Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/kaala-movie-review-rajinikanth-pa-ranjith-dhanush-huma-qureshi-baradwaj-rangan/
Six years after Mullum Malarum (1978), director Mahendran and star Rajinikanth made Kai Kodukkum Kai, a sensitive drama now remembered mostly for the Ilayaraja beauty, Thazhampoove vaasam veesu. The film bombed. It’s difficult to say why exactly a film fails — it could be a wrong release date, or maybe it wasn’t publicised well, or maybe it just wasn’t very good. With Kai Kodukkum Kai, however, there was another consideration, that the actor of Mullum Malarum had now become a huge action star, having made a series of hits (Murattu Kaalai, Thee, Moondru Mugam, Paayum Puli) in the intervening years. This resulted in Mahendran making some compromises, and Anandha Vikatan, in its review, complained that the film was stranded in between Mahendran-ism and Rajini-ism. I was reminded of this statement when I watched the first Pa Ranjith-Rajinikanth collaboration, Kabali. I remembered it again when I saw Kaala.
Can a filmmaker with a unique vision retain that uniqueness when the film stars a one-size-fits-all brand like Rajinikanth? This is not a new question. It came up when Mani Ratnam took the superstar on in Thalapathy. But because the story was a largely emotional one that spun variations on familiar beats — action, drama, relationships — the shoe fit. Ranjith, however, is a far more political filmmaker, and unlike Mani Ratnam, he isn’t content to tell a story around his star. He wants his star to be the speaker through which he disburses his ideologies. In that respect, it must be said that Kaala is far more accomplished than Kabali — far more interesting as well. If Mani Ratnam looked at the Mahabharata, Ranjith takes his inspiration from the Ramayana — though not the traditional versions. His Ramayana is the one from rationalist readings by intellectuals like Periyar (whose name is found on a road sign in Kaala), which also cast the epic in an Aryan vs. Dravidian light. Not only did Rama become a bit of a bad guy (and a racist), the dark-skinned Ravana was reclaimed as something of a hero, whose kidnapping of Sita was simply an act of revenge for the cruelty Rama inflicted on his sister, Surpanakha. Hence the colour reversal in Kaala: the hero wears black, the villain floats in a sea of white (which includes his clothes, his walls and even the upholstery in his living room).
This is a story about land. Ranjith has always been invested in real estate and issues of ownership. In Madras, it was a wall fought over by political parties. In Kabali, the protagonist spoke of how Tamil labourers transformed a region of forests into present-day Malaysia, and were now being driven out of the country they helped build. Kaala begins with an animated prologue (oh, how Ranjith loves his scene-setting prologues!) about the urban poor in Indian cities, and zooms in on Mumbai, where slums spread out like the shadows of skyscrapers. This sounds like a ripe premise for a masala movie, with the land grabber as the villain. After all, Tamil cinema has made villains of soft drinks manufacturing MNCs and organ-trafficking gangs. A “social issue” is so often reduced to an easy target, so the hero can deliver clap-worthy punch dialogues about exploitation.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Akash Balakrishnan
June 7, 2018
There were some good writing, IMO(Ideologically). Somewhere in the first act we hear a piece of dialogue “Vote thaan namaku irukara ore aayutham” and later we hear, “Intha odambu thaan namakku irukara ore aayudham”. The first was by Lenin and the second was by Kaala. One way to read this was – The people even lost their identity of citizenship in their protest for their identity of land. Another is to see the ideological differences in the father-son combo. Ranjith applies Adam Smith to Nana and brings out a villain who is far away from the regular caricaturish vilain. Both Kaala and Haridada’s action are due to their desire to make Dharavi a better place while one aims from a capitalist point of view and the other at a sociological point of view. But the narrative writing failed at playing with it and giving place to those boring portions involving Huma Qureshi. The deaths, IMO, are not a waste of characters and screentime. I think it involves the themes of family and selflesness. Kaala’s protective attitude toward the slum is instigated by his love for the people here and his wish to maintain his father’s legacy and protecting his identity by doing so. So, when duty calls there is this passivity to his activism. Serena at one point mentions this, “Ithaana vaushama iruka aana oru builder kooda varala. Nee enna panna” But this is quickly dismissed as she makes an invalid point next. Even when the slum garners the attention of builders, he says, “Inime konjam jaakirathaiya irukanum” (Which I read as, we must protect ourselves when they hit). But later when he loses his family and his house, he has got nothing more to lose(His favorite son and wife are gone) and thus he enters the zone of selflessness and therefore giving out a battle cry to the people. Sana’s music enforces these battle cries throughout the movie. But he overscores. Even, Lenin’s ideology was interesting no matter how flawed. A low class boy influenced by education who believes that comfort will provide them a better life no matter the effects of capitalism. Overall, Kaala was captivating at points ideologically, thought it is a question if it hits hard(or cares to hit us at all) and left me wanting more.BTW, what is your view on the family, selflessness angle, BR ?
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Jaga_Jaga
June 7, 2018
“Ranjit writes Older Women Really Well”! A very interesting statement to my perverted eye!!
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Rajesh
June 7, 2018
Now, Ranjith can go back to being Ranjith, and Rajinikanth (on the evidence of Karthik Subbaraj’s statement that his film with the superstar is an apolitical entertainer) can go back to being Rajinikanth.
— That’s the greatest relief .
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Manikandan V
June 7, 2018
Movie is really good, I felt, essentially completes the message – Educate – Madras , Organize – Kabali, Revolt – Kaala, Extremely well shot movie with Terrific Background Score, Loved it.
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Vivek narain
June 7, 2018
And someone said that you can’t use the word ‘black’ without an adjunct.
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Pavan
June 7, 2018
I bow down my head before Pa. Ranjith, one of the most racist and casteist filmmakers around. His love for Ambedkar and his teachings was too masturbatory and got onto my nerves. I bid goodbye to him and his films. Thanks for making me effectively hating suits, blazers and for once, Rajinikanth too.
But the character is severely undermined by having the actor dub his Tamil lines. He sounds like a tiger in Hindi and Marathi. He sounds like Kajal Agarwal in Tamil.
For being this mean and witty about her, I salute you. With all love, a good bye to you and this wordpress for the same. It was fun being here. Thanks for everything.
PS: I am an OC candidate. 22 years old. A Brahmin by birth. I hate Ambedkar but also have respect for him. Now, judge my comments about Ranjith.
PPS: I find Kajal far better than Hansika, who seems much more dumb. That made me like her in a couple of films where she really had something to do. If you find me foolish, that’s very much fine. Because, I will not return to this place again.
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Devarsi Ghosh
June 8, 2018
I was disheartened slightly to watch Kaala in Hindi… but then I read the Kajal Aggarwal line, and I feel better.
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Anuja Chandramouli
June 8, 2018
There were a lot of beautiful moments in this film and I can’t get over how good Rajini was in some scenes. The climax was exquisitely crafted and made me rue the fact that the idealogue who is dangerously close to being a demagogue in Pa. Ranjith is holding the director/storyteller in him hostage because frankly entire chunks of the film were supremely blah. As for the deaths, initially they made an impact but then people started dropping like flies and the entire stretch leading to the finale felt like torture porn and I just wanted to go home.
It is all well and good to make these messagey films but why do people scrimp on entertainment value simply because they are feeling particularly sanctimonious about the socially conscientious stand they have taken? And isn’t it ironical that it is usually card – carrying capitalists who have made a killing in the film industry who spout communist ideals about land and privilege just to curry favor with the less fortunate? Call me cynical but this brand of wide – eyed impracticality dressed as idealism leaves me both annoyed and amused. Because sometimes when seeking to celebrate the identity of a group on the basis of caste, one winds up perpetuating an existing bias. And that is hardly the way forward into a caste – free society.
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Senthil S
June 8, 2018
Yeah, I’m gonna have to disagree with you on this one. I really really loved this one. IMO l, rajini’s best since Baasha. What you saw as preachiness, I saw as forcefulness and honesty. Two things that are hard to get in mass movies these days. Speaking of, the mass moments are truly incredible and directed with such confidence.
That’s what I saw in this film compared to Kabali. Supreme confidence from beemji.
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Aadhy
June 8, 2018
Spoilers ahead…though I don’t think there’s anything to spoil in a Rajni movie
I had fun watching Kaala. The hero’s ‘punches’ were as left as it could get in a mainstream movie, mouthed by someone who’s anything but left in real life. Now I’m not one who gets real-life personas mixed with screen characters, but in the wake of recent happenings it’s a bit hard to brush the in-your-face irony away, especially when the very first serious bit of dialogue Rajni says is Engalukku sattatha madikkavun teriyun thooki potu midikavun teriyun . Lol.
But once I made peace with this and settled in, I really started enjoying the movie. The subversions kept coming, when you take Rajni’s previous movies to Ranjith’s ouevre. From “Aandavan solran…” to “Un kadavula summa vidamaten ” , from “Aaru padayappan” to “Asura gunam pudichavan “, from Raman to Raavanan. The Ramayana subversion, or I must rather say a straightforward depiction of Ravana kaaviyam, is not just there to elevate Rajni’s badassery, it’s spilled all over the story and into the supporting characters. Buddha idols, a forever inebriated Kumbakarnan-like Samudhrakani, the Lenin character which lives under Kaala’s shadow but takes sides with the opposite camp for a brief while (Vibhishana?). In fact Lenin has to be the most layered character in the movie. For a name like his, he supports the capitalist real estate ‘Manu’ real estate company thinking that is real progress. Also unlike the communist leader who wanted to seize the means of production by overthrowing the bourgeoisie through revolution, this Lenin believes in non-violent protests and electoral politics. No wonder Kaala regrets having given him that name. Afterall he turned out to be just “Rendu book aragoraya padichitu kodi pudikara aalu ” . And how brilliantly has Manikandan played Lenin. He’s especially terrific in the standout scene where he moves out of the house after confronting Kaala and his family. It was a disappointment that this scene didn’t have any consequence or a payoff, apart from establishing the family dynamics.
I also loved the sequence where arson of Kaala’s ‘qilla’ in intercut with Ramayana narration, as a Hanuman-like character sets Dharavi on fire (his mouth actually looks like a monkey’s). It set up the climax beautifully, where Raavana vanquishes Ram amidst the pulsating ‘Otha thala raavana’ , straight out of Ravana kaaviyam played to a modern hard rock sound in contrast to the traditional chant-like narration that was used for Ramayana. I didn’t see the throwing of black powder as a gimmick, as it was clearly established that Hari dada/Ram is disgusted by anything remotely black. He doesn’t even let his sword rust. I liked how Hari dada gets lost in the Raavan’s jungle as he’s made to run for his life, also set up in the pre-interval scene where he’s seemingly lost while finding a way out of Dharavi. The story is essentially Raavana defending Lanka against all odds, for which he even goes out of his kingdom to fight on a bridge (Rama setu?). And isn’t Mandodari someone who was loyal to a fault, even as Raavana was attracted to other women? . But I liked how Kaala- Zareena relationship was handled without making it polyamorous, which is why it’s way different from Veera.
I also thought the masala moments, though quite less, were handled well. The way the ‘Kya re’ scene was resolved was a master stroke and a key factor in building up the rain fight, which I thought was edited really well, totally making up for Rajni’s weak punches owing to his age. It’s surprising that you thought the filmmaking was mediocre, BR. I thought the cinematography, though not outstanding, adequately serviced the story. The high contrast used for the different colors, the lighting used in the night sequences, especially those involving power cuts, were nicely done. There was one memorable shot where Zareena’s face was lit up in candle light amidst darkness, when she meets Kaala for the first time after years. The switch between the long tracking shots inside the chawl and the top angle shots were really effective, the former showing the cramped nature of the slum, each frame filled with a clutter of people and latter depicting the layout of the slum. I wish they had done something with the dog though, atleast for the mass-y scenes. I also thought Zareena was underwritten. The post-interval scene between Zareena and Hari dada was totally useless.
When I started writing this comment, I didn’t realise I would end up writing so much. Sorry about the length. It just shows I had so much to like and could recollect almost all of it. BR, you said you were glad that the two-film deal is getting over. Well, in a way, I share the same feeling. Nevertheless, this has been a fascinating two film-deal, atleast for me, irrespective of how better or worse it was from Rajni’s or Ranjith’s previous films.
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Tina
June 8, 2018
(Spoilers)
What an interesting movie! The pause over the torn poster before that boy’s death was just SO impactful. Little gems strewn here and there make it such a wonderful watch.
And Easwari Rao! My my my. Great movie though ideologically can’t agree with people with being black or white. Wish it were just as easy though.
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mrinalnarayan
June 8, 2018
It would have been great to see a Pannaiyarum Padminiyum-ish Romance drama with Rajinikanth-Eswari Rao playing the lead roles and the social issues as the backdrop 🙂
The first hour of Kaala gave a news reel feel in a lot of places. Feels like an opportunity wasted at the end of the day.
Kaala ve Chaaruhaasan vechu kooda mudichrukalaam.. Might have been more effective
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brangan
June 8, 2018
Pavan: Not sure what just happened here. You are leaving because of this review? Because I made a Kajal Agarwal quip? That was really a baffling comment.
Aadhy: But how many overhead shots of the same view does a film need? 😛
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Padawan
June 8, 2018
Baradwaj Rangan: Haven’t watched the movie yet and so haven’t read the review yet. Tomorrow morning is the day.
But, despite muting all relevant words in twitter, someone sneaked this
Baradwaj “I got called out for missing the subtext in Madras and I am still upset about it, so I am going to undermine Ranjith” Rangan didn’t like the movie.
Why saar? Why are you undermining Ranjith?
Cinema la arasiyal na paravaillai, ippo cinema review-layum arasiyal? 🙂
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Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan
June 8, 2018
Speaking of twitter, I stumbled upon this gem that says “Controversial opinion. I agree that Baradwaj Rangan is India’s Roger Ebert, in that they are both egregiously wrong in their interpretations of movies” , with an editor of a migrant organisation website replying “And how he is slavish about Maniratnam, that even his worst films are glorified.” Saw a few of what I call plasticky reporters and online magazine/news editors endorsing it as well.
BR saar got enemies and/or haters? 😛
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Thupparivaalan
June 8, 2018
I might be wrong, but BR please give the film a second watch after all the hoopla and give us a retrospective review. I’m sure something will change.
I loved the film. This is as good a ranjith-rajni collob can be, and yes it isn’t the most satisfying but is easily rajni’s best after chandramukhi.
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brangan
June 8, 2018
I got a tweet that’s even more entertaining.
https://twitter.com/itzzhari/status/1004932362830876672?s=19
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brangan
June 8, 2018
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You Know Who
June 8, 2018
Kaala worked very well for me. It gave me a lot to chew on.
