This article was written by G Waugh.
I know a lot of people who hate Kattradhu Tamizh. I know a lot of people who hate Thanga Meengal. I know a lot of people who hate Kattradhu Tamizh and Thanga Meengal but love Taramani. Why?
Taramani is made by someone who is far more mature than the one who did Katradhu Tamizh and Thanga Meengal. Well,’Mature’ is too usual a word to use. I am trying to substitute something with ‘Mature’. What I can substitute it with? Let me find out.
First of all, let us understand the fact that Ram is not you or me. When he did Kattradhu Tamizh (and around the same time), he gave you interviews bashing Abdul Kalam, globalisation at one end and even the communists at the other end of the spectrum. What would one call someone who criticises Narendra Modi and his antithesis, Sitaram Yechury (for want of a better leader!) as well? Mad. Insane.
In other words, Ram looked like a misanthropist. One who had discovered only that evening that nothing in the world could be relied upon. Like a young IT employee who in his first appraisal gets a 4-rating for none of his fault even after working 55 hours a week. Like an Angadi Theru Lingu who shockingly discovers that behind the glowing facade of the Tall Sneha-adorned Saravana Stores, lurks a dark dungeon of obnoxious shit where he is condemned to live the rest of his life. Again in other words, someone who badly wants to get rid of one life only to land in another unlivable one.
Ram’s realisation must have been deeply disturbing. He was so angry with everything in this world that he allowed himself to wander around the city, hunting couples who make love in the scorching beach-sand. Killing a railway employee who would not give him his change back. Pressing the breasts of a girl who would dare anyone except him to touch her!!
In short, he did whatever he wanted to do through his protagonists in his own world. Wish -fulfilment.
I could see people hating Katradhu Tamizh. Fine.
Thanga Meengal was Ram’s second movie. It was very much a sequel to Katradhu Tamizh. Ram wandered again this time as Kalyani and not as Prabhakar. Ram wanted you to sympathise with a father who would not pay fees for his daughter. He wanted you to sympathise with a loafer who would slug it out with a foreign traveller on the road to take a peek at his laptop.
Again, to sum up, Ram wanted you to sympathise with whatever he did in his anger. His madness. Yes. Ram was mad. He was not dishonest. He believed in what he was saying. He was not a Shankar’s Sivaji who would rate a Tamil-cultured girl above other women but would have no qualms about allowing her to dance semi-nude for an Aambal Aambal number.
Ram was honest. Sincere. But was mad. Appreciating his movies would require some amount of imbibing his madness. To allow yourself to be mad during the film’s running time atleast.
And above all, Ram was a film-maker. No, I did not mean it in the sense of what he was doing for a living. I meant that he knew how to make films. How to make Cinema. He knew how to write scenes. He knew how to stage them. When, as an audience, after paying your 120 rupees at the box-office to enter the cinema hall, if you only allowed yourself to let your scientific-rational-nerves loose for 180 minutes, Ram could offer you a fulfilling drink of his warm, exotic insanity. You could not say that of other film-makers in Tamil. Not even the borderline Bala.
Taramani, after nearly 9 years from his debut, however, is a welcome deviation. But only a minor deviation.
He now respects women who wear short-skirts. He now respects women who frequent pubs. He now respects even women who let loose their ‘morals’ (in Tamil) for momentary returns.
So does it mean, Ram has reformed? To put a more apt question, does it mean he has been cured of his madness?
No. Not at all. He has not been cured even in the remotest sense of the word.
I only told, ‘He now respects women who wear short-skirts’. It does not mean he has become a Gautham Menon. Women who wear short- skirts are still “Women who wear short-skirts” for him. They are not equals to “Women” of his world.
As a result, he cannot stop himself (Prabhunath is Ram in Taramani) from asking questions about this.
He is still uncomfortable with Women who hug other Men in public. Again, it does not mean he will wield a gun to shoot those women like what he did in Katradhu Tamizh. He is uncomfortable and only that. All he needs is an explanation. An explanation would do. He is angry still. He is mad still. But very much at peace with that ‘fact’. Yes he is made peace with his madness.
