For those who frequent the twitterverse, it is of no surprise to regularly come across online skirmishes involving movie stars and their “veriyargal”. Smarting from the lightest pokes and jabs at their stars, these entities hurl abuses, threats and engage in less than civil behaviour that is now the norm on twitter. This post is pretty much a follow up to the article on Parvathy and the feminichi incident.
Recently it came to the fore that 2 anchors on Sun TV made some innocuous jabs at actor Suriya’s height. This isn’t so uncommon. There are memes that poke fun, so has Jagan’s recent “whose plot is it anyway” and it is said that Suriya himself has indulged in it in this movie. The 2 ladies have been the target of a lot of fire and I am not surprised. Most of the people sharing the video direct their abuses at the anchors naturally and not at the show. Logic flies out of the window- did these women write the lines or was it pre-written by the shows unit? It really doesn’t matter, twitter has awoken to the ills of body shaming and and the outrage is like no other. Internet celebrities and personalities jump in to protest the body shaming and alleged slander against their ilk. And yet the irony is that the ire is at the women and takes the form of abuses at their bodies and it’s their faces that get stomped on in posters.
Are these women just easier targets, virtual goats that need to be routinely slaughtered in the obeisance directed towards demigod stars? And this is so common, that this incident will probably get buried under the torrential turn-over of twitter stories as the next goat is slaughtered to appease the Gods. Probably this is one way of understanding rabid fan culture in our society which will be soon demanding independent religion status. The demigods in question are neither all good nor all powerful. After Dhanya Rajendran was trolled for comparing Harry Met Sejal and Sura, it took Vijay a while to put out this weirdly worded statement “I respect women. I appeal to not hurt sentiments of women on social media. There’s freedom of expression to criticize anyone’s film”. Who is the appeal directed to? On social media? Sentiments? So is it okay to hurt the sentiments in public spaces and in films? Why isn’t he condemning this behavior? Ajith preemptively asked his fans to not speak on his behalf. On related note, why does poking fun at a movie star render a sense of insult and humiliation to his fans and followers? One possible explanation is that people find a sense of kinship in belonging to a fan group and this blissful identity is threatened when their star is ridiculed. This is the virtual version of an identity crisis. If youngsters can only find a sense of belonging in the virtual world and go on a rampage every single time something small happens, do we blame the society for the absence of alternative community structures for engaging young people or do we blame cinema for the blatant masala hero worshiping stance that has existed through its inception? Also did this kind of rabid fan culture exist in times before social media, since even MGR and Sivaji Ganesan had huge fan bases or has the internet given the fan base a common platform to interact and overreact?
But I digress. Body shaming has been deeply pervasive in Tamil cinema as comic routine. The examples are too numerous to even mention. I read that in TSK there is a scene where Yogi Babu is made fun of. The biggest offender in recent times is Rajnikanths Sivaji where the Angavai and Sangavai comic routine is despicable. But not many were up in arms against this. And even normally sane people on twitter share these tweets and condemn such forgettable comedy (I mean the SunTV show) in times when there is so much consumption of all sorts of comedy, satire and parody. And some body shaming has been a part of this. Body shaming is unhealthy but so is selectively protesting body shaming and the people indulging in it. It is definitely time that we discuss body shaming in tamil cinema in a civil manner, with the right examples and not easy targets such as the SunTV anchors. If people really want change, we need to hit where it hurts most that is ourselves, our culture and our cinema that for ages past have been complicit in body shaming. Taking one isolated incident and blowing it out of proportion does not help. It is sad that this incident has received traction on twitter right from movie producers and actors who are exhibiting such hypocritical behavior that they are no better than these rabid fans and will only damage any healthy discussions that can arise out of this. But is the silver lining that we are finally talking about this?
Aparna
Baradwaj Rangan 
brangan
February 5, 2018
I’m all out of Reader’s Write In. So if you want to see this column continue, well, write in 🙂
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Rahini David
February 5, 2018
I guess I can’t write about the volatile nature of blog communities. This blog seems to reach 100 comments at the drop of the hat all over again. 😛
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Vivek narain
February 5, 2018
You mean the canine caprice, and piquant vivacity of the community.
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Pavan
February 5, 2018
brangan: I’m all out of Reader’s Write In. So if you want to see this column continue, well, write in 🙂
How? Because I too want to write about something. Can you help me?