The white-black indications – the only bad, black thing is the TV which shows the bad news (about Dharavi’s protests); the whole idea that the cause or the movement is more important than the individual was stunning, IMO.
And, of course, as soon as Rajini got drunk, I knew something bad was bound to happen, because bad things happen when the don gets drunk and dances, and I wished hard it doesn’t happen here. But, sigh, you don’t get everything you want.
Eswari Rao was brilliant. I loved her.
I liked how, in contrast Anjali Patel was to her husband. I wondered what happened to her as well.
I thought his two sons were a kind of an embodiment of Kaala. One son believed that their porattam will bring them victory. The other was hasty and believed in violence. If one son writes a letter to the government authorities for water, the other finds a way to get it himself, by breaking the underwater pipe. Kaala has the characteristics of both his sons.
It was a Pa. Ranjith film where Rajinikanth was the protagonist, the actor. Not the superstar who lords over.
P.S. Whatever anyone says, the thing that was most satisfying about the film, for me, was that, finally, Rajini has acted with an older actress and not an actress who is a third of his age 😛😜😝
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vinjk
June 8, 2018
“rajni’s best after chandramukhi”
so Chandramukhi was one of his best?! I thought it was so bad. It released while I was in college and we had a special viewing in hostel just to boo and have “fun” with it. It was unanimously thought to be a crappy movie especially after knowing it’s a remake of Manichitrathazhu.
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Pavan
June 8, 2018
I plainly wanted to walk away, but felt I should say what I wanted before leaving. Reading the comment I made, one of my friends, who happens to be one of your students at the Asian College of Journalism, felt that I insulted you and wanted me to apologise. If I indeed sounded rude and mean, I unconditionally apologise to you here at the same place. I am very very sorry, Mr. Rangan.
Now, I wanted to leave. But you found my comment baffling. So, I thought I should leave no misconceptions behind and am replying to this. Not just Kajal. Any actor or actress or filmmaker there, my comment would have been exactly the same. Say, “Sathyaraj speaking English” or “Arvind Swamy speaking Telugu” or “Balakrishna speaking Hindi”. I agree that I called Hansika dumb and Ranjith racist. But, none of them were “physical” comments. I was talking about their choices as an actress and a filmmaker. Who knows, they might be different personally.
I was shamed and laughed at, was addressed as a “gulte” because I could not speak Tamil at a blood camp I was working as a volunteer at (I visited my friend’s place in my holidays in the city, and he wanted me too to join him at the camp as a volunteer). All the people who came to me conversed with me freely in English. I was fine, they were fine. What for them? If I don’t speak Tamil, am I not capable of working as a volunteer at the blood camp? Is speaking Tamil the only thing that mattered, not the work? I remembered they remarked something, I don’t know what they said even today (because I don’t speak the language) but looking at the reactions of the public, I could not take it as a quip or a pun. That pained, Mr. Rangan. So much that I couldn’t be at peace until I reached Hyderabad.
What you did now? You took a sharp dig at a living, still working professional on the way she speaks a language. She isn’t a part of the film you reviewed, to call it a case of “constructive criticism”. If slut shaming based on character is bad and evil, shaming based on ability to speak, what should that be called as? What right you have to shame someone based on something that is highly personal. Is it because none admit it the way Arvind Swamy did?
Anyways, Kajal would not bother reading this line. You don’t bother, because you were doing your work. I don’t think your extended family, the commentators would not bother. I bothered, because I could relate to it. That’s why I am leaving. If any of my words caused pain to you, please forgive me. You are aged, sensible and knowledgeable. God must have gifted you the power to forgive. I am 22, and need time to develop compassion. Thank you all for making my days here memorable, all of you. Mr. Rangan, MANK anna, Anu akka, Anuja, Madan, anon… all of you. Bye!
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Thupparivaalan
June 8, 2018
Irrespective of subtext and politics, purely as a film surely this better than other rajni films in a very long time? Is this the case or am I being too generous?
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brangan
June 8, 2018
Pavan: There is no need to apologise, but regulars readers know that one of my pet peeves is the bad lip sync and dubbing issues when it comes to Northie actresses in Tamil cinema. So this was more a quip on those lines — but thank you for your explanation.
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Arjun
June 8, 2018
@BR: You may not be aware, but in certain circles, people like you, Sumanth Raman, and believe it or not, even Kamal Hasan are considered the archetypal loukeeka paarpaan that Periyar warned about (“Vaideega paarpaanai kooda nambalam lougeega paarpanai namba koodathu”).
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jaga_jaga
June 8, 2018
Wow! This thread is heating up. The focus has already shifted from Kaala to BR. And Bramhminsm. Interesting to see how it might further shape-up.
My “two flames” to the fire – Folks who are born in a Brahmin family or even those having a Brahmin-sounding name have it very difficult in Tamil Nadu. Whatever they do, people comment on their Brahminical origin. You support the Brahmins; Tag – obvious Brahmin tyrant; you oppose the Brahmins; Tag – Only those born as Brahmins can oppose Brahmins; you make any comment about the larger society – Oh of course he/she is a Brahmin; cant’t expect any better.
I’ll give an example of how bad it is for Brahmins in TN. There was a recent NDTV article about actress Sangeeta Balan running a prostitution ring.
Link: https://www.ndtv.com/tamil-nadu-news/tamil-actor-sangeetha-balan-arrested-for-allegedly-running-prostitution-ring-1861951
There was a comment there (I copy paste it for your convenience):
ANONYMOUS 4 DAYS AGO
another pappathi iyer??
JUN 04, 2018 10:32 AM IST
REPLYREPORT ABUSELIKE (61)UNLIKE (58)
Look at it – It has more likes than unlikes!!
How would anyone know what caste she is from, and if caught why paint her with that?
Imagine an SC/ST lady caught in such a thing, and someone comments “Parachi Ponnu”; wha else to expect from her???? Won’t the society revolt?
I hope some sane voice prevails about this hideous Brahmin Bashing in TN someday!
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Anuja Chandramouli
June 8, 2018
Pavan: I wish you would reconsider, especially since there was no harm intended. Like BR, it irritates me that a highly paid actor can’t be bothered with things like lipsync when it is part of the job description. It shows a lack of respect and professionalism. Not being able to speak a language is hardly the issue here. I speak only English and Tamil (my Tamil teachers on the other hand insist I should not count TamiZH as one of the languages I speak :)) which is why I have a little difficulty communicating North of the Vindhyas. Hindi speaking friends are forever making fun of my execrable pronunciation and since it is teasing not shaming, I am happy to show off my knowledge of Hindi cuss words. And they don’t take offense either. Ultimately communication is as important as language right?
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Pato
June 8, 2018
Pavan: Actress who act as a tamilian should convince us of the same.Isn’t it their job as part of their profession?How is that personal?
Don’t we have the right to criticise them when their lip-sync and acting is is ridiculously funny? It’s not like we are criticising them for speaking bad tamil say in a press conference , You are interpreting BR’s comments out of context.
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Madan
June 8, 2018
Lordie, way to misinterpret. And a long time commenter too. Is there something in the air? Why do people get mad so easily these days?
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dinesh sathya
June 8, 2018
https://www.vikatan.com/news/miscellaneous/127096-a-look-at-portrayal-of-women-characters-in-the-movie-kaala.html
Disappointed that you din mention this ‘Anjali patil’ scene in the review.
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deepak
June 8, 2018
Brangan yours is the most democratic site one can get . you give everyone a chance to voice their opinion. it was you who suggested to follow a reviewer who is similar to you taste since all the reviews are subjective. ( i learnt to appreciate the movie ‘oye lucky lucky oye’ after reading raja sen review.) Thats precisely the reason why i take your reviews of myshkin, maniratnam, karthik subburaj with a pinch of salt.. it might be confirmation bias from your side that these film makers are good so eventually what comes out of their stable would be watch worthy. i rarely go the movies these days but read all your reviews because of your writing. its indepth, nuanced , verbose and thoroughly engrossing.. sometimes your review is kinda vague if not for the star rating (which you seldom give) , one really dont know whether the movie is good or not.
people calling you names on facebook is fine but i wont agree that you discriminate.. just that you favour a few people just too much, the lines blur out.
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Manikandan V
June 8, 2018
https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/architecture-short-story-a-twist-in-the-end-manu-joseph/
Good Short Story on Space with its Relevance to Kaala
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Aadhy
June 8, 2018
Wait… someone left this space cos Kajal Agarwal got called out for her bad lip sync, that too in a throwaway joke? I thought people came here for such lines.
Well, in all seriousness, I do hope Kajal Agarwal reads this thread and works on her lip-sync, just for the fact that she got such die-hard fans who defend her in a thread that has got nothing to do with her.
Pavan : It’s not shaming someone on their ability to speak . It’s criticizing someone who’s not put effort in learning how to move their lips according to the dialogue, forget learning the language. This is THE number one task in the job description of an actor and it should be pointed out when they’re being unprofessional. It’s customer review. We pay them with tickets.
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You Know Who
June 8, 2018
By the way, did anyone feel that “Pure Mumbai” was somewhat akin to “Clean India”?
I mean to say that “Pure” and “Clean” sound similar.
Pointlessly dumb, I know.
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sachita
June 8, 2018
I am baffled by Ranjth being called racist and casteist.
People who can only see BR/Kamal’s caste, I would agree they are casteist.
But Ranjith isnt falling into familiar tamil movies trops like that. ( havent watched Kaala).
Pavan, the first two lines of your ps applies to me as well. OC/reservation angst doesnt mean you can be insensitive to issues highlighted in his movies.
What happened to you in volunteering place was bad but Kajal is an entirely different scenario. She is a professional actor who gets paid crore to act and we pay money to go watch her movies, so it is fair we expect her to be familiar with language after a decade. Especially when it is a sore point in that movie. This isnt a phsyical attribute. It is skill based. Similar to calling someone’s acting/dancing bad.
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Naveen
June 8, 2018
@Pavan/BR, Chinmayi, the singer who also does dubbing, singled out Tamannah and Kajal as one of the best when it comes to preparing for dialgoues. and she said she was really impressed by their effort on lip synch. i think Tamanah/Kajal are quite ok in their direct Tamil movies. if it is a tamil dubbed telugu movie which is anyway horrible , we cant blame them. have you tried watching Hindi dubbed Shankar movies. it can be quite awful.since I respect Chinmayi for her multiple talents ( she was involved in German translation activities if i remember correctly ), i would not blame Kajal or Tamannah in their direct movies, after their initial few movies. i find Shruti Hassan’s lip synch quite funny though
anyway, not sure why you would like to go away from this forum. you can have whatever views on anything and can still share with us once in a while, no 🙂
njoying the comments on Kaala for now
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Srinivas R
June 8, 2018
BR, don’t know if you are affected by the crazy comments in social media, but as a long time reader just want to say that I have disagreed with a few of your reviews – kadal and KV for example, but i don’t assign any motive to your opinions. As one comment mentioned, TN is losing it’s sanity with caste calculations for every opinion.
Haven’t guys who accuse you of brahmin bias read your reviews of Myskin movies or Vetrimaran Movies or the smaller movies like Burma or Rajathanthiram.
Somehow I am feeling sick about these comments. Not because it’s an accusation against my fav film reviewer, but mainly because i feel sad to be part of a society where one’s identity is a stick used to beat opposing opinions. This is what the right wing does effectively and the “sitting on the high horse” left is also indulging in the same. Why can’t we engage with the idea and discuss rather make everything a “Us vs Them” battle?
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Enigma
June 8, 2018
Jaga_jaga, in India it is perfectly acceptable to abuse the Brahmins. Things like decency, politeness and being civil does not apply when it comes to Brahmin bashing.
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The Ghost Who Walks
June 8, 2018
@ all those horrible tweets
What a damn shame! It’s not enough that we are so stuck to our ideologies and identities that we don’t look forward to have a dialogue any more with any one outside our bubbles, now we have to ascribe similar identities to people who hold even a slightly different opinion?
I remember when we were still studying, we used to have long debates into the nights on every topic under the stars, and I would be lying if i said that my opinions and world view changed much because of those arguments. Is it even a thing now in campuses?
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Aadhy
June 8, 2018
BR: “But how many overhead shots of the same view does a film need? 😛 ”
I agree there was a liberal usage of the drone, but I don’t think it was always the same view. IIRC it was used before Kaala’s intro, where the beemji character runs into the playground to inform Kaala about Vishnubhai. You could follow this character’s movement from the top since the other extras in the shot were stationary. There’s also one when Nana’s car tries to leave the slum in the pre-interval scene. There’s one more when Kaala calls for people to organize and protest,showing the crowd that he’s managed to gather. Though I don’t think any of these are extraordinarily creative, I didn’t feel them redundant.
What I also found really good was the sound design. The constant chatter of people, or a distant howl of a dog, crickets in the night, the rain (not the one during the highly stylized fight sequence), the fire wavelets- all of these added to the claustrophobia of the place.
You Know Who : By the way, did anyone feel that “Pure Mumbai” was somewhat akin to “Clean India”?
Was there even a doubt? Unlike his earlier movies, Ranjit’s political leaning, or I should rather say rooting, is not an undercurrent or a subtext anymore. Black, red and blue (Dravidian, Communist and Ambedkarite politics) is all out there in the open, and also deliberately so.
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The Ghost Who Walks
June 8, 2018
@Enigma
May be so, in public forums. But with in the comfort of closed walls and trusted company, the derision towards the marginal communities (Religious or otherwise) still goes strong, even in the so called educated class. Neither justifies the other. But as long one of the above keeps happening, the other will too.
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Naveen
June 8, 2018
the truth is all sort of isms and discrimination ( based on caste, race, color, college, edication, money ) exist here ( and everywhere else too ). the saddest point is even the so called progressive or educated guys/gals too carry on the value of their fathers and grandfathers instead of applying their own mind. brahmin bashing became politically correct in TN sicne the origin of the Kalagams. unable to see anything positive coming in the near or long future.
Kaala seems to be a shrewd move in getting Rajini to play this anti-Rama role. the local kalagams cannot oppose the movie’s content even if they hate Rajini for a possible proBJP stance. this movie will have lot of offscreen implications too.
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brangan
June 8, 2018
Aadhy: Unlike his earlier movies, Ranjit’s political leaning, or I should rather say rooting, is not an undercurrent or a subtext anymore.
High time, right? For the first time, the Dalit-ness is no longer an Easter egg. It’s made explicit in Nana Patekar’s refusing to drink water in Rajini’s house.
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sanjana
June 8, 2018
Rajini seems to wear too many hats and confuse everyone. Hats off to him!
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shaviswa
June 8, 2018
Interestingly, in the Ramayana it is Ram who is dark skinned. And Ravanan is a brahmin by birth…..!! Oh well…. 😀
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Devarsi Ghosh
June 8, 2018
Nana not only refuses water at Rajini’s home, but before that, on shaking Rajini’s hands, he rubs his hand against his shirt.
