her, regret her decision. All's well that ends well when the heroine finally gives a nod to the relationship and they live happily ever after.
But is it really a happy ending for us who carry pepper sprays, Swiss knives, and a look of panic on our faces?
(Have you been stalked? writetous@newindianexpress.com)