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Padayappa, Singaravelan And More: 5 Times Tamil Cinema Displayed Toxic Misogyny On Screen
Tamil cinema and misogyny have gone hand-in-hand forever. It isn't uncommon to find dialogues such as "Woman should be like a woman; man should be like a man" in Tamil films. (Whatever that meant.) A Tamil director was also asked to apologise after he revealed that he instructed the costume designer to keep the length of the heroine's skirt as short as possible. Imagine what directors like these bring to the big screen.
We take you through five instances when the toxic misogyny in Tamil cinema made us cringe.
Mannan
Vijayashanti
is
seen
as
an
over-achieving
industrialist
in
this
saga.
She
decides
to
marry
Rajinikanth, who
plays a
worker
in
her
factory. She
chooses
him because,
hold
your
breath,
he
slapped
her
and
she
wants
to
get
back
at
him!
Forget
about
any
ounce
of
logic
here to
the
marriage.
A
scene
sees
Rajinikanth
slapping
Vijayashanti
several
times
and
telling
her
to
keep
it
to
herself
since
she'd
be
embarrassed
if
this
came
out
in
the
open.
Forget
about
the
fact
that
a
top
industrialist
or
any
woman
for
that
matter
can
approach
the
cops
to
settle
a
case
of
physical
violence.
The
end of
the
movie shows
the
once
top-rated
industrialist
resigned
to
the
kitchen
while
the
man
goes
off
to
work!
The
director
can't
even
show
them
both
running
the
company
together!
Even
though
the
movie
released
in
the
early
‘90s,
it
took
us
back
several
decades,
one
must
say.
Singaravelan
The
entire
movie
revolves
around
an
obsessed
Kamal
Haasan
stalking,
groping
and
whatnot
an
unwilling
Khushboo (who
is
his
cousin) and
we
are
forced
to
buy
this
in
the
form
of
unconditional
love!
It
was
a
familiar
trope
the
movies
of
the
‘90s
followed
-
guy
falls
in
love,
girl
rebuffs, guy's friends and
he employ
every
trick
in
the
book
to
get
her
to
like
him,
whether
or
not
it
involved consent.
An
important
block
that
these masala films
employed
was
capturing
the
moment
when
the
reluctant
heroine
falls
in
love
with
our
hero.
In Singaravelan,
it
was
when
Kamal
Haasan
asks,
"Does
she
know
to
wear
a
saree?
Does
she
know
to
keep
a bindi?
Does
she
keep
jasmine
flowers
in
her
head?
Does
she
know
to
blush?" And
suddenly,
she's
head
over
heels
in
love
with
him.
Slowcaps!!!
Padayappa
This movie could well be hailed as the king of misogynistic films of Tamil cinema! Rajinikanth spouts a lengthy dialogue in which he says a woman should be soft, mild-mannered and not like a baajari (an uncouth term for a woman who's aggressive). For good measure, he even adds that a woman being a woman is good for her and everyone around her.
Puthiya Pathai
The movie, meaning ‘a new path', literally brought into focus a maverick filmmaker called R Parthiban. But just the premise of the movie is enough to make you go WTF!!! It was about a rape victim marrying her rapist and changing him for the better! Do we even need to say anything more in these particularly frustrating times when even Me Too Movement is not taken seriously?
Sivakasi
Though Vijay might be much junior to the stars mentioned above, unfortunately even his films haven't been devoid of misogynist dialogues (things have changed for the better with time). His films now even extoll women. But cut to times when a scene in his film Sivakasi has him questioning Asin as to why she's sporting a bra (in actuality, it's a sleeveless top) and undergarments (it's shorts in the actual scene). "To you, it's sleeveless, to us (men) it's a bra. To you, it's shorts, to us, it's an undergarment. Learn to dress like a woman," he preaches.
In another scene, he forces her to say 'I love you', which she reluctantly says. But what follows is a smile and a song!
God save our leading ladies from such movies and heroes!
If you know of any more such movies and dialogues from Tamil cinema, do let us know in the comments below.
