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A blend of grace and grit
THIS IS the U.N. year of women's empowerment. So the need of the hour is serials on the lines that show women as executives, their life in the work place and, most important, the problems they face and how they are able to solve them. On this score, Cine Times "Indira" being telecast from Monday through Friday at 9 p.m. on the Sun Channel, gets top rating. It is a relevant serial and is 20 episodes old. As 9 p.m. draws near, viewers stop surfing channels and are glued to their screens for the next half-hour watching this engrossing serial.
The Dhina-Vairamuthu combination for lyrics and musical score has a virtual monopoly of the small screen serials and their title songs!
Dhina's tunes always fit in well with the general mood of the serial and the characters of the lead artistes in particular. As usual, Kavi Arasu Vairamuthu's lyrics are brilliant and indeed bear the stamp of his name!
The name "Indira" itself is neither very modern nor old-fashioned and the lead character combines modernity with traditional views well, thereby justifying the lines of the song - "Palamai Pennum Indira, Pudhumai Pennum Indira." Kavitha Krishnamurthy's rendering is good.
God's own country, Kerala, is shown in all its picturesque beauty as the title cards are displayed. A colourful, Kathakali number further enhances nature's bountyThe lead artiste is yesteryear heroine Gauthami back after a brief spell of hibernation. She plays the business tycoon and looks every inch an ace, shrewd but polished and successful industrial magnate. Clad in colourful sarees with a ponytail to match, sometimes bejewelled, she looks every inch the role she is playing. "Indira" is the Chairperson of the Indira Group of Companies. Her father (played pleasingly by Ravikumar of Ishwarapaandi fame) is a public-spirited politician-cum-philanthropist. Her sister, though an equal shareholder in the company, is a dormant partner and it is her husband, Ram, "Indira's erstwhile friend and brother-in-law, who is the M.D. Problems arise for a woman entrepreneur even at home for her sister is averse to the idea of her husband playing a subordinate role to her elder sister. She is therefore, always hostile and her little daughter, deeply attached to her aunt and grandpa, seems to bear the brunt of all this.
"Whatever women do, they must do it twice as well to be thought half as good," has now become obsolete. Indira's aide Ram is all praise for her when she outwits her business rivals, family opponents and rebellious employees. Indira's merit stands recognised. Maruthu (who can easily pass off as Vijaykanth's double) the loyal bodyguard now standing accused of murder, the quality control manager, the loyalist employee Malathi who accidentally becomes the acid victim (supposedly meant for Indira) all fit the bill. A notable variant is a eunuch who has the knack of showing up at strategic points to do away with trouble-shooters but otherwise is serving in the arch enemy's headquarters.
"Indira" attends to all details, personally visits employees who are convalescing, assures the afflicted, and maintains pleasant personnel relations. Indira is a good serial conveying the message of amicable settlement of industrial disputes and personal contact between labour and capital. She endears herself to us being a woman of substance, steely in her determination with a heart of gold. We can see this dimension of Indira as she battles on...
THARA MOHAN RAO
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