In a mainstream film that’s heavily centred on its hero with a mass appeal, the role that the leading lady is relegated to, often requires her to just look cute and occasionally silly. There are always exceptions to this rule, but the cutesy, silly heroine is a cliché that many filmmakers don’t seem to tire of. Then, there are films that require the leading women to be mind-numbingly stupid.
Last week’s big release, Agnyaathavaasi , was a disappointment on several counts. It reached a zenith in one of the most dismal segments that involved a scene in which the two leading ladies — played by Keerthy Suresh and Anu Emmanuel — are at loggerheads over the man they love. What do they do? These young women are shown slapping each other and grabbing each other by the hair! In one swift stroke, this scene almost erased the optimistic view one held about well-written roles for women in a few films last year — think Pallavi of Ninnu Kori (by Nivetha Thomas), hybrid pilla Bhanumati in Fidaa (Sai Pallavi), Devasena of Baahubali 2 (Anushka Shetty) among a few other films.
In Tamil film circles, the roles that are the regional equivalent of the ‘dumb blonde’ cliché get categorised as ‘ loosu ponnu ’ and in Telugu, it could just be ‘ pichi pilla ’. The hair-pulling sequence apart, the entire character sketch of the two women in Agnyaathavaasi took the definition of ‘ pichi pilla ’ to a newer realm.
For every ray of sunshine like Chitra of Pelli Choopulu (essayed by Ritu Varma), one can list 10 other films where the woman was only required for the glamour quotient and had no significant contribution to the plot.
Director A R Murugadoss’s Spyder (2017), for instance, had Rakul Preet in a role that can politely be termed silly. In the same year, Rakul shined as the effervescent and self-obsessed character of Brahmaramba in Rarandoi Veduka Chuddam which revolved around her character. She was also a part of Khakee (dubbed from Theeran Adhigaram Ondru ), which encapsulated a decade-long search by the police to grab a dreaded gang that unleashed a spate of crimes in pockets of Tamil Nadu. Here Rakul was cast in a role that required her to be again, cute and silly. Enamoured by the khaki-clad hero, she was a girl struggling to pass high school. Caught in an awkward situation by her father, the hero and heroine recite lines from the study material such as ‘Taj Mahal was built by Shah Rukh Khan’.
Several other recent films have witnessed dumbing down its female characters — Paisa Vasool, Lie ... let’s just say it’s a long list.
The problem is with the assumption that since a lot lies on the shoulders of the hero, no one would care what role the heroine plays. Even if you subscribe to that and believe she doesn’t have to be all grey matter, a little bit of common sense isn’t asking for much, is it? In big ticket projects, it’s well known that popular female actors are quite often signed without being told about the story or their character. In the race to make their mark, the actors are content with the opportunity of being a part of big films. At the end of the day, a blockbuster counts. In recent times though, we’ve seen several big films bite the dust. Films with some semblance of a story and those that don’t take its male and female characters for granted are the ones that get a repeat audience. Fidaa’s Bhanumathi isn’t perfect. There are portions where she needlessly drives the guy (Varun Tej) up the wall. Brahmaramba is flawed and it takes the beach break-up scene for her to realise the hurt she’s caused someone. It’s true-to-life to have flawed characters like these, as much as we root for a confident Swecha of Mental Madhilo (by Nivetha Pethuraj) and the stoic and assured Chitra of Pelli Choopulu .
But, let’s definitely have some worthwhile character arcs for the women please? Surely they can do better than a hair-pulling sequence in Bulgaria.