So that is why people who hated both Katradhu Tamizh and Thanga Meengal like Taramani. Because Ram has recognised that he is mad at last. Because his films have started to become, in some ways, apologies for his incurable madness. He wants people to empathise with his madness. For that bit of empathy from you, he has found out that he no longer needs to hold a gun at your temple. He now knows that a nicely-worded apology letter would do.
phaneendra201
March 11, 2018
Superb write up
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ini
March 12, 2018
Wait until you watch ‘Peranbu’. He goes to places I never thought possible in Tamil cinema. While some parts were troubling and very manipulative, the film is easily one of the most progressive takes on sexuality. I would like to think he is softening up. He definitely has a fascinating voice, I just hope it doesn’t get muddled in all his rage.
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Siva
March 12, 2018
😀 😀 😀 😀
@G Waugh — I for one, am expecting similar pieces on Mysskin, Ameer, Bala, GVM and even Mani Ratnam. And the cliches in their products.
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Vivek narain
March 12, 2018
‘When you’re crazy, you don’t mind so much. It’s going crazy that’s bad’
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Ninad Kulkarni
March 12, 2018
Damn. Interesting!
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Murali Mohan
March 12, 2018
Gave me a lot of clarity on Ram and his movies. A new way of thinking, thanks!
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Jay
March 12, 2018
In short, he did whatever he wanted to do through his protagonists in his own world. Wish -fulfillment………. true.. 🙂 for many other directors…too
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Ko
March 12, 2018
Please don’t consider it as a Ram fanatic shout out. But I want to make some points clear.
To the blogger,
As per your blog, you seem to portray GVM as a saint and Ram as a pervert who began to show some sign of holiness recently. Oh, please. Grow up.
If you don’t know how to differentiate between a filmmaker’s intention and his character’s intention, then I can’t help but feel sad for you.
Review the film. Not the maker.
A filmmaker has every right to portray his characters as per his wish. Agree/Disagree, that is fine. But don’t go overboard and rate him as immature/mad/pervert. This is just not right.
Think about “Nadunisi Naigal”. Would you call that wish fulfilment?
If Veera/Samar is a character study, then Prabhakaran is one too.
I take issue with such narrow-minded views being published in a renowned critic’s blog. Freedom of speech? Great. Then Ram deservers one equally.
P.S : FYI, Thangameengal is produced by GVM. He doesn’t seem to find any immaturity/madness in Ram. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done it.
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Jeeva
March 12, 2018
@Ko
I was the one who wrote this article.
I can’t help taking pity on you for how wrongly you interpreted my essay. In fact you have interpreted it exactly the way you must not have.
Madness has been given as a compliment here.
A lot of times David Lynch has been called eccentric and his films radiate those levels of eccentricity very effectively. It is often treated as a compliment to be able to realise your eccentricity/rage/intensity onto the screen.
Madness is some kind of a voice here. To be able to remain true to it in your creations is a great quality which only Ram possesses.
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KayKay
March 13, 2018
Ko, if misreading an article were a competitive sport, you’d be well within reach of the Gold.
Jeeva, great article bro. Keep ’em coming!
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Pavan
March 13, 2018
Taramani too got its share of kicks on the butts, even here in Rangan’s blog. But I must admit that Ram is a filmmaker who somehow is so confident in what he believes, he passes out with flying colours, just like a student in viva/interview who is given marks despite wrong answers just because of the confidence with which he delivers. When that confidence dies, he shall be cured of his madness. Anyone wishing to see that happen? I don’t know.
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Ko
March 13, 2018
@jeeva, May be your intentions are good. Seems I am the only one who doesn’t get it here.
But you make comments like,
“Ram wanted you to sympathise with whatever he did in his anger.”
“He now respects women who wear short-skirts. He now respects women who frequent pubs. He now respects even women who let loose their ‘morals’ (in Tamil) for momentary returns.”
“He is still uncomfortable with Women who hug other Men in public.”
How do you know such things? You took it for granted, right? Or may be you are assuming? I don’t remember Ram making any of these statements in his interviews.
Guys, come on.
Ram is one of the most progressive filmmakers in tamil cinema. I strong believe he has no issues with women who hugs men in public, but the society do not. So he keeps scenes like that in his movies for two reasons.
1.It makes his protagonist angry(conflict).