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Tambi Dude
June 8, 2018
“Cinema la arasiyal na paravaillai, ippo cinema review-layum arasiyal? 🙂”
Which world you live BR 🙂 In India, even a passionate discussion about the composition of Indian Cricket Team will be full of arasiyal. Indians are the most argumentative folks in the world, and tamils #1 in that 🙂
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pessimist
June 8, 2018
I can see where some of the complaints against this review are coming from. If one sympathizes with the politics of the movie, a lot of the complaints seem pretty minor. The climax and all the various references to dalit experience are so overwhelming and rare in mainstream cinema that the sense of solidarity makes up for everything.
If one doesn’t sympathize with the politics, then naturally the sense is that “the upper classes are reduced to caricatures” and then the feeling is that the politics of the movie overwhelmed the emotional connect. The deaths don’t connect for brangan – but in today’s climate a lynching or the suicide of a beemji/Vemula – carry emotional resonance for those viewers who feel directly impacted.
Of course, being upper-class – even though one may be politically liberal – its hard to take Ranjith’s politics. The anti-Hindu undercurrent (“Manu Realty”, Raavan defeating Ram) is not comfortable even for an irreligious caste-Hindu. Like Ambedkar, Pa Ranjith is not just speaking generically on behalf of the oppressed – the oppressor and villain is not just a Hindu but Hinduism itself. No wonder the upper classes feel reduced to caricatures – who likes being a villain?
Is this casteism? I don’t know.
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brangan
June 8, 2018
pessimist: Please note that I am only talking from a screenwriting POV when I say the deaths don’t connect. There is no build-up, and the character is someone we hardly know.
I am not saying that the death itself is not worth caring about.
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You Know Who
June 8, 2018
It’s confusing as to what Ranjith is trying to do. Does he use movies as a medium to establish his views or is it that he likes having certain things play out the way they do as a kind of a – for the lack of a better word – sentiment? Like the girl with a flower in Mysskin’s movies. As you’ve pointed out @BR and @Aadhy, they also seem to get bigger and more explicit with each film. Does that mean it’s my former question? It’s confusing.
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Sesh
June 8, 2018
Look what’s happening to what used to be a place to read/participate in healthy discussions. Weight of popularity catching up perhaps?
Wonderful review as always, BR.
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A reader
June 8, 2018
Baradwaj Rangan and Aesthetic Criticism.
Baradwaj Rangan not a reviewer who issues pithy recommendations on what films you can watch or skip. He is an aesthetic critic. The aesthetic critic draws on his/her extensive knowledge of the medium – viewings and readings of film in this case – filtered through the lens of their highly personal aesthetic sensibilities and taste – when evaluating a new piece.
A good aesthetic critic is important to any society for two reasons – 1. for their particular aesthetic slant, their highly sensitive nose that sniffs out, reads and interprets art in ways the usual viewer/reader cannot, and 2. for their role as educators in shaping a new generation of viewers, in pointing them to not just films, but also pointing out ways to look and read the text, and helping the reader sharpen their noses, i.e. become more sensitive readers. I cannot stress how important this is. For not only does this create a more aware audience, it also prepares the field for the emergence of creative artists who can break new walls, not just in terms of what stories they tell, but how they tell it. Arguably, the boom of new creative voices in the Tamil film industry since the mid-2000s was shaped by conversations about how to read films and exposure to foreign cinema, and it is important to acknowledge BR’s influence on this wave.
Baradwaj Rangan is personally important to me for both these reasons. I have been reading him (and the fantastic people on his comments section) for 12 years now, and he has pointed to me fantastic films and pieces of criticism, yes, but more importantly, he has taught me how to read a film. Of course aesthetic criticism is personal and subjective, but that is precisely the social responsibility of the aesthetic critic – to be well-read, and to bring their unique, subjective, and therefore axiomatically, flawed perspectives and tell me, in excruciating detail, why THEY think a movie is good. Their subjectivity, shaped as it may be by sociopolitics, IS their strength.
A critic establishes their credentials by providing hitherto unnoticed readings of a piece of art – the reader knows whether it is true or not instinctively, and it is this identification with the reading (the voice in your head that says, “yes, this is true, how could I have missed it”), that makes a reader return to a critic to keep listening to their perspective. For example, BR’s reading of Madras as a ‘quasi horror film’. As far as I know, no one else picked up on it at first reading, or even later, but it changed the way I read the film, even though the Dalit subtext was more apparent to me than it was to BR. The horror film reading makes Madras a much more nuanced piece of work, both as film and as social commentary – at the simplest level, the idea that identity is a demon that cannot be exorcised, is both evocative and sharp. (JAFB’s reading of Pisasu as a ‘marriage in crisis’ film, or @dagalti’s musings on ownership in a pre-consumerist age in Pannaiyarum Padminiyum also come to mind). No one else can provide this reading, but an aesthetic critic. It cannot be proved empirically – art and its reception is an intimate process that takes place in the interior landscape. Such an insight emerges from BR precisely because of his unique interiority.
If BR can give me this insight, personally, I don’t care whether or not he gets the Dalit subtext. I can parrot it over and over on social media to paint him out as an unwoke, elitist, Mani Ratnam loving Brahmin who can’t be bothered to educate himself about important social issues, which may all be completely true by the way, but that cannot take away the importance of his unique insight or his position as a critic. This is precisely what a critic can give us, and what a reviewer or someone who deconstructs movies ticking off an ideological checklist cannot.
As a reader, I don’t ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’ with his reviews, but I like to see how his specific taste collides with different movies, without necessarily reducing the subjectivity of taste to the singular lens of ‘இந்த ஆளுங்களே இப்படித்தான்’. That’s an empty statement, and says nothing about the film in question or film criticism. One’s personal taste can be influenced by the milieu they grew up in, that includes caste, but caste is not the only factor that explains one’s personal aesthetics, nor should a caste-bias be assumed to be singularly responsible for a less-than-glowing review.
In BR’s case, these insinuations seem patently unfair to me. If a Mani Ratnam movie had been released, and BR had written a great review for what I thought was a middling film, I would not have been surprised, even made a rib or two off it, but that’s based on what I know of his aesthetic idiosyncracies, a liberty I take as a long-time reader. But to say that BR “uses every opportunity to undermine Ranjith” is to unfairly attribute malicious motives. To say that BR is “egregiously wrong in his interpretation of movies” assumes that there is only one right way to read anything, and that is almost fascist. These comments seem to come from the assumption that since the movie is about oppression and speaking up for oppressed communities, the film should be lauded by the critic for that reason alone. They comments don’t engage with BR’s reading of the movie, they almost seem to be making the claim that unless you can demonstrate sympathy (and not just familiarity) for the politics of a film, you have no business reviewing or critiquing it. Further, it seems to make the bewildering (and arguably casteist) argument that Pa.Ranjith’s movies cannot be critiqued on aesthetic grounds the same way a Nalan Kumarasamy or Karthik Subbaraj or GVM movie can be – just because he’s Dalit and makes a movie about Dalit politics. That’s insulting to a fine filmmaker like Ranjith, who made the exquisite Attakathi.
It is true that movies have social and commercial obligations, and it is fantastic that we have such diversity in film, in all ways including the kinds of stories told, the casting, and the ways the films are getting made. All this can only augur well for cinema. But it is the social responsibility of the critic, precisely at this juncture, to keep their hawk-eyes and bloodhound-noses open and alert, to spot new talent, to laud and uphold whatever it is that in their opinion, is aesthetically good, but also to fearlessly write about whatever it is, that in their opinion, is aesthetically not so good. Anything else, any pandering, whether it is either to a ruling hegemony or single-minded ideology, will not hold a good outcome for art. Making insinuations about a critic’s integrity is definitely not a healthy trend. Finally, it is important that the difference between the aesthetic critic and the reviewer is held up, and we have more aesthetic critics, from all kinds of backgrounds, reading and writing in Tamil and English, with diverse aesthetic preferences and film viewing traditions.
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harish ram
June 8, 2018
@Aadhy: your detailed breakdown wrt Raavana Kaaviyam is brilliant. Another point to add is the scene where Hari-dhadha scorns over the point that Zarina is a single mother.
Coming to the point BR kept emphasising here and in Kabali review as well about the craft, I think he meant depth in visual storytelling through staging and blocking. Ranjith IMO isn’t paying attention to them in his collaborations with Rajini compared with what he did in his independent films. In this two part series, I see more of ideas and ideology. Nothing wrong when there is so much to consume in that plate itself. Nevertheless, there is still a wanting for the visual narrative. A good example of how Ranjith stages is how Lenin is predominantly shown to the left of Kaala and the elder son to the right. Even in his death, Kaala searches for his elder son through his right hand.
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Aadhy
June 8, 2018
BR : High time, right? For the first time, the Dalit-ness is no longer an Easter egg.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here. Whether he’ll go the Nagraj Manjule way, making rooted dramas on a small scale, or continue making hero-centric movies with stars. The former has been his forte, a field where he knows his footing and looks much more assured. The best thing about these stories is he doesn’t indulge in poverty porn. Even with the problems they face, his characters are full of life, bon vivant . But I’m also really curious about the latter, hero-centric masala movies, in which he brings a fresh Dalit-as-savior-of-masses narrative, while mainstream star-driven movies mostly had someone from a Kshatriyan caste as the savior, the leader. Of course, tamil cinema heroes have indeed been mostly dark-skinned and someone from the lower class, yes. But explicitly Dalit? No. If there indeed were such movies, please let me know. I’m talking about the Rajni- Kamal, Vijay-Ajith eras, as I’m not aware of the MGR-Sivaji days.
On the other hand, I’m afraid that all his movies from now will only be judged for its politics, totally overlooking his craft. In my opinion, even with the loaded political content, he’s still trying to do interesting new things, staging moments of life close to reality that should garner equal attention. But all the focus would be now on which topical issue he’d take next. I’m sure the last thing he would want is to be named as a propaganda filmmaker.
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Varsha
June 8, 2018
Jaga_Jaga, Enigma: I agree with The Ghost Who Walks. Especially in some temples where brahmins dominate, the derision is not just toward marginal communities. It’s directed toward every non-brahmin. It has become more or less a silent war waged on both sides, with hatred welling up everywhere. Definitely not good for social well-being. The problem is, both sides are still not willing to fully correct their mistakes, especially in Tamilnadu. There should be compromises on both sides, if there is to be even a semblance of reaching a solution. But the truth is neither one is willing to come down from their stand. The archagar issue in Tamilnadu is a typical example that resonates well even now, especially in light of Kerala doing what Tamilnadu should have done long back!
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brangan
June 8, 2018
A reader: Thank you for that, and especially for pointing out this: “For example, BR’s reading of Madras as a ‘quasi horror film”…
Why isn’t this aspect of the film — one that’s VERY visible to the eye, given how the wall is lit and framed and used for a couple of heart-stopping moments — ever brought up, and why is it always the Dalit angle, which has become explicit (as opposed to colours and books) only in Kaala?
Because people listen to the filmmaker and THEN go watch the film, already being primed on how to read the film. I am not talking about Ranjith specifically. A lot of directors “frame” their interviews in a way that makes you view the film that way, and ONLY that way.
Forget Madras. There have many films where I have missed out on things — and there will be many such instances, in the future. But this one film became the one time I didn’t do my job, and this, despite the fact that almost no other mainstream critic talked about the Dalit subtext either.
Film writing today has been hijacked so much by ideology and the need to show one’s allegiance to this ideology — to prove that one is hip and woke — that the very valuable subjective interiority you speak of is rarely found.
I shudder to think of a world where the director’s meaning becomes the only meaning — but that may be where we are headed.
But thanks again. Not so much for the defense (though I appreciate that) as this line: “more importantly, he has taught me how to read a film.”
A critic couldn’t ask for more.
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Varsha
June 8, 2018
I have also been reading BR’s reviews and the comments sections for roughly about 10 years , and while I can agree with most of what “A reader” has said about BR as an “aesthetic” critic, the claim that a critic(not just BR) can teach someone how to read a film just through his/her reviews seems to me to be a bit over-the-top comment. Maybe in a class, he/she can do it, but only through the reviews??? I seriously doubt it. In my opinion, reviews, however good they are, can only give one person’s(the critic/reviewer’s) point of view(Again and again one can see a pattern get repeated, if noted carefully), which does not say much about reading a film in general. Maybe a wide range of reviews from a diaspora of critics can teach you something, but just one critic? Seriously?? When did film reading become so simple?!
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sanjana
June 8, 2018
This type of criticism makes the critic to be too careful when writing a review. Spontaneity is lost. Is it good or bad? We will get Baahubali kind of reviews in future if the critic gives in. While the Raja sens and Saibal Chatterjee’s can get away easily, it will be difficult for BR because he interacts more after writing a review and tries to answer difficult questions.
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Madan
June 8, 2018
Varsha: Not that one exhibit has any persuasive value, but when I wrote a review/write up of Borg McEnroe and read it back, I found a creeping influence of BR saar’s own reviews (BR please feel free to say you found none 😉 ) as opposed to how I may have written it at an earlier point of time. And I am not a BR fanboy. I am a regular here but have disagreed many times with him. Just like the other great reviewers/writers who have influenced me. So yes I would say I learnt different ways of watching films from reading his reviews. And also the discussions in the comments.
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Thupparivaalan
June 8, 2018
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying chandramukhi was a good film, perhaps padayappa or enthiran? Can’t recall many rajni films recently that keep us entertained in recent past was what I was referring to.
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Srinivas R
June 8, 2018
Varsha: I grew up viewing movies primarily as medium to deliver the plot. With the help of BR reviews and few of his interviews ( particularly Sreekar Prasad), I am looking out for the technical aspects of the movie. Why is a scene framed a certain way? how does this scene transition etc. Do i understand them, not necessarily but i would say this PoV of looking a movie is very interesting and but for this blog I may not have got that.
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lewdcabal
June 8, 2018
“The 60% of them are criminals” was so spot on to every conversation I’ve had with my peer set, family/friend whatsapp groups, and potentially even myself ~9-10 years ago. It’s pretty easy to forgive. In balance, the stigma of being typified as a criminal far outweighs the stigma of being typified as tone deaf.
The horror aspect of Madras is not avidly discussed because it’s not as prominent as the Dalit subtext and it’s just not that visible to everyone’s eyes; one sees what one’s life and cinematic viewing experiences attune one to see.
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brangan
June 8, 2018
lewdcabal: Sigh. The point isn’t whether the line is spot on, but the way it was thrust in. Some of us do care about things like writing and filmmaking.
So no, I don’t find it easy to forgive.
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lewdcabal
June 8, 2018
And the condescending implication is that others dont care about writing and film making? Clearly the sequence has have worked for me to move on to a broader commentary. I was specifically talking to the concern of upper class people being reduced to caricatures.
