Women caricatures in Tamil movies

Disclaimer: I am not an advocate for feminism or women's rights and this post is only a lighter take on Tamil Cinema's treatment of women characters.

The definition of feminism is quite clear and if I may quote" The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes". While this has been misconstrued in so many ways and there is always a false sense of ownership on this subject, my pet peeve is how Tamil movies in general assume they can advocate this in a most bizarre fashion. This post is just my top of my mind recall on few sterotypes of women in Tamil cinema . I had written on corporate stereotyping in movies and this forms a close second in terms of how women are  portrayed in Tamil movies. 

Let's play a game of guess who?

Long kadhi kurtas or torn jeans with tattoos and nose ring/maybe tongue pierced and most probably riding a bike and sporting a dark almost black lipstick.

In most tamil movies, this will be a women  in a media agency or a journalist and she will be spewing dialogues on equality even if the scene doesn't warrant it. This is because as always it's misconstrued that women playing these roles will behave this way. They will be activists even if the script doesn't call for it.

Smoke and drink and maybe throw in a  few expletives. Since I can, I will. Whether the scene warrants or not a modern woman should do these things. Progressive as they say.

Identify with this girl? 

Yes you will if you have seen movies like Aadai. And finally the same ones will go back and revisit and say do not misuse the freedom given. Have you met real women? 

You are ambitious , you need to be curbed and in all aspects and  you are wrong to want more. You will go all lengths to get to the top and as cliche'd as it sounds this can mean anything. Do you want to break the glass ceiling? Taming of the shrew to summarize.

Rajni movies of the 80's and 90's had tons of examples around this. Including the famous Mannan which showed that ambition for women is BAD. If you pursue a career then you start questioning your value system. There is no middle ground and you will be taught the right lesson by the hero or villain.

An all women start cast in a sports movie. Or maybe they are scientists who save the world? But who do you actually need to save the day? This maybe symbolic but for a while you had to have the alpha male thrown in the script to save the day. 

He for She anyone?  When will we have movies who showcase the male ally?

These are the girls who's only aim in life is to reject the hero's proposal. Obviously no one cares about the hero's credentials because ahemm he's the hero. 

Why hero this can even be a supporting actor and immediately there is the typical phrase " All women are like this only". This will have more impact if this is translated to tamil but the reason these situations are forced in the narrative is to facilitate a song and dance routine around this theme. 

In retrospect I can't help but recall K.Balachander  movies and remember some of the real women he showcased in his movies. Way ahead of his times but that warrants a separate post.

I am not focussing on the typical heroines and the usual mother in law,sister characters as those stereotypes are etched in stone. This is just a call out to the ones who claim they are different but still falter in their description. Think about it and you will quickly start making your own list! Share them away in the comments section when you do?