2.The viewing audience sees it and in turn realise how silly it is in part of protagonist. Later, they somehow they reflect on themselves.
He just mocks the society which is miles different from reflecting himself.
@jeeva, again don’t get me wrong. You may have written the blog as a tribute to Ram. That is great. But I definitely say, you don’t understand him enough.
It is not Ram who is mad, but the society that is MAD .
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Ko
March 13, 2018
To summarise what I was talking about,
@jeeva view is,
Ram is mad and he is gutsy enough to talk his mind. So he is an artist with a capital A.
My view is,
It is not Ram who is mad, but the society that is MAD. Ram is just reflecting the society, which is what hopefully every artists do.
We both seem to love/respect Ram. But it is our understanding that is in conflict.
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Vivek narain
March 13, 2018
Somehow i don’t see how the uncomfort or discomfort of Ram will affect me or the lady who hugs me in public, unless the lady’s name happens to be Sita. Not that it’s ever likely to occur, the most that happens is that a tart may start barking just to fleece a wretched sucker.
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Rahini David
March 13, 2018
This article may prove to be an interesting read for some here.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OnlySaneMan
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Srinivas R
March 13, 2018
Ko – I will skip the question of Ram’s madness, but his movies seem to justify the attitude of it’s protagonists. In Katradhu Tamizh, the movie sympathized with the protagonist and seemed to justify his views and beliefs. It seemed to justify his dislike for PDA, I can’t think any indication in the movie that suggested otherwise. There was even one random guy at the end saying things like, if only IT industry grows, we cannot call it growth. I didn’t get anywhere that these are the protagonist’s point of view and there could be a counter opinion. Both in KT and Taramani, there is a clear suggestion that urban guys are looking to get into their female colleagues’ pants and no counter opinions as such. I haven’t watched Thangameengal, so not sure if it has anything different.. Ram’s movies belong to the Angadi Theru school of film making. You know, the one where every marginal/poor character is made from the milk of human kindness and every urban/rich guy is an evil exploitative monster. Only difference is in his movies, the kind, poor souls have reached the limits of their patience and are revolting. The template is very much the Us Vs Them we get in Angadi theru and Vazhakku En. What helps is that Ram is a good film maker compared to other members of the school and he invariably gets a knockout sound track from Yuvan. Katradhu Thamizh is probably Yuvan’s best music, that’s what drew me to the movie in the first place.
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silverambrosia
March 13, 2018
Vivek: dude, the writing style you adopt is your choice, but I would second BR’s earlier request to rein yourself in a bit and try and keep to good taste.
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Karthik
March 13, 2018
Madness is something of a serious term to label anyone unless you are a Psychiatrist. IMO you think that madness is about deviation from normal particularly cinematic normal but it is not. I don’t think any of his characters in Ram’s films exhibit any sign of false positives or false negatives to brand them or Ram as insane. However there cannot be any denial that most of his characters in all three films lacked normal personality, this is never an issue because films are about creating your own version of personalities. Take for instance the gentlemanly Gautam Menon, most of his characters resemble live mannequins inhabiting extremely posh environments which is way too high for Tamil standards. I personally haven’t seen any home or person who is that too perfect but going by your yardstick these characters are differing from the normal but they aren’t critiqued. Ram may have viewed everything by the imperfections or inconsistencies. His characters cannot grasp their positions with respect to others in the society which they live in. His films are about individuality clashing with the evolving socioeconomic environment.and characters unable to cope up. As characters they are not even barely made up but instead were battered during their years of development, the prime of their lives. These kind of people struggle a lot and behave oddly (fit of rage murder ! Yes !) and these kind of people do exist. But in Taramani Prabu finds other people whose lives are bad than his and there is introspection for continuing to live. What started in Katradhu Tamil as a struggle of a few individuals has now crept into the lives of many in Taramani. This mirrors real society where people are becoming rootless at a pace faster than a decade before. More particularly about woman whose changing lifestyles are commented in all of his films. The question about woman’s clothing is about organic change or force on woman to make them align with a certain order. Whether this change emancipates them or puts them in another type of bondage is to be seen. There is nothing peculiar about any of the films he has made, they are about simple, broken people who find it tough to get along the evolution which in their opinion is forced. Ram does have an firm understanding of the times he has been living and does not take sides but only goes on a commentary of the happenings. In the tussle between individuality and homogeneity the lives of certain people will be a casualty but he does not blame anyone for that. The genesis of this evolution lay in the failure of political movements to protect the rights of people and that may be the reason why Ram may not have a ideological base. It is needless to support either Modi or Yechury or anyone. But madness or insanity should never creep into any discourse until it is firmly about mental illness. Such wrongful propagation should be avoided.