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brangan
June 8, 2018
lewdcabal: Maybe I should have said, “Some of us care MORE about writing and filmmaking.” Why is it so difficult to understand that something that “worked for you” made me flinch at the obviousness of the writing? I am not negating YOUR experience, merely stating mine.
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A reader
June 8, 2018
BR,
I think it is still important for a critic to have the sort of extensive reading where one gets the socio-political context of the film. It adds to the reading, gives more context. Personally, I would still go ahead and read Rettaimalai Srinivasan, Iyothee Thaas Pandithar and others, simply because I want to understand the history and sociopolitics. How such reading might shape my aesthetics is also important.
But it can only be a secondary instrument. The critic’s primary instrument should still be their subjective sensitivity and taste.
I don’t get what’s the difference, artistically, between where a film that’s a mouthpiece for an ideology, versus, say, a propaganda film made for MGR. Both come down on your head like Thor’s hammer. But to say that you don’t fancy ideology hammers in films is considered the same as saying you oppose the ideology. Perhaps this is just a temporary spike with people showcasing their new-found wokeness, but it felt important to say out loud what exactly the critic’s place in society is. I am not defending you, so much as the voice of a truly perceptive critic. Thank you.
Varsha,
I’m just another reader, and possibly not a very good one. But I stand by what I said. BR and this blog taught me to read a film. I have learnt from other sources too, but this space was very important.
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complicateur
June 8, 2018
Of course, I’m not here to negate your experience at all. How is that even the interpretation? Maybe I should’ve said “So it was pretty easy FOR ME to forgive”.
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complicateur
June 8, 2018
PS: Just realized I’d forgotten to switch to my personal account – so back to my regular identity in the comments section. Apologies for any confusion.
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brangan
June 8, 2018
A reader: I think it is still important for a critic to have the sort of extensive reading where one gets the socio-political context of the film.
Of course, it is. The Ramayana/Periyar discussion in this review didn’t drop out of the sky. I have been trying to expand the boundaries of my reading. I have sought out a lot of gender-related reading after earlier threads where I realised how much the debates had progressed in the world.
But a critic cannot always ensure that he/she is up-to-date with the topic in a particular film. And what I was getting at is that while the engagement with the subject matter may differ from film to film, the medium itself is a constant — and there are certain considerations that do not change (the way you read a frame, for instance).
But yes, there is no doubt that an engaged/informed viewer who also also cine-literate would be the ideal combination.
What I am opposed to is ideology becoming the sole criterion for evaluating a film — but again, I know others feel differently about this.
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jaga_jaga
June 8, 2018
@Enigma – In states like UP, it is reasonable to say that, it is the other way about. Brahmins constitute 10-12% of the electorate. They (not all, of course) more or less ensure that they leave no stone unturned when it comes to exploiting people from the other caste. The Thakurs and the Yadavs less so, and the Dalits significantly. There are notorious Brahmin thugs, who wear their religion on their sleeve and commit all kinds of atrocities. So, it does cut both ways – bashing the generally downtrodden.
@ The Ghost Who Walks – What happens in closed walls is nobody’s business. It is my personal right to offend anyone, as long as no one knows that he/she gets offended. Let me explain this better – Imagine two family gatherings – one a Brahmin gathering, and another one that of those who belong to the DK. Of course it is only natural, expected and nothing wrong that in both these gatherings, people belonging to the other side will get bashed. The choicest of words may be used, anyone’s mom or dad is up for grabs, and profanities shall flow freely. But how does it any of it matter? So it should not count, what happens in closed walls.
@Varsha – Ultimately a significant factor in human civilizations is the battle between “those who have it and those who haven’t”. While those who have it will pay lip service to sound nice and proclaim equality for everyone, it is very inhuman and unnatural to expect them to actually mean it. I mean who doesn’t want to enjoy some kind of a privilege?? If you get it for free, screw egalitarianism, screw ethics, screw morals. What matters is the privilege. Hasn’t this concept been the basis for both the rise and falls of so many empires cutting across millennia? So be it any system, those who enjoy the privilege will not give it up.
I’ll give three religious examples.
(a) The Brahmin example is obvious – They have traditionally been part of the privileged class (if not in terms of wealth, in terms of “seeking/gaining knowledge”). Note the quotes. And part of the reason why the others abhor them is, they won’t generally cede an inch when it comes to sharing knowledge being their brethren. But why should they eschew this privilege, which somehow has been conferred on them??
(b) The Roman Catholic example – Well we all know how bloody the origin of protestantism was. We all know how much the catholic clergy still detest the protestants. Or other churches. The point being, they were privileged. They do not want to share it with others. Of course people will detest! But so be it, how does it matter?
(c) The Ahmadis vs Sunnis in Pakistan- Pakistan is a Sunni Muslim majority nation. There are other kind of minority Muslims known as Ahmadis also there. The Sunnis want their privileges to be kept in tact, so don’t even consider the Ahmadis to be Muslims. They are persecutes regularly. Yet another case of not wanting to yield privileges.
These were religions examples. But not wanting to cede privilege is a ubiquitous phenomenon, and is applicable in all walks of life. So it is bound to happen. At some point, those without privilege will revolt, they might gain privilege after revolting, someone else then might revolt against them, and so on…you get the gist?? No one gives up! Life will just move on like this…
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Vivek narain
June 8, 2018
There are 4 kinds of brahmins in UP, kanyakubj saryupari garhwali and gaud, and none of them are notorius thugs. Not only pakistan but most of islamic countries are sunni majority except for 5 shia majority countries. Catholics definitely are not privileged, infact catholics are poorest and spread all over the world, the whole of south america is catholic. Protestants are few and mainly derived from rich western europe, it was the philanderings of king henry 8th that demeaned roman catholic church and established church of england and subsequently protestant church, episcopalian church of US is a branch of church of england and is the most powerful even with a miniscule 2 % population.
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Rahul
June 8, 2018
Did anyone find this bothersome? I had assumed that the people call Haridev, Hari Dada with Dada in Marathi (meaning brother) initially, but then his granddaughter does the same. Is she using the Hindi Dada? If so, why is there even such an ambiguity?
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Varsha
June 9, 2018
Madan: I am talking about the process of learning to read a film in general. My point is not that you learn absolutely nothing from following one critic’s reviews(BR, in this case). “A reader”‘s statement sounded so generic a claim to me, so I objected. I am in agreement with you when you say you have learnt different ways of watching films from reading his reviews and the comments that follow. But if you say you have learnt everything there is to learn about reading a film from BR’s reviews and review comments, then I object. “A reader”‘s statement seemed to me to convey the latter view, hence my objection.
Srinivas R: Yes, I agree with you on that. You, like Madan, have learnt something from BR reviews. That is fine with me. But is that all there is to learn about reading a film? I said “no” in my previous comment, and I stick to it.
A reader: Ah! See! If you had been so clear in your first post, there would have been no need for me to have commented on it at all! You have learnt from BR, and you consider that learning important. That is fine. But, as you have now clarified, there are other spaces where you have learned too! And if you still widen your purview, you may learn even more important things about reading a film. That was the point I was trying to make, since, in your earlier post, the statement was too generic.
jaga_jaga: Not surprising that you have given all religious examples. Religion, in and of itself, has an inherent evil, which philosophy(mother of all religions) does not. But that is beside the point. Let me come to the common theme in all these examples. Not wanting to cede privilege may be ubiquitous, but at the same time, the world is not divided into people who have privilege and those who want that privilege at the cost of someone else losing the same. There are a whole lot of people who say “By all means, have your privilege. Just don’t deny us the same!”. For instance, take the caste phenomenon. If history texts are to be believed, there was a time in India, when jobs were tied to caste. A person belonging to a particular community, whether he/she likes it or not, has to do the job that his/her parents did. Privileged jobs went to privileged communities. But now, after the efforts of people like Periyar, Ambedkar etc, there has been a substantial change in the society, though not fully. This does not follow the cycle that you have mentioned, namely: “At some point, those without privilege will revolt, they might gain privilege after revolting, someone else then might revolt against them, and so on…”. If things today were the same as during ancient times, there will be a doctor caste, an engineer caste etc. A caste for each job in India. That is not the case now, mostly. Isn’t that a substantial improvement? What you are saying is very similar to “Survival of the fittest”. This may be true for animals, but we humans must rise above it, and we have, in many situations. That is why kings gave way to democracy, why casteism-based jobs gave way to talent-based jobs, and why an African-American became the president of USA. The fight is for equality, and not privilege, so there is no cycle in it, and such a fight is ALWAYS WORTH the trouble!
Btw, the bashing is not just within closed walls. In my earlier comment supporting “The Ghost Who Walks”, I mentioned temples, which are as open a space as you can imagine. So it really DOES MATTER A LOT what happens there.
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Arjun
June 9, 2018
” Folks who are born in a Brahmin family or even those having a Brahmin-sounding name have it very difficult in Tamil Nadu. ”
Laughable. Making out the most privileged and cocooned bunch to be victims. You wonder why most Tamils dislike Brahmins – even the liberal ones? It is because Brahmins care only about their interests and don’t give a fuck about the rest. On issues of importance to Tamil Nadu, the prominent brahmins in public space like Gurumurthy, Su Swamy unfailingly take positions that are repugnant to the non-brahmin majority. When the masses, regardless of caste, protest against Sterlite, against NEET, for Kaveri water, Jallikattu etc, Brahmins mock them as dumeels and poralis. However over some trivial remark by Vairmuthu, they (and only they) take to the streets. This clearly shows where their priorities lie. Further more examples –
-N Ram and other Brahmins in the Brahmin-run Hindu paper virtually supported genocide of tamils in Eelam, Su Swamy calls them elis.
-When the ADMK govt remote controlled by BJP via the paapathi Girija Vaidyanathan fired on unarmed protesters in Thoothukudu, paapans like Gurumurthy supported it, calling them anti-nationals, Christian conspiracy etc. Literally the only people who supported this police brutality in social media were brahmins.
They are the only ones who shout against reservation, claiming merit. People like Thirumurugan Gandhi have explained the hollowness of this merit argument well. Is it by “merit” that the 2% Brahmins have maintained a monopoly on cricket or Carnatic music (which btw they appropriated from non-brahmins)? Don’t make me laugh.
I can go on and on. Point is, don’t pretend the Brahmins are some sort of victims. They deserve every bit of anger and resentment that exists against them.
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Arjun
June 9, 2018
So Brahmins must introspect rather than repeatedly claiming fake victimhood. One or two stray incidents of poonool cutting does not make them victims- aana adhukku thalaiyave vettinaa maari oru buildup kuduppanga Brahmin mafia!
Real victims are people like Anita whose dreams of becoming a doctor were crushed by the fascist imposition of NEET by the Brahminical state, when TN already has one of the best health indices in the country.
One more article to understand what a menace brahmins/brahminical values are to the general well-being of the society/country. Brahmins should at least learn to think from the POV of the downtrodden.
http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9348:brahmins-obstruct-india-s-development&catid=119:feature&Itemid=132
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Enigma
June 9, 2018
The Ghost Who walks on, jaga jaga, Varsha, what we need is reconciliation. Australia celebrated reconciliation week last week. This process of reconciliation started 10 years ago when the then PM Kevin Rudd apologised to the aboriginal people. I am not saying that solved the problems but just that it started a process.
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Rajesh Balasubramanian
June 9, 2018
@BR : The scene where Boys band is arrested for composing the songs for the banned group of people came to my mind sporadically. Rajini seems to be the Boys group facing the heat in sections of media. Fortunately there is a Mangalam sir like Shankar who would bail Rajini out very soon (through 2.0) of these controversies.
Also, I could not stop thinking How it is possible for Mani Ratnam to make political films with sincere care about the nation and humanity without much controversy (opposition is different) ?
Bombay
Iruvar (though opposed by Dravidian parties). People accepted that it is truth
Kannathil Muthamittal
Uyire
Guru about a business tychoon Ambani
Even Raavanan (based on Ramayana)
Kadal (with all biblical references)
OK Kanmani (on live in together).
Guess, with age they have gained the wisdom of giving a thought provoking movie rather than spoon feeding audience their ideologies
Or May be that’s why they are called legends.
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Siva
June 9, 2018
BR:
After going through (viz.,. reading almost all the comments in this thread) what you had to go through after writing an opinion piece (aren’t all movie reviews are? what do they call it, oh yeah: subjective), I couldn’t help but recall a not so recent Vivek comedy.
Vivek: (tries to teach rhymes to kids) Amma Ingae Vaa Vaa
Kid 1: Sir, Amma-ndringalae, neenga ADMK-vaa?
Vivek: Sooriyan Udhikkum Dhisai Kizhakku
Kid 2: Sir, Sooriyan-ndringalae, neenga DMK-vaa?
BR: (posts Kaala review based on why he felt Ranjith did some cool film making in Attakaththi and Madras, but missed to do so in Kabali and Kaala)
Character deaths does not impact me, Not enough Ranjtih-ism nor enough Rajini-ism, I don’t pretend to like a movie just because it comes with a truckload of ideology, Screenplay could use more depth, etc.,.
Fellow Online Warriors (like me): Sir, ivlo ideology irukku! Appavum padam super-nnu solla maatreengalae, neenga XYZ-ngradhunalayaa?
Note: XYZ does not necessarily mean caste alone here!
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mrinalnarayan
June 9, 2018
Even though I found the movie to be average, Couldn’t stop thinking about it. Especially the characters.
@brangan – The Selvi character is like an older version of Vadivu (played by Radhika) from Oorkavalan.
Pa.Ranjith’s heroines have a strong characterization like the ones from 80s and early 90s
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Devarsi Ghosh
June 9, 2018
For all the conversation Kaala is generating, and rightly so — and it’s all fascinating to read, I feel that five or 10 or 15 or so-and-so years later, Kaala will become a footnote in both Ranjith and Rajini’s legacy.
Perhaps, if Ranjith really goes on to launch a party or contest elections, Kaala will be remembered as the one that started it all.
But in terms of just cinematic value, or being looked at by with fondness by Rajini/Ranjith/cinema fans, it will still be Attakathi or Madras that will be remembered and loved for years. Not Kaala, and Kabali, less so.
Kaala just does not have memorable filmmaking. Its biggest strength (and also its weakness) is its immediacy and its nature of having leapt straight out of the headlines. It hasn’t left behind anything memorable to chew on, really. If anything, perhaps, the Ramayana-inflected clash near the end, and the postscript-like retribution, later on, might be remembered, but that’s it.
Just think about it: What are people really discussing about Kaala anyway? Forget that, before Kaala’s release, in 2018, what would people really talk about Kabali, if and when they talked about it?