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Vidya Ramesh
February 5, 2018
Can someone translate Vivek’s comments please..onnume puriyala sir 🙂 nicely written bit Aparna. Twitter rules the world..if you let it.
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Anu Warrier
February 5, 2018
Can someone translate Vivek’s comments please..onnume puriyala sir 🙂
Join Rahini’s club, Vidya. 🙂 I’m sure we could squeeze some more people in.
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shaviswa
February 6, 2018
BR – please employ someone to translate Vivek’s posts. I am sure he writes in a different language that uses English script.
On body shaming – Tamil cinema always has had this. Especially against women. Women who are dark (Angavai sangavai is a classic example), fat, wearing thick glasses, traditional women especially with a rural background are all routinely shamed.
The Angavai Sangavai part in Sivaji took the most obnoxious turn when later in the same film Shriya uses Rajinikanth’s colour as a reason to reject him and that is made out to be an insult against all Tamilians. As if that is the worst reason she could give. Pathetic that there was not much of a hue and cry then.
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boredguys
February 6, 2018
Guys…extremely sorry to be out of topic.This is my first short film. Please watch and give feedback if youre interested. Your inputs means a lot .
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Vivek narain
February 6, 2018
De dames are nuts, quibbling in a forum, making it an echo chamber instead of an open playground. I’m just tellin’ ya…..
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Sifter
February 6, 2018
Hehehe. The Narain has finally succeeded. After so many deliberately-making-riddle-like-cuckoo-attempts to get attention. Specially those jabs at the Dames 🙂
He must be like ‘gotcha’ now!
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Rahini David
February 6, 2018
And about the Write In itself.
People seem to have the need to worship. That reverence seems to give them the power to go on in their rather mundane life. But how are mere actors able to generate this? People know it is “make” believe. So I have never been able to understand why they are unable to snap out of it after they leave the theatre.
The misogyny that is depicted in these comment section is of course found everywhere. Watch a video on any topic, say Yoga, Barathanatyam, women who are painting their nails, whatever. People want to go to their comment sections and comment on things completely unassociated with Yoga, Barathanatyam or Nail Color.
That is what we are taught. Women are vulnerable. Her honor is fragile and can easily be broken by commenting on her age, body and the possibility that she actually likes having a life.
Guess what happens when we give fragile objects to immature brats? Especially if the brat does not ‘own’ the fragile object. Breaks it to pieces, of course.
Oh and, making a place an echo chamber is much better than making it a poisonous gas chamber and some times I think I detect the faint smell of something toxic.
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Madan
February 6, 2018
” Also did this kind of rabid fan culture exist in times before social media, since even MGR and Sivaji Ganesan had huge fan bases or has the internet given the fan base a common platform to interact and overreact?” – Once I attended a light music programme performed mainly by professionals with some semi-prof types. One of them sang MGR songs dressed up in MG attire with that cap and copied his mannerisms. Somebody from the audience actually climbed up the stage and sought the singer’s blessings…just because he had dressed up as MGR! So I don’t think Ajith/Vijay fandom comes even close to MGR level. What we can be thankful for is there was no platform then for complete strangers to get into a heated debate about MGR which social media facilitates. That is a point to think about. When SRK comes on TED and says the internet is pulling us apart, is that really true? Is it not true that our interactions are ‘riskier’ in the online space and we get into deep discussion with people we have never met, something which we may not do except in our professional capacity IRL. I think the real problem with social media is it blurs these invisible and unspoken boundaries that guided our interactions before and we haven’t yet matured enough to understand how to navigate these new world. One of the consequences is it becomes an outlet for latent or not so latent misogyny.
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Anu Warrier
February 6, 2018
De dames are nuts, quibbling in a forum, making it an echo chamber instead of an open playground. I’m just tellin’ ya…..
Of course. And ‘manly men’ hide behind ‘Chase’ and ‘Saint’ and others authors and fictional characters to pass sexist remarks.
Even open playgrounds abut open drains sometimes. We can smell the malodour of misogyny.
Signed
A Broad. And proud of it.
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Vivek narain
February 6, 2018
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second,it is violently opposed. Third,it is accepted as self-evident. ~Arthur Schopenhauer
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Rahini David
February 7, 2018
VN: What is the truth that we are going to accept as self-evident?
1) De dames are nuts?
2) There is something toxic in the air?
I know what the truth is. Just verifying if you are man enough to say it aloud. See what I did there?
