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Avenging goddesses
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Two celluloid entities, the punishing goddess and the avenging woman, occupy a distinct place in the mind of the viewer
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"WOMEN AND Goddesses: Re-imagining the Feminine in Tamil Cinema" was demystified through two distinct celluloid entities — the Amman (goddesses of the Jai Santoshi Ma type) and the heroic, avenging woman. Two full-length films "Amman" and "Vijayanti IPS", movie clips, presentations and panel discussions, posters and giant hoardings from Tamil cinema brought the genre to life at an event organised at Amethyst by Prakriti Foundation.
An offbeat solo theatre performance "Mirror" enacted by Pritham Chakravarthy told of the trials of an actress at the close of the Devadasi era. Popular Tamil film songs performed by Pascal Heni of France closed the festival.
The reasons for having a festival of this sort, in Chennai, is an interesting study in itself. According to co-curator, producer and researcher Venkatesh Chakravarthy. "What Prakriti Foundation is doing is important because for the first time, outside of academic institutions, a serious effort is being made by a voluntary cultural organisation to curate two distinct genres of films...this event would also create a base in Chennai for a serious engagement with cinema."
According to Ranvir Shah, founder, Prakriti Foundation, and programme curator, "Popular culture needs to be constantly reviewed and celebrated."
Amman: Continuing the Cultic: Errant husbands, scheming in-laws, murderous politicians, slimy bureaucrats and corrupt law enforcers are all dealt with by the Amman or female avengers.
A spate of films based on Amman have wooed the box-office goddess with great success. Originating in the 1970s, the Amman films of the 1990s combine digital effects, horror movie culture, science fiction, and calendar art in a crudely assembled visual medley. Low budget and shot at a rapid pace in villages, with a script based mostly on local folklore, these films are released in B grade theatres in cities, small towns and villages. They get good viewership from women and rural folk. These films perpetuate icons, rites and rituals, which link to a prevailing local Amman cult.
According to Uma Bhrugubanda, doctoral candidate at Columbia University, the Ammans share "a desexualised nature, are feared and propitiated, have an emancipatory effect on female devotees who operate in the confines of a patriarchal system."
The heroic avenging woman: Avenging furies are well represented through time. From the mythical Neeli (who spawned a generation of avengers) and Kannagi, to the stereotype busting antics (complete with Amitabh-style punches) of "Vijayanti IPS", writer and editor V. Geeta outlined the factors behind female revenge as "chastity, family honour, betrayal and notions of infidelity, gods are a passive backdrop, the avenger is central." Enter this genre of films and you tread a virtual minefield of social injustice. Filmmakers have found the female protagonist in angst and emancipatory mode a far more potent voice than her male counterpart. In a brilliant cinematic denouement from "Kovilpatti Veeralakshmi", (which V. Geeta says, `breaks the grammar of Tamil cinema') a sickle-wielding Dalit woman emerging from a cave where she has almost killed an errant police officer. As villagers gather around, she speaks for every woman who has ever been oppressed. Her story raises unnerving questions about society's moral degradation, its incapacity to come to terms with gender equality, and the hypocrisy surrounding untouchability. In "Vijayanti IPS", the policewoman continues her lonely vigil, taking on an array of impossible situations. A latter day vigilante, she plays out against a backdrop of filmy kitsch.
"To remain incorruptible she moves away from the family, swears loyalty to the National Flag, is portrayed as asexual, works alone and no flashy song and dance sequences distract her from decimating villainy," says Tejaswini Nilanjana, panellist and author. Though the punishing goddess and the avenging woman occupy distinct cinematic niches, they powerfully fill a space both in celluloid and in the mind of the viewer.
DEVIKA NATARAJAN
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