Maybe, I am wrong, I don’t know, but I suspect that, in time, memories of Kaala will fade unless Ranjith capitalises on it for a political career. If he goes back to being the filmmaker that he was back in his Attakathi/Madras days, then Ranjith’s better films will be the one to be talked about, not Kaala, obviously.
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jaga_jaga
June 9, 2018
@Vivek Narain – You conveniently left out that amongst UP Brahmins, there is this teenve vs terehve. The “Shukla”, “Misra”, “Trivedi/Tripati/Tiwari” being privileged and the rest of the brahmins themselves (dubey, sharma blah blah…) being “second class brahmins themselves! And no brahmin goons?? What about Harishankar Trivedi or someone, who murdered someone in a court, not so long ago? What about the Ponga Pandits of Varanasi? And the list goes on….
@Arjun, Varsha – I believe both of you miss my point. Let the fight fir equality go on and on. But those with privileges will not give it up – be it at someone else’s cost or not. It is a rather naive (IMO) argument that the “fight for equality” is noble. Let me give irreligious examples this time to make my case clear:
(a) The US – For all its loudmouthed claims of egalitarianism, the US does not want to cede its privileges. It wants to be the best nation, even if it comes at the cost of some other African nation say. They will give aid to the poor. But will let the poor be poor, never let them prosper and be as good as they are. Isn’t this a classic example of paying lip service about equality blah blah when it suits your purpose, and crushing all revolt when it doesn’t?? The US believes in democracy, as they say. But how many dictators have they supported elsewhere, right? So equality is restricted to only a few??
(b) Pa Ranjit – Kaala is a movie about slum dwellers, ostensibly about leftist principles of equality. Does Ranjit leave in a slum? Did he make this movie for a noble cause alone? Wasn’t money making not on his mind at all? Where does he live? What car does he drive? What does he drink? Does he live the life of an EMS Namboodiri Pad or that of a rich Director in a posh bunglow? I don’t know the answer of course! But I assume he doesn’t anymore live in a Dharavi-like area! In that case, isn’t it a blatant example of enjoying the privilege, at the cost of others?
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Rahul N R
June 9, 2018
https://thewire.in/film/courageous-and-pertinent-kaala-asks-all-the-right-questions
An interesting take. While, I agree movie making is an art, and one can come up with issues with regards to its making…sometimes some movies are more than just…a movie. Kaala is one of them and however imperfectly told still raises some important questions. Does the questions seem valid for the director/writer duo…of course it does. Maybe the questions are more valid for them than art itself. Art is just a medium. They can’t obviously take it to the people in little movies like Attakathi, so they use the lever that gives them the biggest reach and in this case it is Rajnikanth. Ranjith is a gifted film maker but for him movie making may just be the means to an end. But for Rajnikanth this is more than a dare and one must appreciate he stood up to it.
We can wax eloquent about Maniratnam movie, but at the end of the day they end up self serving its own need to be exist as a higher form of art. Nothing else. Am talking about his movies after the North of India, and Maniratnam himself, discovered each other. Pre Roja…he still had relevance. His last good movie in my opinion was Thiruda Thiruda. Post that he became a poster child of the North and his movie increasingly started resembling those picture postcard type music videos. What I meant was Kaala is different from the movies you compared it with because Kaala tried to be more than just a movie. I think your articulate review failed to address this difference.
Admission, I am big admirer of your reviews.
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brangan
June 9, 2018
Rahul NR: Bringing Thalapathy into a Kaala discussion is to serve two purposes. (1) To bring up a previous instance of Superstar working with a real filmmaker, and (2) To bring up a previous instance of Rajinikanth being used in a recast version of an epic.
This is not to “compare” the two films and say which is better. They are very different approaches.
Does this line not tell you that Ranjith — IMO — is pushing Rajini more than Mani did?
“Ranjith, however, is a far more political filmmaker, and unlike Mani Ratnam, he isn’t content to tell a story around his star. He wants his star to be the speaker through which he disburses his ideologies.”
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Varsha
June 9, 2018
Enigma: Yes, reconcillation is but the first step toward equality. Like you said, it starts a process, and that process must continue toward equality.
jaga_jaga: I get your point only too well. Which is why I am repeatedly opposing it. All this “those with privileges will not give it up” thought is like a viral disease that needs to be irradicated. First of all, no one fighting for equality is asking to “give it up”. The only demand is to share privileges and not giving it up. You can see it in all the examples I gave previously. If someone is so haughty as to claim a privilege as their own and is not willing to share it, then it definitely needs to be opposed and that act is indeed noble. Nothing naive in it. An analogy might help prove my point. We have diseases of the human body all over the globe, with new diseases cropping up now and then. And we have medical professionals, starting from researchers and ending with doctors who continuously fight these diseases through medicines, vaccines etc. And we call Medicine a noble profession and doctors noble, even though they earn money through it, right? The thought “This privilege is my birthright. I will not share it.” is a disease of the mind. So if it is naive to call those fighting against this disease of the mind noble, then it is also naive to call doctors noble! And, by the same analogy, think of the state of the world with no doctors and no medicines. Would you rather live in such a world?
So, just as you can keep giving examples of newer and deadlier diseases of the body all the time, you can give loads of examples for this disease of the mind. But, just as diseases of the body are being fought, this disease of the mind should also be fought for social well-being. That is what is happening in the case of the US, as also in the case of brahmins who have this disease. In the case of brahmins, not all of them are holding on to privileges. I have brahmin friends who have realised this as a mistake. But they too are suffering(and lashing back sometimes) because of those few who hold on to privileges like it’s their own. That’s how bad this disease is.
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Arjun
June 9, 2018
“Kaala is a movie about slum dwellers, ostensibly about leftist principles of equality. Does Ranjit leave in a slum? Did he make this movie for a noble cause alone? Wasn’t money making not on his mind at all? Where does he live? What car does he drive? ”
” why did Ambedkar wear a suit. Do most dalits wear suits”
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jaga_jaga
June 9, 2018
@Varsha – Feel free to oppose this viewpoint. Definitely a fair point. But it is here to stay, and will stay as long as humans exist. Not about Brahmins or US this. It is about ceding privilege, and not everyone will do it. So the battle will always ensue IMO
@Arjun – Wearing a blue suit is way different from making crores of money for yourself and proclaiming equality! Ambedkar is an intellectual giant. Pa Ranjit is a film-maker. Was money making in Ambedkar’s mind? Is money making not on Pa Ranjit’s mind??
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harish ram
June 9, 2018
@Jaga_Jaga I think you’re confusing communism with what Ranjith aims for.
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Arjun
June 9, 2018
“Wearing a blue suit is way different from making crores of money for yourself and proclaiming equality! Ambedkar is an intellectual giant. Pa Ranjit is a film-maker. Was money making in Ambedkar’s mind? Is money making not on Pa Ranjit’s mind??”
Then you evidently don’t undestand what Pa Ranjith represents for the dalit movement, so there is no point discussing this any further. No matter how much I want to believe “not all brahmins”, I am repeatedly proved wrong. sad….
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San
June 9, 2018
Talking about the ideologies spoken in the film, I appreciate Ranjith’s intention to empower the oppressed. I liked the fact that he pushes the importance of education and awareness wherever possible in his films.
I have listened to a lot of Ranjith’s interviews. He claims that he is not against all upper caste people. He wants equality. He wants to provoke a constructive discussion between all people based on mutual respect and equality.
But I don’t think showing the upper caste as the sole villains was the right way to go.
Was there even one character in the movie from a privileged background, shown in a positive light? Does’nt that make the film “US vs THEM”?
Instead what if they had made the film as a clash between ideologies within the slum?
Let Rajini be the symbol of empowerment. A person who believe in education. Bringing awareness to people. Ofcourse add some badassery to his character, bring in the mass moments. Make him fight only to protect people (even the meaning of Kaala is protecter, as told in the movie)
Have a villain based in the slum who is holding back the development and empowerment of the slums? A person rooted in violence and genuinely feels that change can happen only through violence. He is desperate for revenge against the upper caste oppression. Believes in total annihilation. (And have Vijay Sethupathi play that role, if possible 😛 )
And ofcourse have negative characters from the upper caste who try to exploit the clash within the slum for their own advantage. But also have atleast few positive characters from a privileged background as a counterpoint. These characters could actually show how people from a privileged background can make a difference. Show what is expected from them in this fight for equality.
I feel that if Ranjith wants a constructive discussion to happen, he needs to show both sides of the coin. The good and bad of the privileged people and also the good and bad of people in slums. And then let the positive evolution prevail, show what an united effort can achieve.
I guess Black panther takes a similar route and so did Madras to an extent.
I would like to hear the views of the people here about such a storyline. I know it’s very rough but hope my point is conveyed.
I feel Kaala is a really fascinating film packed with interesting ideologies but I also feel it is too polarizing a film to actually ignite a positive change in the society. It will make a sensational statement but will it result in a positive united movement for equality? I doubt it.
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Tina
June 9, 2018
Ok. Why choose movies as a medium when you can’t stomach reviews?
So what did Madras do? Kabali do? People spoke. People outraged. Some threads became viral. And then what?
These were and will always be movies. Good movies, definitely. But nothing more. And this style will soon wear off as it already has shown signs off.
Go do something productive if you want to do something more. And also rangan, there is no real outrage. One guy ranting and others piling on.
Relax peeps. Keep calm and move on.
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brangan
June 9, 2018
San: I, too, was puzzled about the lack of nuance, and felt there may be more than one reason:
Ranjith has spoken about being inspired by how cinema has been used in Russia, and a lot of the Eisentein films — for instance — are essentially propaganda films. And that is — by nature — not a nuanced genre.
So maybe a bit of both?
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sanjana
June 9, 2018
When one is very angry, it is difficult to think rationally. And the day to day incidents make one wonder about the reality of change. It is easy to polarise than to reconcile. Polarising has its own benefits. Caste is linked to one’s identity in these days of votebank politics. As long as votebank politics exist, caste with all its implications will be there. It is simple to be black and fight than fight caste politics. It will become somewhat irrelevant when fruits of progress is distributed evenly and fairly in a transparent manner.
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harish ram
June 9, 2018
@San why are you talking about the concept of the movie Velaikkaran here? 😀
On a serious note, Ranjith did structure the film exactly the way you were expecting. Two groups in the slum approaching society’s problem in different angles. Many characters here go as far as to question Rajini what have achieved in all your years through your methods: nothing, so don’t stop us. But soon Ranjith gets cold feet and moves into a black vs white game. Nevertheless, to Ranjith’s credit he does imply that the film ends where it starts, a people movement. The whole film is in a way is about a big don holding the people’s movement from moving to the next stage because he is afraid the opponents will trash them.
Ps: coming to Velaikkaran, though I have serious issues with it as a cinema, as concepts and ideology, it is well rounded.
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jaga_jaga
June 9, 2018
@Arjun – Explain better man! I see words, sentences, and even a paragraph in what to you’ve written. But I don’t understand what you mean. You can either care to explain or be dismissive, like you just did!
@harish_ram – It would be wonderful if you could explain what Mr. Ranjit is trying to do, that I am missing. One sentence is sweet, and short, but is not helpful, sir!
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San
June 9, 2018
@BR I agree with you regarding masala movies generally being about US vs THEM.
And I want to emphasis that right now, I am just thinking if the movie accomplishes what Ranjith intended it to. I am not thinking about the craft for now atleast.
I understand that propaganda films are generally not a nuanced genre. There isnt space for grey areas. But if in the end of it all, if Ranjith is not able to propagate his ideology and not create the impact that he wants (atleast in a small way) then all the effort becomes of no use right?
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San
June 9, 2018
@harish ram I just realised how close Vellaikaran is to what I proposed. Good spot that 😀
“On a serious note, Ranjith did structure the film exactly the way you were expecting. Two groups in the slum approaching society’s problem in different angles. Many characters here go as far as to question Rajini what have achieved in all your years through your methods: nothing, so don’t stop us.”
Totally agree with you. That’s why I was really excited until that point. They even showed another angle of people wanting to run away from these problems (the other IT company son who constantly wants to move out). I wish they had explored these angles more. But then this happened:
“But soon Ranjith gets cold feet and moves into a black vs white game”
But I would like to disagree with this -> “The whole film is in a way is about a big don holding the people’s movement from moving to the next stage because he is afraid the opponents will trash them.”
I felt it was more about Kaala feeling that Lenin’s protests were useless. That the protests would not result in anything.
However, I liked one small detail in all this. Kaala talks against protesting blindly without having knowledge about the problem and how to solve it. But I fear that the film as a whole will lead to exactly the same. Blind protests without purpose and clear direction.
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harish ram
June 9, 2018
@Jaga_Jaga : from my exposure through his films, I think he is demanding all the basics like dignity of life & Labour and also aspiring to get greater social & cultural representation.
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Ashwin
June 9, 2018
Ahhh! Just stepped out of the movie and surprised to read BR feeling that it was an odd fit for the star and the director while to me it felt like a really good blend and balance. After a half baked kabali where both seemed to be confused, this was pretty fulfilling. Have to diasgree with BR on this one 🙂
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Prasad
June 9, 2018
Lot of comments on how Rajni has been portrayed by Ranjith and being compared with Mani and other directors.
But how about Shankar? I felt Shankar did a decent job both in Shivaji and Endhiran compared to Other directors in recent times . Shivaji is average movie but Some social themes like black money were handled in a lighter way without being too preachy.
Even Endhiran had a social message at the end . Both the movies were throughly entertaining than any of the recent movies like Lingaaa or Kabali and Raji’s super star image was effectively used.
Am yet to see Kaala but Kabali I felt was very underwhelming.
Class difference is so sensitive subject and look how this is handled in Lagan without being preachy. Something to learn for our current directors
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bart
June 10, 2018
To start with, I liked Kabali better than Kaala. Kabali had a surprise element (played against expectations – Thalaivar playing his age, emotions taking precedence over masala etc.) and the long journey of Thalaivar uniting with his long lost family was decently packed around with Malaysian tamil issue twined along. Though the main grouse I had was that the Malaysian Tamil issue was not tackled properly there and was one note.
Kaala tried to address the social issue in detail and padded the family element around but was not satisfactory on both fronts. The protagonist is not trying to do anything constructive but is just happy being an Ellai saamy for the qilla. The society being oppressed in the movie voices clearly that this is not giving them any progress. The alternate options – protesting non-violently while letting the oppressors do their bit or trying to negotiate with them towards a workaround are pointed out as no-go mechanisms. But the principal people who take the primary mechanism (Kaala and his son) of fighting against as a defense also eventually die which gives no hope to this ideology. The entire ideology is a slow self-rotting mechanism. The only escape pointed out in the movie is what many educated people of the qilla do – get out of the place. The zareena love angle also doesn’t create the impact or help in moving the story forward (nor does her Rio word dropping!). The entire family part is a padding around the social issue and their departure doesn’t tear any eye.