🙂
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Vivek narain
February 7, 2018
RD, What i know is i may not be a chivalrous knight errant, but i am not an unchivalrous cad either, at worst i am a chivalrous cad. And that is one undisputable truth, for a start.
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AK
February 7, 2018
Thank you BR for the space and for posting this in your blog. @Madan, thank you for the anecdote about MGR. I now remember being told by my father that upon MGRs death, people were seen weeping with grief on the roads. His fandom translated into a potential vote bank and this something that was not achieved by Shivaji even. Only time will tell if Rajni or Kamal or Vijay have the magnetism to convert this fan following into a political legacy.
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Rahini David
February 7, 2018
Vivek Narain: at worst i am a chivalrous cad. And that is one undisputable truth, for a start.
Nope. Very disputable. No chivalry in you. That is merely the masquerade you are attempting.
Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is. – Winston Churchill
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Vivek narain
February 7, 2018
And yet John Lennon decided to remove the middle name of Winston and replace it with Yoko, his beau. His parents had bestowed him with the’Winston’ middle name because he was the glory of britain. At the same time Lennon regretted the song ‘I am the Walrus’. It so happens that,this is my field of research, and Churchill equates with the wily Walrus of, ‘Through the looking glass’. Lennon had come to hate both, Churchill and Walrus.
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Anu Warrier
February 7, 2018
Vivek at worst i am a chivalrous cad. And that is one undisputable truth, for a start.
No. It is disputable. Perhaps you are a cad, you would know better. But ‘chivalrous’? You are not, sir. The casual misogyny in your words is enough to prove you wrong. I think we had this conversation before, over on Dustedoff. Following Hoppy Uniatz’s mode of speaking doesn’t make you a Knight Errant.
Anyway, you’ve got your five minutes under the sun. Over and out.
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Vivek narain
February 7, 2018
Churchill is known to have caused millions of deaths in Bengal famine, indians breed like rabbits was his retort, ‘the nauseating half naked fakir Gandhi should die and the empire will be rid of him’. The fellow carries no weight, his words are full of arrogance
https://indianrealist.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/churchill-the-butcher-of-bengal/
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Vivek narain
February 7, 2018
Hoppy Uniatz is a big LOL, sometimes i am tempted to start carrying betsy and cause mayhem in the alleys of Lucknow. Escape to south will become imperative, and Saintly arms a must, to survive in the unfamiliar territory. What’s more i will have to change my accent to cockney, instead of the Bronx accent.
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Uma
February 8, 2018
Body shaming is wrong but what irritated me was Suriya in an effort to not make his fans go beserk tweeted something to the effect of, ” One shouldn’t pay heed to useless people’s opinions or comments”. In a way he bilittled those anchors. Couldn’t he have said something in jest and ask people to chill. I am sure if this same joke was cracked by SRK at a film fare festival, everyone would have been laughing their heads off.
Why don’t people show outrage when T. Rajendar went on a full on crazy mode and was insulting Dhansika in a public setting. All the men on the stage couldn’t stop giggling, while poor Dhansika is trying to apologize for nothing. No one there had guts to tell TR stop your BS. Imagine a senior female artiste like Lakshmi or Saranya, can they belittle a male colleague, no matter how junior he might be and get away with it?
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Rahini David
February 8, 2018
Do you really think that talking about Lennon or Churchill or Bengal famine or Hoppy Uniatz means that people forget that you were saying something misogynistic?
Is that how it is in all the other ‘open playgrounds’ you play your game in?
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Vivek narain
February 8, 2018
This,’play your game’ has connotations of deviousness. As a matter of fact, i should say i don’t play any games whatever, as such, unless you classify being present in a playground as being a player. i am a simple bloke who doesn’t even use a capital i to express himself. What you term misogyny could in fact be; ‘Insolence! there cannot be a better word. It’s not the nature of life to be otherwise. Life when it knows that it must cease living, will always rebel. It cannot help itself.’~ Jack London
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sanjana
February 8, 2018
This,’play your game’ has connotations of deviousness. As a matter of fact, i should say i don’t play any games whatever, as such, unless you classify being present in a playground as being a player. i am a simple bloke who doesn’t even use a capital i to express himself. What you term misogyny could in fact be; ‘Insolence! there cannot be a better word. It’s not the nature of life to be otherwise. Life when it knows that it must cease living, will always rebel. It cannot help itself.’~ Jack London
This is easy to understand. Try to write like this often and you will be understood.