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Ko
March 13, 2018
@Srinivas – You seem to have issues with his movies. I gladly welcome it.
Only when someone gives character certificate to a filmmaker based on his films alone, that is irritating. Vikraman’s films always talk about self-confidence, good heartedness and other virtues of human soul. Yet one cannot make him CM right?
Ram has termed his three film as “Globalisation trilogy” . Why not discuss how successfully/incompletely globalisation is portrayed in his movies? That’s what one would call progressive discussion.
To other fellow commenters of this blog,
This discussion raises another important question to me :
I believe in the statement “Ideally one should love the films not its makers.”
Most of you are not going to agree. But answer me truthfully. Are you going to hate/stop watching Woody Allen/Kevin Spacey/Harvey Weinstein’s films after the break out of the recent sexual harassment scandals? Just think about it.
A film doesn’t need to represent its maker or his world views. He might be lying all along. How would you know? Just keep enjoying/hating the film for itself.
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Vivek narain
March 13, 2018
No wonder, ‘The Public Enemy’, a James Cagney gangster flick is my favourite movie.
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Ko
March 13, 2018
@BR,
If you feel the last part of my previous comment (about films and filmmakers, Woody allen/Harvey thing) could stimulate much more discussions, please move it to a new blog. So others can rant about it there. I just don’t want to pollute Jeeva’s blog.
I am aware you have a history of long standing disciples in your blog. Forgive me if it is too much to ask for a new bee.(Just as a commenter. Been following you and your disciples for some years now.)
You can gladly ignore this comment if you feel I am going a bit over excited and taking advantage. No hard feelings.
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Siva
March 14, 2018
@Jeeva @Srinivas R 👍
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Ramchander Krishna (@ramctheatheist)
March 17, 2018
// Taramani, after nearly 9 years from his debut, however, is a welcome deviation. But only a minor deviation.
He now respects women who wear short-skirts. He now respects women who frequent pubs. He now respects even women who let loose their ‘morals’ (in Tamil) for momentary returns.
So does it mean, Ram has reformed? To put a more apt question, does it mean he has been cured of his madness? //
This article is downright silly. It’s trying to suggest Ram didn’t respect a specific type of woman earlier. Ram’s movies have always been progressive and provocative works of art intended to raise questions and kickstart debates.
When Prabhakar in Katradhu Thamizh assaults a female IT employee it doesn’t in any way imply that Ram disrespects women like her or wants to assault women like her. With that scene he’s raising the question, “Is a society steeped in male-domination for centuries ready to face a rapid shift in values brought about by globalisation?” In the same film towards the climax, he showed us another woman saying in a news segment, “It’s my shirt, my choice. I’ll wear what I want. If it disturbs you it’s just your male ego.” Ram has clearly shown us both sides of the coin. Katradhu Thamizh is an intricate document of the contradictions in the life of a traditional society overwhelmed by ultra-fast modernisation. This is not madness. This is calm and in-depth observation.
He does the same in Taramani too. When the Taramani protagonist asks Andrea’s character all sorts of ridiculous questions, Ram is showing us the instability of the male ego. Through Taramani he isn’t judging the IT folks. He’s questioning if the men have truly matured to catch up to the shift in values in modern times.
I also disagree with this article’s premise that “a lot of people” love Taramani but hate Katradhu Thamizh? Who are these “lot of people”? One or two of the writer’s friends? All 3 of his films have received the same kind of love-hate response from the audiences. A casual glance at reviews in popular magazines should tell you the same. In fact, Thangameengal was the softer film among the three. It’s more likely to be loved by “a lot of people” because its theme wasn’t anything as controversial as Katradhu Thamizh or Taramani.
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