Thalaivar was in great acting form (standout being the drunken act) though I felt he looked weaker than Kabali and they could’ve designed a better costume (he keeps pulling the kurta down almost everytime he stands up from sitting position). Eswari Rao didn’t impress as much as Samuthirakani did (though both over-played on occasions). Manigandan was great. Nana was brilliant (so much that I could forgive his Tamil and the lip non-synch. His end reminded of Parinda for some odd reason).
Though I disagree with some bits of your review I agree with the ending – his association with Ranjith hopefully is over. Hope KS (last all-round good masala outing of the star was Padayappa, with a director who had those initials) brings back the Superstar magic! I will be very curious to see what Ranjith makes next and how it does in BO as well..
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Aadhy
June 10, 2018
harish_ram, San and BR : Nice observations on the US vs THEM narrative, especially the black panther reference which had a good white character helping out the people of Wakanda. I disagree with the statement that Velaikaran got its politics right. For me Velaikaran was a half-baked mess, as it totally confused corporate malpractice/corruption with communism.
W.R.T Kaala, I see the US vs THEM as ideological rather than personal, as in socialists vs capitalists and not lower class vs upper class. Indeed there is an upper class model shown saying 60 % of slum-dwellers are criminals. But there is also the IT crowd, relatively upper class or atleast upwardly mobile, shown to be protesting for Dharavi’s cause. The protest moves from a point of ignorance to everyone gradually offering their support, while the hardcore capitalists and CEOs still strongly oppose the movement. I consider Zareena to be considerably upper class. She’s educated, more comfortable with English than Tamil/Hindi, has traveled the world and can afford good education to her daughter. Her ideologies initially align with ‘THEM’ side, and she later shifts to the ‘US’ side.
What I don’t understand is people calling the movie preachy, when the core plot of the movie is in fact a social conflict. I would call something like a Mersal as preachy, when the messages are shoehorned into a simple sons-avenge-dad’s-murder kind of revenge drama. But in Kaala, the hero is not even remotely interested in avenging his dad’s death. Even after he loses his wife and son, he still tries to talk to the villain and understand what he wants. All he bothers about is the land rights of his people. The punches (like Nilam engal urimai) are political per se since land grabbing is the single issue the hero and villain are fighting about. Hari dada even says he wouldn’t have tried to kill Kaala if Kaala hadn’t come in his way of acquiring the land. That’s why apart from the Kya re dialogue, we have 0 punch dialogues that aren’t relevant to the story.
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Eswar
June 10, 2018
Few random thoughts:
It’s good to see BR’s comments section becoming super active after a long time.
I haven’t read BR’s Kalaa review yet. I use BR’s headline to decide whether to watch a movie. And if the headline implies recommendation I don’t read the review until I have watched the movie. Thank you BR.
Criticism on a review should be on the review and not on the reviewer. But when policy makers are attacked instead of the policy, political parties instead of the government, BR being attacked instead of his review was only waiting to happen.
With respect to the caste conversation: My theory is most humans have an inherent urge/need to feel superior. This superiority probably makes them feel important, needy, worthy etc. For one to feel superior someone else should have to be made inferior. Inferior of something, anything. It could be caste, religion, language, skin colour, food habit, country etc. So if we try to remove one of these, my hunch is humans will easily pick another one. Few examples: within the same caste, gender is used to feel superior over others. Within the same gender, relationships (mother/father-in-law vs daughter/son-in-law) are used to express superiority. If caste and gender are not a problem, then colour of the skin becomes the tool. Among people with the same colour, again gender becomes a tool (like ‘The color purple’). So is abolishing caste the solution? I am not so sure, may be marginally better because we have removed one tool, but humans would have already found something else. And having lost one tool might only make them cling to the new one even stronger. So what do we do? May be the answer partly lies in some of libertarian ideas. It’s okay to have one’s caste name, it’s okay to feel proud about everything about oneself. But, but none of them should interfere/prevent exercising my liberties and rights. The moment it infringes upon my rights then we stop people from using the tool (caste, gender, religion etc) with the help of the state and that is when and only when the state gets involved.
So may be the discourse should not be so much about eliminating caste, religion etc from the society, but to find a way to co-exist with them without encroaching each other’s rights.
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Siva
June 10, 2018
Tina: ” …. ranting and others piling on. ”
Agreed!
Most of us online today want to be part of the larger herd, you see.
Mob mentality, if I may.
It is either that — or tending to take an absolutely absurd, opposing stance to the general consensus. Even if it doesn’t make a pinch of sense. The other end of the spectrum. Standing out for just the sake of standing out. Look everyone, I am so different (and apparently very cool because of that)!
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Arjun
June 10, 2018
@Jaga_jaga: SO WHAT if money making was (also) on Ranjith’s mind? He is someone who had no connections in the industry and has achieved fame and success through through sheer hard work and talent, what’s wrong if he enjoys the fruits of success? What do you expect exactly? That he should not own a car and should live in a slum?
Of course no one will voluntarily cede privileges. It has to literally be snatched away from them. Brahmins must systematically be excluded from all layers of government and especially bureaucracy. Tamil Nadu achieved this thanks to the Dravidian movement, which is why it consistently ranks at the top in all human development indices. Similarly marginalizing Brahmins from the medical sector has done wonders for healthcare in the state. Where previously Brahmin doctors would refuse to touch patients or go into interior towns and villages, Tamil Nadu’s reservation policy has ensured that poor students from backward castes get to study medicine and go back to serve their towns and villages. Imagine if only merit was the criterion. Tamil Nadu’s healthcare would have been like Orissa or UP!
The problem now is that Brahmins continues to exert influence through backdoor avenues like IAS. They will claim merit but the reason they succeed in clearing IAS or NEET or whatever is simply that they are adept at mugging up stuff thanks to centuries of experience doing the same with crap like Vedas and Manu smriti. What is needed is a nationwide implementation of the TN model to break the Brahminical hold on bureaucracy, judiciary and other key sectors.
See this article that I shared earlier. Brahmins obstruct India’s progress –
http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9348:brahmins-obstruct-india-s-development&catid=119:feature&Itemid=132.
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harish ram
June 10, 2018
@San: I understand your point about Kaala thinking his son’s protest is useless. When I say that he is afraid for them, I am only extending your POV.
“Kaala talks against protesting blindly without having knowledge about the problem and how to solve it. But I fear that the film as a whole will lead to exactly the same. Blind protests without purpose and clear direction” That’s true. The film doesn’t talk about solutions or provide any closure to the narrative arc thematically. In a way, it has a bittersweet ending that you have to end up protecting your turf one day at a time. However, as Rajini is the lead, the tone isn’t that of a bittersweet ending but that of a success.
@Aadhy: Thank you. WRT Velaikaran, I do agree the film is a mess. In this discussion, I am looking at the ideas and skeleton of the film alone. The board meetings, employee discussions, among many others could look like a children’s school play. That is the problem of how. It would be great if you could elaborate on issues you had with the what.
As a lead, let me share my current understanding. The film is about a communist mindset person telling the world that I understand capitalism is required in today’s world so I am putting my weight behind free market economy but I will not accept crony capitalism.
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Varsha
June 10, 2018
Yes, wasn’t that clear in the analogy I gave? Diseases are always there, and the fight against them too continues. The fight is thus noble, and the disease is, well, just that!
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sanjana
June 10, 2018
It is becoming hilarious. I mean the arguments and sarcastic comments. Mumbai has become the experimental ground for all political movements and cinema.
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Varsha
June 10, 2018
jaga_jaga: Sorry, forgot to put a tag. My previous comment was for you.
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sanjana
June 10, 2018
http://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/when-dalit-filmmakers-embrace-their-identity-and-reclaim-their-stories-5209972/
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You Know Who
June 10, 2018
Arjun : Let’s thank heavens that Mr. Arjun here has given us all an insight into how to clear UPSC : mug up and vomit it in the exams.
Aspirants are you listening? Why the heck are you not following this brilliant idea and instead working so hard, building up knowledge in so many fields and all that? I pity you all. Listen to our champion here if you want success in UPSC.
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phaneendra201
June 10, 2018
Looking at Arjun’s latest comments, I am really scared of. This much hatred towards brahmins. I am so lucky that I didn’t born in TN.
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Madan
June 10, 2018
phaneendra201: Well, in the name of acharam (orthodoxy), Brahmins practiced a lot of hatred towards lower castes. So what goes around comes around. Not saying retribution is right or wrong but it will happen more often than not. Some older generation Bambaai Tamils have told me in essence that here they are free to feel superior to other castes whereas in TN they are ‘ill treated’, so evidently they haven’t learnt their lesson. But it has also become a convenient bogey in TN for the people of the state to delude themselves. As Hindus blame Muslims and Congress party for everything these days, Brahmins are blamed for everything in TN. Are Brahmins to blame for the current political mess in TN? No, but doesn’t matter. And while this delusion continues, the state is sinking deeper into problems.
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sanjana
June 10, 2018
“Looking at Arjun’s latest comments, I am really scared of. This much hatred towards brahmins. I am so lucky that I didn’t born in TN”
They are mainly against Iyers and Iyengars.
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Aadhy
June 10, 2018
harish_ram :
My problem with the WHAT of velaikaran is that it had too many WHATs . If you follow Arivu’s track, it speaks of blue collared workers switching to white collar jobs as they think it’s their means to lead an upgraded life. In this process, they get engraved in the consumerist world that’s dictated by ruthless marketing gimmicks that fuel the desires of the common man. Now this is something that would indeed feature in a communist vs capitalist debate. But then the story wanders to corporate malpractice where companies flout norms to beat competition. While competition is in itself a product of capitalism, corruption and malpractice could even exist in a state-run communist society. Velaikaran, for all its rabble rousing pro-labour lyrics and a climax filled frames full of hoisted red flags, doesn’t even remotely touch upon bridging wage gap, better working standards, working hours & labour welfare. Its solution is rather the elimination of malpractice which could apply to both the sides of right-left spectrum. Now I’m not faulting the movie for what it has not done, but for it claims to have done. It looked like one of those unarchigarama whatsapp forwards which would start with some social issue and end up addressing a totally different issue, with a line asking you to share it to all your friends.
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MANK
June 10, 2018
*********************SPOILERS INCLUDED
Watching Kaala left me confused as to who is making his political entry , Rajnikanth or Ranjith?
Because the politics that is front and center – the lower class staging a revolution using atheist, communist ideology that eschews the concept of hindu nationalism – cannot be Rajni’s, who has, above all the epithets bestowed up on him throughout his career, now one of being a BJP agent
due to that and more ,Kaala turned out to be the ultimate act of subversion. Subversion of both the myth of Rama and the myth of Rajni . After using his directors to espouse his ideology on everything from religion to politics to women in movie after movie, its rather fun to see the director having his payback. Using Rajni as a spokesperson for the propagation of his ideology which at many times is on a collision course with star’s spiritually inclined , traditionalist viewpoint that he has espoused in reel and real life. Not to mention the ultimate act of blasphemy, killing of Rajni at the end of the film, but still creating the illusion of him being alive for his die hard fans and even using that in service of his ideology. that made me LOL more than the simplistic nature of politics represented in the mirch masala inspired surrealistic final scene where the colors changes from black to red to blue as if in a holi celebration. I cant remember any other Rajni film where the villain gets the usual hands feet face grand entrance reserved for the hero, while Rajni gets a very ordinary introduction
People who blamed (and are still blaming Brangan) for not getting the political undertones of Madras needn’t worry this time, as there are no undertones ,only too easily understood overtones. its one thing to show your love for the color Black, but i cant remember another instance where this much contempt is shown to the color white. not just in the case of the villain who seem to float in a sea of white, but every time a member of Kaala’s family seems to question him or turn against his ideology, there are all dressed in white, .I wondered whether its this contempt of white that inspired kaala’s wife to put less sugar in coffee served to Zareena. it seems that Ranjith decided that this is once in a lifetime opportunity to get his politics across to a large section of the audience – and the Rajni audience is not exactly the kind that watches nuanced movies like Madras- ,so he decided to go all out with his style , sacrificing cinema in favor of propagating the ideology
The experience left me with mixed emotions. the first 30 odd minutes were sheer torture, the nadir of cinema if you will, resembling some old Visu film or the last scene of 70’s 80’s film where all the characters assemble together in a frame doing a tight rope walk so that they dont go out of frame. but things get better after that. Ranjith’s idea of balancing his aesthetics with Rajni’s aesthetics is to explicitly pay tribute to the legacy of both his heroes and his film hero
So apart from referencing his political heroes ,we have endless references to past Rajni films. the lead character seems to be an updated version from Nettrikkan and Nalavannukku nallavan, the old family patriarch with a loving faithful wife who is at odds with ideology of the new generation of his family.
The leader of the people caught between 2 women and endures the death of his wife as in Ejamaan
Drunken Song sequence that pay tribute to Padayappa . A giant crane shot that reveals the protagonist’s power and influence with the people as in padayappa appears almost exactly here, there in the climax, here in the interval point
The scene where the white collar villain threatening and beating up the hero with the help of politicians and police as in Sivaji
A fight scene in rain that ends with the murder of the henchman of his arch rival reminiscent of his introduction scene in Thalapathi
Punch lines from Mannan and Arunachalam makes their appearance in a remixed fashion.
it goes on and on. But to Ranjith’s credit, he doesn’t exhaust you out and are used very judiciously .
Inspite of all that, the film was worthwhile for me purely for the towering presence and performance of Rajnikanth. I am surprised you didnt speak enough about his performance here. this is the Rajni character that i have been wanting to see for a long time. where his charisma and style emerges out of the character he is playing and which is at least 75 percent rooted in reality. this does lead to problems, having stripped Rajni down to his very basic human existence, having made him vulnerable, flawed , its hard to believe him suddenly indulging in superheroics with an umbrella or walking through fire and stuff. But otherwise his performance is terrific, the scenes where he reunites with Huma left me with memories of his remarkable work with Sridevi in Jhonny, that amount of sensitivity. Obviously huma is no sridevi and Ranjith is no Mahendran, so the scenes on its own are underwhelming, but Rajni make me connect with those moments. and so with the scenes with his wife, or the confrontations with Nana patekar, or the moment he encounters the double tragedy in his life of losing his wife and son.
so as the curtain comes down on what could be Rajni’s most deglamorised, grungiest, deglossififed film in may be 35 years, the takeaway for me is about the man – the star actor. he looks more frail and thin here, he has been suffering from old age, illnesses, bad financial decisions , dumb decision to enter politics and so on, but on that screen , he’s just pure magic
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நவீன்
June 10, 2018
Full review in FilmCompanion is understandable, but we miss those keys at the end of your reviews.