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Rahini David
February 8, 2018
“has connotations of deviousness”
“Devious” sums it up nicely. Thank you. I knew you’d find the word I have been looking for. You are good in that.
Oh yeah, the insolence is there. But that is not being mistaken for misogyny.
There have been plenty of insolent non-misogynists here in this ‘playground’. They play a completely different game.
This misogyny I recognized by its pungent smell. It can’t be masked. Not for long anyway.
And that quote. It does not have anything to do with anything, no? Deflection, eh?
🙂
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sanjana
February 8, 2018
Rahini, that last sentence points to something. Dont want to elaborate.
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Sifter
February 8, 2018
@Aparna- Even though there are numerous articles against the incessant bullying of women in all on-line/Print/Video platforms by these so called ‘Veriargals’ at the slightest disagreement against their so-called God’s, fresh ones still need to be written. So, yes, yours is one that is needed. Most men and women (baring a few) seem to think that shaming, ridiculing, threatening a women is their fundamental right bequeathed by their Demi Gods.
My one constant thought about the many analysis of the mind-set of these ‘Veriargals’ is why do we spend too much time thinking/talking/discussing/trying to understand/empathise/justify their actions like what makes them do it? Why do they do it? Circumstances? Family? Inexperience? Society? Because invariably a lot of discussions turn to that. I am tired of seeing such counteracts to the anti-bullying articles.
Nothing from me on those lines. To me, these ‘Veriargals’ just derive a kind of perverse satisfaction by belittling someone anonymously and feel that they have accomplished something extremely important in their lives. Do not blame the society. Do not blame their circumstances. Do not blame their family. Do not blame the crossing of wires in their brains.
Blame them. Simple enough.
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Vivek narain
February 8, 2018
In every real man/woman a child is hidden that wants to play ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
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Rahini David
February 8, 2018
Sanjana: Dont want to elaborate.
Quite understandable.
Anyone else who wants to explain what “Life when it knows that it must cease living, will always rebel” has to do with the discussion at hand is welcome to do so.
Does that mean that Vivek narain is ‘forced’ to be insolent because there is some thing ‘ominous’ in this place? Is this merely a survival tactic. How terrifying. 😥
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sanjana
February 8, 2018
That thought crossed me. Maybe or may not be. Let me live life full and have fun while it lasts.
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AK
February 8, 2018
@Uma: regarding the Dhansika event, it was really sad that not many people came out to support her, it goes to show the respect, or the lack thereof, afforded to a junior in the industry. At least no one blamed Dhansika for forgetting TR, had it been a TV show anchor then that would have been one possibility!
@sifter “Blame them. Simple enough” Amen to that.
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Anu Warrier
February 8, 2018
Rahini, Sifter had his measure right from the beginning. I’m sorry I took the bait. Deflections are to dissemblers what non sequitors are to people of his ilk. An unending list of quotations, each picking on one word you post will appear, seemingly out of context. Can’t you see we are just playing his game for him?
It’s enough we called out the casual misogyny. Ignore. 🙂
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Vivek narain
February 9, 2018
There was this, king henry 8th of england, who revived and amended ‘the church of england’. The world has not been same since. The church of england is the governing body for anglican church of britain and the episcopalian church of US. Miniscule in numbers, 2 % in britain and same in US, majority being catholic and protestants. But this miniscule minority has ruled the world. Misogyny was the root cause.
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Rahini David
February 9, 2018
Anu Warrier: Olemisstarana had this all figured out months ago in the thread where he referred to Saroja Devi as a wench.
I actually was arguing with her in private that he simply had a archaic vocabulary which happens when a person gets most of their vocabulary from the Classics. This happens in people who hail from small towns. I’d know because I am one. Well she was right and I was wrong about him.
I am fine with his trivia and his unrelated quotes. There is a character in one of S.Ve.Sekar’s play “Val Payyan”. He had no role as such. He’d just enter and give a quote and exit with no context whatever. I found that character (or non-character) quite hilarious though I knew that it was very very lame. And hey, if someone picks a book because they like the style of the quote presented here, all is well, no? I have myself done a lot of light reading about this and that after Vivek narain said something totally unrelated and I am sure others here have done that.
But don’t you get the feeling that he is trying to train us to ignore his oddball behavior and is getting increasingly smug about it? For that is the thought that I sometimes get.
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silverambrosia
February 9, 2018
Rahini & Anu: I don’t think there is any malicious intention or desire to undermine women on Vivek’s part. He consciously chooses to adopt an unusual, colourful and somewhat cryptic writing style. This involves the inclusion of terms now considered archaic. I am occasionally amused by what Vivek has written. More often I don’t understand what he is saying and don’t consider it to be very relevant to the discussion, but this is an open forum and it is his prerogative to write in the way that appeals to him. I don’t think anything he has written can constitute abuse or a personal attack. Initially, people were attacking him simply because of his writing style and spelling mistakes! Those who are interested can read his comments, those who aren’t can ignore and move on the next comment. Declaring someone to be a misogynist (not a small accusation) on the basis of his having used the word ‘wench’ (in a spirit of levity while adopting a deliberately outlandish writing style) is misunderstanding the tenor of his comments.
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Anu Warrier
February 9, 2018
Rahini, ‘smug’ is the right word. I don’t know about the ‘train to ignore’ part – he was quite cut up about his comments being ignored when I was having a heated discussion with someone else on another thread. And I don’t think he gets all his vocabulary from the classics either – his vocabularly is not classical in that sense. Leslie Charteris and Chase are not classical authors. 🙂 Don’t be fooled by his quotes – I wager the man is well-read and is having a huge laugh at our expense. But he is deliberately trolling because, when he wants to, he can write a decent enough comment in perfectly good modern English. He chooses not to. Right now, he’s yanking our chains, and that’s why I feel it’s better to ignore him – unless, of course, you want to have some fun too. 🙂
Silver, it is not the one occasion – it is one that appears in the general use of language, especially when you aren’t trying to craft a sentence. Every single comment of his that references women uses derogatory terms for them. ‘Broads’, ‘Dames’, ‘Wench’ etc. And as I said in my comment to him, this is not the only blog where I’ve run into him – there too, he made some asinine remarks about women, more than one. Using archaic language -which he happily does – is not the only reason to call him a misogynist. But when it is a pattern, when he continually uses archaic terms that are insulting to women, yes, I will call it what it is – misogyny. An insult in archaic terms is still an insult.
It is his prerogative to write as he will – no one is stopping him. Neither Rahini nor I have abused him either. But it is equally our prerogative to call him out for his comments, no?
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Rahul
February 9, 2018
SilverAmrbosia –
“He consciously chooses to adopt an unusual, colourful and somewhat cryptic writing style. This involves the inclusion of terms now considered archaic.”
Not sure about archaic, but the words are definitely not fit for use in civilized company.
Do look at this board –
He used the K word for jews which is like the N word for Af Ams. You got to draw a line somewhere, man. That was my line, and IMHO, tells a lot about the person. Crazy uncle defense does not work for me here.
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Rahini David
February 9, 2018
Anu, I was saying that I used to think those things. Yes, of course, I agree with your comment entirely.
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Vivek narain
February 9, 2018
Let me make the point for you. So long as i carry on like a little gentleman and go to Sunday School every week you guys will leave me alone. But if i should get back any of my naughty old ideas- if anyone sort of felt squeamish due to similar comment from another bloke- then it’ll be the aim of every long-suffering member to make me the fall guy. The jerk who had inspired all this heresy.
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Anu Warrier
February 10, 2018
No, Vivek – I’m saying I will call out misogyny where it occurs but where you’re concerned, whether your halo is burnished or whether you’re being deliberately offensive, I’m ignoring what you say from now on, unless there’s something relevant to context that can be discussed or argued. And you’re free to say/write what you want – I’m not the moderator of this blog. And I don’t believe in muffling anyone’s voice either. I can, however, choose to disagree, or call out what I see as sexism or misogyny or bigotry or [insert word of choice here]. I just don’t feel the need to pander to your trolling, that’s all.
Your cry of victimhood (‘make me the fall guy’) falls false – no one here reacted to you because ‘another bloke’ made a similar comment. We reacted to your words on this very page. Stop playing the innocent – that shade doesn’t suit you.
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olemisstarana
February 10, 2018
Schrodinger’s asshole, anyone? …anyone?
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Vivek narain
February 11, 2018
Always wondered what happens if Schrodinger’s cat was a Cheshire cat, will we find either a smirk or a grin on opening the box ?
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