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harish ram
June 10, 2018
@Aadhy: let’s revisit Arivu’s problem: “blue collared workers switching to white collar jobs as they think it’s their means to lead an upgraded life. In this process, they get engraved in the consumerist world that’s dictated by ruthless marketing gimmicks that fuel the desires of the common man.”
He believes information asymmetry is the root cause of this snowball effect. The whole 3rd act is about correcting this information asymmetry so that we move to a more free market system where supply & demand dictate the terms of the trade thus ensuring the power not be skewed to one end of the system.
I will not refute to your point that there is a sudden jump to food adulteration and all these corporate hogwash. That’s why I say the film is a mess as a cinema. Food adulteration is a very widely covered & sensitive topic which when mixed with an unexplored topic like free market economy & information asymmetry will eventually adulterate the original idea. And of course, it’s natural for him to use the communist flags in his promotions because that’s his world and his mindset.
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MANK
June 10, 2018
I found Ranjith’s obsession to keep the personal out of the larger political and class battle,very forced and contrived. Kaala just didnt seem to be a person who would forgive someone who would kill his father in front of him and definitely not the one who would kill his wife and children. It almost as if to give an added sense of nobility to the larger cause , a pedantic adherence to the communist ideology of the whole class war being more important than the individual’s which i dont think was necessary here. In Ramayana the battle between Ram and Raavan begins on a personal note and stays so more or less throughout, Rama is ready to quit fighting the moment sita is returned to him, the bigger issue of getting rid of evil from the world just comes about as a result of the conflict, something that Rama did not intentionally set out to do. Guess this could be considered an attempt to subvert the epic. Ramayana re imagined through the Dravidian lens as predominantly a turf war, keeping the personal out.
i found it very amusing that the a lot of stuff Ram does to Raavan in the epic is reversed here . the first meeting between Ram and Raavan happens in the battle field and ,in course of their battle, Ram disarms him , destroys his chariot and send him back to his palace on foot. here its exactly what Kaala does to Haridev . Another thing to notice is that , except for a shot of some muslims praying – which also gets disturbed – Kaala’s empire is practically a godless country. the religious symbols are always present outside his world. it is in this regard that this film departs significantly from the Mani Rathnam adaptions of the epics. There in thalapathi, the characters are surrounded by religion, the temples , the agaraharams, the devotional music, the sun god that watches over his son throughout the film
In Gangs of new york – which seems to been a significant influence on this film – the conflict move from personal vengeance to a class\religious struggle and more of an oedipal battle as the film progresses. of course its hard to expect that kind of depth in a tamil mainstream movie, i wish the conflict had proceeded more in that fashion
My most favorite scene was the climax , which is adapted from the godfather – where a religious function is intercut with scenes of mob violence- . i have seen this repeated in several films, but in this film it gets real close to the the spirit of the original, in the sense that what is happening with the violence is exactly opposite to what is meant by the religious ritual. as the priest asks Michael whether he renounces satan and he answers yes, we see his henchman go around killing people in his quest to gain absolute power , so he is accepting satan rather than renouncing him . here its the same. the priest is describing the final ram Raavan battle, with Rama killing ravana as an act of establishing Dharma , whats happening with the violence unleashed by Hari is exactly the opposite, Raavan being the good guy and Ram being the bad guy in context of the film. the scene with the priest chanting in the background – like a godly voice commenting on the proceedings – with the violence on screen creates a terrific impact and proves that Ranjith has in him to be a great masala filmmaker .
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You Know Who
June 10, 2018
MANK : After using his directors to espouse his ideology on everything from religion to politics to women in movie after movie, its rather fun
I am not sure I understand. Does this mean that all those are “his” ideologies? Is he then a misogynist in real life? I am not disagreeing with you. I am just asking.
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You Know Who
June 10, 2018
MANK : I mean I’ve heard he is very humble, down to earth, et all.?
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brangan
June 10, 2018
MANK: It almost as if to give an added sense of nobility to the larger cause , a pedantic adherence to the communist ideology of the whole class war being more important than the individual’s which i dont think was necessary here.
Nail. Head.
But that is how this movie is — it sacrifices the personal (even in terms of logic, sometimes) to make its political points. Take the scene where the developer makes his proposal, with golf course and all. There is no way someone like Huma (who was born in Dharavi, and not some stranger) would sit by silently, in support of a golf course where so many more flats could be built. But then, the golf course idea allows the screenplay to make its points about how the Dharavi residents prefer more local games like cricket and football (that can be played anywhere and don’t need manicured lawns).
The film is filled with anger and ideas, but the screenplay doesn’t develop many of the characters who espouse these ideas — and the gaps in the arcs make the thing they say sound like they are coming out of convenience rather than being spurred on by something that happened earlier.
I keep thinking what a super-powerful drama this could have been had it tied its ideas to better character/scene writing.
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MANK
June 10, 2018
Does this mean that all those are “his” ideologies
I feel that A lot of it is his and the other lot of it is what he imagined (rightly or wrongly) what his fans want him to say or do. the directors – like Suresh Krishna , KSR – have gone on record that Rajni knows what his fans want more than anybody else and takes extra interest in putting those stuff in the movies. where one stops and the other begins i am not sure.
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brangan
June 10, 2018
MANK: The experience left me with mixed emotions. the first 30 odd minutes were sheer torture, the nadir of cinema if you will, resembling some old Visu film or the last scene of 70’s 80’s film where all the characters assemble together in a frame doing a tight rope walk
Oh, man! This is the most surprising thing for me. How can the man who gave us Attakathi and Madras make this blandly crafted film? I mean, compare the one-take tracking shot here (that introduces Selvi) to the similar shot that introduces the Saranya character in Magalir Mattum — and you see how even the so-called “bravura” sequences are so bland.
Someone I was speaking to said that Ranjith made his first two films at his own pace, whereas these two Rajini films were kind of hurried affairs. Maybe that explains the writing and the staging.
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harish ram
June 10, 2018
@Mank: On the perspective that Rajini has been trying to satisfy what is the current socio-cultural outlook, of the time, why not take it that Rajini took up this film seeing what people seem to liking nowadays: ideology movies? Politically too I see this as a shrewd hedging mechanism.
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KayKay
June 10, 2018
Well, color me surprised!
In their second Tango together, Ranjith and Rajini seemed to have finally found their groove.
If Kabali was an awkward tangle of flailing limbs and jerky movements, Kaala gets the close embraces, small steps and syncopated rhythmic footwork right for the most part between 2 dancers whose styles form an uneasy mesh to say the least.
Can Ranjith keep his themes intact without Rajini’s Size-12 Celebrity shoes stomping all over them or will Rajini’s natural flamboyance be curbed by a film-maker interested in using his high profile star as a mouthpiece to espouse his ideologies?
For the most part, Kaala achieves this balance, with Ranjith’s Pet Themes doing an expert pirouette around Rajini’s Iconic Screen Presence.
I liked the gentle subversions of the traditional “Rajini-isms” (the intro scene and the “Setting ah” punchline which don’t play out the way you expect it to) but also how Ranjith keeps a tight leash on his Star before unleashing the coiled spring of energy to do the Cock Of The Walk strut across a rain-soaked bridge to deliver some righteous retribution, the movie’s first true mass scene occurring just prior to the interval ( a nice “Baasha-like touch) when the traditional approach would have called for that to be the Super Star’s intro.
It’s a simplistic storyline and follows a trajectory that never veers from it’s pre-plotted course, but what gives Kaala sbstantial heft is Ranjith’s mastery at creating mood and atmosphere. Under his lensing, Dharavi becomes a living, breathing organism. It’s corrugated tin-roof huts, narrow alleyways, mud streaked lanes,pot-hole strewn roads convey the congestion, squalor and degradation but also the humanity, colour and vibrancy of it’s inhabitants.
And credit Ranjith to once again let Rajini act his age(here he’s a father of 4 grown sons and a grandfather of at least 5) , and more importantly, lets him actually act, and in his fleshing out of the tough,authoritarian but ultimately humane Kaala, the Star shows what a fine and natural performer he can be as opposed to a collection of slow-motion struts, swishy hand gestures and print-worthy punchlines (you get that here too, but they’re sprinkled garnishes as opposed to the main course).
I kept saying “for the most part” above because it all devolves in the final half hour of course, as mass market sensibilities need to be appeased and the film becomes a series of oneupmanship and increasingly violent confrontations racking up a sizable body count. The early nuances in the script juxtaposing Lenin’s way of affecting change by utilizing Due Process against Kaala’s “If they won’t Give, we’ll just Take” approach is chucked aside as swiftly as Nana Patekar’s understated menace morphs into frothing belligerence.
I could have done without the overt symbolism layered on thickly and the awkwardly inserted love triangle with Huma Qureshi. And someone tell me, what the freaking fuck is up with those rapping breakdancers? They’re about as welcome as eunuchs in a whorehouse!
But for the most part, Kaala is pretty damned watchable and an interesting entry in the twilight of Rajini’s career (I don’t think the man has that many more movies left in him) and if he plans to transition into politics, then roles like this should help him exit in style.
Which is the way he does most things.
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Manikandan V
June 10, 2018
1.Movie’s foremost point is “Land is Our Right” – this message is unambiguously conveyed – this throws a common perception of supporting clearing of encroachments by authority to spanners
2.Subversion of Super Heroic Grand Saver of the downtrodden,Not only Rajni s but entire mass hero image s significance and history takes a beating, but there emerges another Individual who inspires others also to be like him but he is not the only chosen one forever. Deliberate invoking of Nayakan & Thalapathi with the scenes staged in Balcony and Rain Fight in Bridge is well made,
3.Anti Hindutva Stance and Vision of Merger of Periyarist,Communist & Ambedkarism ideologies
4.Sequence after interval exactly reiterates modus operandi used by Authority – Midnight arrest,Intimidation & Truce, Custody Violence,Killing Kith and Kin, Arson, Communal Instigation,144 Implementation and police instigated Violence – In reality all above happen again and again at various places across, almost in a text book/ classical fashion, as it repeats often its almost a classical case suitable to Invoke a epic like Ramayana, Ramayana & Holi are signifying triumph of good over evil, Both the likes of Haridada and Super Hero Kaala are no more – Power is in the hands of People
5.Small Portion for African Return Zareena Invoking Gandhi and his perennial thankless quest for compromise between Authority and downtrodden – She is the one who saves Kaala and many others in Climax
6.Another question raised is how empowered down trodden payback, by escaping the system they soon forget people like themselves – Kaala stays in Tharavi despite economically outgrown himself to the place, asks his family to do the same
7.Movie essentially completes the message – “Educate – Madras” , “Organize – Kabali”, Revolt – Kaala,
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Rishikesh
June 10, 2018
Have to admit that even at this age, Rajni’s screen presence has the power to make you sit through the entire film. But sadly, Ranjith loses the plot in the middle. It was the former half that worked better for me. I liked the manner in which Ranjith played around our expectations with regard to Rajni, and the high voltage sequences. There is also an effort to bind all the larger than life elements into the mould of character – an ageing don like figure, which suits perfectly the current Rajini more so cos he is warming up for a career in politics. As a result, the supporting characters get more space than they do, Eshwari Rao, completely steals the show with her wry one liners and impeccable timing. But it is a different Ranjith that one gets to see in the latter half, one who is quite content treading along a wholly familiar path. The ideologies, however brave/revolting they may seem, do not transcend, when you stop caring about the characters in the film. In a film which doesn’t even care to make us feel about the changes that come over its prime characters, there is only so much that you can dig deep.
It is strange that no one seems to speak about the interactions between Kala and the muslims in the slum. What purpose do they serve in the plot, other than to boost the mileage and extend the reach of an actor all set for a career in politics. May be with this film, Rajni was targeting the cross section that has differences with his current political stance. Hence, the P. Ranjith formula.
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Aadhy
June 11, 2018
harish_ram : He believes information asymmetry is the root cause of this snowball effect.
Yeah that’s how it started out. It could have been the third act, but this isn’t anything to do with communism. As you said, maybe the director got it all messed up in its head, cos the Ezhu velaikara song and how the movie ended had absolutely no connect with what you’re saying the third act was trying to do.
BR and Mank : There is no way someone like Huma (who was born in Dharavi, and not some stranger) would sit by silently
I totally bought this because Zareena has been out of Dharavi for a considerable amount of time and it’s totally possible that her view of what’s progress and development might really be different from Kaala’s, what with high rise buildings , golf courses and all that. This fact that she doesn’t know what people really need is established right in her introduction scene, where she asks a set of people what they need, where each of them say different things. Even someone who was born and raised in Dharavi like Lenin doesn’t know the basic needs, as Kaala points it out. So it’s totally okay if Zareena is totally unaware of it. My problem with the movie’s logic was with the arson Haridada orchestrates. Maybe I missed something, but didn’t their protest make the CM sign orders that the construction should’t take place? Once that was done and sealed, what was the point of setting Dharavi on fire or killing Kaala, when the battle is already lost from the villain’s perspective? Also the villain’s moves could’ve involved more novel strategies rather than just going for an all out bloodshed and bludgeoning people to death. The wow-factor was totally missing. The age-old Hindu-Muslim riot inducing tactics was just plain lazy writing.
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sachita
June 11, 2018
Just noticed my earlier comment had typos so corrected it.
I dont know about kaala but I do feel Ranjith’s message in madras was not to leave the housing board – he even mocks karthi’s character for his path to transition out from that place.
Most people do want to move to better surroundings, peaceful life.
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Justbeingme
June 11, 2018
I watched the movie with great expectations – I love Rajni the actor, and I felt P.Ranjith had done a pretty decent job with Kabali. I guess I was one of the few genuine fans of Kabali, so I was looking forward to something awesome. I was so wrong!
Cinematically, the movie offered nothing new. The story was a complete rehash of Nayakan and a bazillion other hero flicks. Superstar was woefully underutilized despite giving his all and being in fine form. Nana Patekar was reduced to a caricature. All the other characters were basically straight out of a Fazil or Visu movie as other commenters noted. The ending was basically a rehash of mirch masala, replace the molagapodi and red with black.
What was worse – the staggering amount of racism that the movie propagates. I cannot believe how the movie was even released. It speaks volumes for the tolerance level of the Indian people. Confusingly Equating everyone belonging to a certain religion as belonging to a certain caste, painting every one of them as horrendously evil or just clueless…..espousing Marxism without any acknowledgement of India’s failed socialist experiments (many of us on this thread are old enough to remember that humiliating day when the Indian rupee was devalued)…
I could go on and on. I’ll stop by saying that P.Ranjith failed one of the most incredible actors of all time. I trust people are sensible enough to not buy into his racist propaganda . I cannot wait for Shankar and Karthik Subbaraj to work their magic with Thalaivar!
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Justbeingme
June 11, 2018
Sorry, I tried to go away, but there are just so many thoughts to share …..
thank you BR for creating this space where we can have a true intellectual conversation. I took the time to read every one of the 100 plus comments, and even if I didn’t agree with some of them, I still loved reading everybody’s opinion
the Anjali Patil and the police officers sequence was brilliant; it was possibly the most incredibly feminist scene I have ever watched in any language; unfortunately, it got buried under the director’s confused personal racist propaganda. For a second, I thought I should recommend that he makes a feminist movie and then stopped myself. Going by his track record , he would probably make every man in the movie a complete you-know-what. While I am as feminist as feminists come, I also love the men in my life. So yea, let’s leave that alone
in both Kabali and kaala, there is the recurring theme of young people who have their hearts in the right place. In Kaala, I loved the character who was the first to be killed. Unfortunately , I could not even catch his name. Like the feminist angle, this nice angle was also buried under the director’s needless agenda
BR sir – apologies if this was asked and answered; do you think the ideology was Rajni’s or Ranjith’s? I find it very hard to believe thAt this is what Rajni really thinks in real life…. I
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You Know Who
June 11, 2018
MANK I feel that A lot of it is his and the other lot of it is what he imagined (rightly or wrongly) what his fans want him to say or do. the directors – like Suresh Krishna , KSR – have gone on record that Rajni knows what his fans want more than anybody else and takes extra interest in putting those stuff in the movies. where one stops and the other begins i am not sure
I get it now. Thanks. 🙂
Rishikesh It is strange that no one seems to speak about the interactions between Kala and the muslims in the slum. What purpose do they serve in the plot, other than to boost the mileage and extend the reach of an actor all set for a career in politics.
I thought Kaala was a Muslim convert. I felt it was similar to Rithvika in Madras being a Christian Dalit whose family converted from Hinduism. I thought Kaala alone converted while his family continued to be Hindus. He’s shown doing namaz along with other Muslims in the first song. I don’t think it indicates that he is a very religiously tolerant Hindu.
just being me do you think the ideology was Rajni’s or Ranjith’s? I find it very hard to believe thAt this is what Rajni really thinks in real life….
A lot of people believe that Rajini has the BJP’s support. Rajini opposing a Hindu nationalist leader who has ideas like ‘Pure Mumbai’, ‘Digital Dharavi’ seems like he’s denying his Pro stance towards a certain leading party. There is even a line of Samuthirakani saying something along the lines of “veliya po kaavi” or something, not sure about the exact words. Which party has been associated with kaavi?
It’s hard not to dismiss these as mere coincidences.
But, this may be Rajini’s only ideology in the film. I think all the rest were Ranjith’s ideologies that Rajini voiced out.
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Akash Balakrishnan
June 11, 2018
The whole subversion of Ramayana was just a filmmaker’s way of questioning who is ‘devar'(No, not the caste) and ‘asuran’, IMO. It seemed like a contemporary take on the society that we live in where ‘azhuku’ is considered untouchable when we forget that it is generated in the process of achieving the so called ‘sutham’. And I never found Hari’s character a caricature. Maybe, it was lost in translation. He is far far away from the normal Rajni movie villain. The only B&W pat was that TV interview, that too due to lack of clarity. Yes, Ranjith makes films on Dalit people but I don’t think that he insults/opposes people from the so called upper caste. Yes, Nana is seen mostly praising god. But I see it as the resemblance of caste-based politics in the north(mostly) in a secular country. But the comments have raised an interesting question to me. If everybody makes movies(or any other art) with their socio-political prisms, will there be a free society(Inevitably we all watch movies through our prisms). This takes me back to the Black Panther, Kaala and Ranjith thread. Should art be political when it is purely subjective ?
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shaviswa
June 11, 2018
I sometimes wish WordPress had a feature to ignore a user. I read some garbage above and wish that I did not have to.
Anyway – to each his/her own but I hope this blog does not become another twitter like environment where people can post anything against anyone. I avoid all MSM and social media and choose to go to only those sites that I like. This being a moderated site, I thought would allow for moderation in what is being posted.
@Brangan – I hope you have some control on what is being posted here. I am here to only read about films and reviews, interviews, etc. I am not interested in changing the society by posting here.
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vinjk
June 11, 2018
I fully support shaviswa’s suggestion. I’m not on any social media platforms so as to avoid this kind of out of topic, troll-like hate messages and activism (feminism or caste system or whatever).
I wish this blog can discuss cinema and other topics (but always with respect to cinema).
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brangan
June 11, 2018
But guys, cinema IS a part of society, and with certain films (whether Kaala or Veere Di Wedding), a larger discussion becomes unavoidable.
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shaviswa
June 11, 2018
@brangan Cinema is a part of society. So is everything else that we do. To me Cinema is another medium of entertainment. I am not interested in revolutionary content that will change how we all live. I watch films to get entertained. End of story.
This is another reason why I did not watch Kaala. I don’t want to pay through my nose to listen to some crappy preaching. If I want to learn something, I have other avenues to opt for.
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vinjk
June 11, 2018
@brangan That is true. But when it is used to hurl insults and make accusations against a person and community we lose the fun of digging into the layers of the movie or the filmmaker.
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Siva
June 11, 2018
BR:
Here is a request:
Could you please start a thread named something of the likes of Requests and General Discussions?
Personally, I would like for you to have a space where users can:
1) Post an #ASKBR Question for an upcoming (or now playing) movie
2) Request you to hold an #ASKBR session for a particular movie
3) Request you to watch and review a certain movie (now playing or upcoming). Ones for which users really want to read your take.
4) Request you to post an opinion piece on a topic of interest (if you insist, the topic requests could be confined only to cinema)
Then, hopefully you could review the requests at the end of each day and plan accordingly (translates to as and how it suits your time table)
🙂
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Sanjay Kumar
June 11, 2018
after spending a considerable time on a monday workday to read all the comments, i must admit that this brought memories of the past, where i would read the comments section of BR and soak up the conversation as some learning experience
since i am a fan of Pa. Ranjith i wanted to know what others felt about the movie and its subtext.
one recurring theme that some readers shared was about the depiction of protagonist and his identity. Come to think of it films from Hari, Gautam Menon, Maniratnam or Muthiah are never apologetic about the caste and class location of their protagonist who are either upper caste or middle or dominating caste and no one finds it problematic
OTOH PR’s protagonist are found to be even “racist” by some! “For a privileged person, equality sounds like oppression” is what came immediately to my mind.
I will tell you how it operates,those who mock TN students (OBC,SC/ST) for failing in NEET exams owing to its progressive reservation policies do not find it problematic when students with money, privilege take up self financing medical college education paying exorbitant capitation fees. They conveniently forget that the lower cut offs are only at reducing entry level barriers, and he/she has to study the course eventually to become a doctor by clearing the semester papers!
A feminist talking about equality will be interested to highlight the many unpleasant and abusive experiences she experienced from men, as her lived experiences. Whether she includes about some of her better experiences about men is a gross entitlement that men demand from her,when the focus shifts from her oppressive experience to demand a “more nuanced” telling about her experiences
Since the “racist” commentary was evoked by a female (i may be wrong), i thought drawing a parallel from a feminist reference would help us appreciate why the immediacy of concern of the oppressed person is not about balancing things, but primarily to highlight their plight and evoke some sort of “consideration” to the problems at hand. Also hold a mirror to society who might feel satisfied and indulge in self appreciation comparing the conditions of “now” with that of distance past, which was undoubtedly far worse in terms of racial harmony, casteist violence or gender discrimination
PS: the very scene in “Lagaan” which was so patronising to dalits and deeply insulting to dalits’ was “highlighted” as an example, by one of your readers, of how to deal with this subject, made me numb and angered from within. To reminiscent the scene, people actually call him “kachra” meaning garbage, can you imagine how it feels like to actually a person that? That scene actually invisibilises the marginalised from the general discourse. If the same thing was shown in a Hollywood movie, the director would have been shamed to death!
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Sanjay Kumar
June 11, 2018
But to call them only symbols, and credit the film with symbolism is to do his vision injustice. Through Kaala, Ranjith thinks of how gender relations would change if we didn’t take the Brahmin as default, how discussions on our public spaces would change if upper-caste urban wasn’t the starting point, or how we would think of sex, romance and sexuality if access to private spaces and upper-caste morality wasn’t a given. His take isn’t always easy to stomach and sometimes the brush strokes are too broad, but the attempt is revolutionary in itself.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/rajinikanth-s-kaala-is-ranjith-s-fantasy-film-against-india-s-cultural-apartheid/story-rNNqvSjPe5Qk1msCpH8spL.html
This was one of the finest commentary about those symbols in Kaala and Dhrubo Jyoti was so brilliant in evocatively presenting them in this review
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Viswanathan C
June 11, 2018
Was the movie made after Rajni’s visit to Thoothukudi?
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Siva
June 11, 2018
Sanjay Kumar: PS: the very scene in “Lagaan” which was so patronising to dalits and deeply insulting to dalits’ was “highlighted” as an example, by one of your readers, of how to deal with this subject, made me numb and angered from within. To reminiscent the scene, people actually call him “kachra” meaning garbage, can you imagine how it feels like to actually a person that? That scene actually invisibilises the marginalised from the general discourse. If the same thing was shown in a Hollywood movie, the director would have been shamed to death!
I remember watching the Thamizh movie Paeraanmai and feeling similarly angered at the sheer intensity with which actor Ponvannan‘s character uses quite a large amount of casteist/racist slurs toward actor Jeyam Ravi‘s character. He even gets away for the most part of it. Meaning, no real retribution for all those slurs. Well, I got that the director (S.P.Jananathan) perhaps wanted to convey that most people who are as casteist/racist as that character actually get away with such slurs in real life. Nonetheless, the way it was conveyed was too hard for me to take in.
Similar to your feeling here, I thought that the ideology of that part of that movie was extremely distasteful. I still remember imagining after that movie’s screening: If I, an outsider, was feeling that enraged after watching it, how hard would it be for people from that particular race/caste who actually end up watching that movie?
Bad. Real Bad :@
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Aadhy
June 11, 2018
Sorry for the re-posts BR. Rectified some typos in previous comments.
KayKay : And someone tell me, what the freaking fuck is up with those rapping breakdancers?
Ha ha ha, I had the same feeling. Rap is an expression the locals of the slum use to exhibit joy, pain or any other emotion. But this was a bit overdone. We have a dude hung from the top, his mom wailing and the community mourning, and these rappers go yea yea yea…enna panlan sollu kaala sollu kaala . Wtf
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sanjana
June 11, 2018
It is all relative. Indians as a whole were kachras and dogs in the eyes of the british rulers sometime back. And yet we run to those countries for education and employment. Our government has cordial relations with them.The British, French or others still have not reconciled to realities and they still practice discreet discrimination.
We have appropriated their language, their parliamentary system, constitution, legal system, medical education and many positive aspects without a second thought. This is called moving on or gradual assimilation which benefits the country. Recently there are noises about being pure desis discarding everything alien. From where they will start? Will they cut off all those benefits? The same thing about regional pride movements which thrive on sons of soil theories and language impositions.
And what about our collective attitude towards africans or american blacks?
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Madan
June 11, 2018
@Sanjay Kumar: As you are probably aware, the guy who collects garbage is still referred to as kachrawala rather than by his name. There are those who don’t do so – I try to learn the names of these people and always address them by it – but many more do. So it’s sad but not at all surprising that the audience was and still is oblivious to the implication of calling someone kachra. In reading this discussion, I understand better why Shekhar Gupta called Modi’s first I Day speech as PM ‘classic RSS’.
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brangan
June 11, 2018
Sanjay Kumar: I read that piece yesterday. It makes some good points, but I was disappointed by this passage:
The post-movie discussion, as one waited to collect bags or outside the washroom, also bore the same tenor–that the movie induced discomfort and that its politics didn’t fit with the potboiler it was supposed to be, a sentiment shared by many reviewers, here, here and here.
My review is included there — and I never said I was discomfited by the mix of politics and potboiler. I felt the two aspects weren’t well-intergrated in the screenplay, sure — the Ranjith-ism and Rajini-ism. This is not the same as what he says: “It is of little surprise, then, that in the imagine of my fellow movie-goer, a Dalit person living in a slum must represent a crushed soul, bent over double by the weight of the world the way our auteurs such as Satyajit Ray imagined them”
Tamil cinema has been celebrating the spirit of ghettos and slums for decades. I don’t think anyone here equates slum with “crushed soul.”
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MANK
June 11, 2018
To reminiscent the scene, people actually call him “kachra” meaning garbage, can you imagine how it feels like to actually a person that? That scene actually invisibilises the marginalised from the general discourse. If the same thing was shown in a Hollywood movie, the director would have been shamed to death
First of all, Lagaaan is a quasi masala film . and the way it works is that the characters are broad archetypes. not just the kachra character , but the hero Bhuvan, his insecure girlfriend, the sikh, the muslim, ,the british villain are drawn broadly to be representative of a certain demographic. . secondly its a period film set in 1893. so you can only assume what was the situation regarding dalits then. the scenes in the film – including the basic concept – are more metaphorical in nature rather than being literal. it just shows indians bonding together irrespective of class differences to defeat a common enemy. its ridiculous trying to judge films by taking individual scenes out of the context of the movie
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Udhay Sankar
June 11, 2018
Liked the film a lot, hope this causes a upward trend for rajni in this stage of his career. I expect more fluid stunt choreography in the future rajni films though. Age has finally caught up with him and the frailty in the punches is visible. Hoping for one last perfect masala-blockbuster from him with the rajni-karthik subburaj film.
Aadhi, KayKay: Those rap dancers were a big LOL moment for me too. They have been in all ranjith’s films since Madras.
Mank: Thanks for your take, was waiting patiently for it 🙂 I loved rajni performance too. Eagerly waiting for the surprises in store with the rajni-karthik collab.
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sanjana
June 11, 2018
I think Ray depicted something which he must have seen during his times. We must view film makers’ works with reference to their times , to their experiences and also to which region they belong to. We just cannot dismiss their works like that.
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Padawan
June 12, 2018
“Light sexism, undermining women actors, socially acceptable levels of misogyny”
Ennamo ponga Brangan saar! Neenga engeyo poiteenga!
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sanjana
June 12, 2018
https://www.hindustantimes.com/andhra-pradesh/priest-in-andhra-pradesh-to-carry-a-dalit-man-into-vaishnavite-temple/story-E192O7WvemIf1caBBYLN1I.html
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brangan
June 12, 2018
Padawan: Thank you for your continuing social service 🙂 This has got to be my favourite of the lot. I really hope they don’t go back to the reviews of Hansika movies (and the comments below) 🙂
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jaga_jaga
June 12, 2018
@Arjun – Thanks for the detailed explanation, man!
About Pa Ranjit – Entirely agree that there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money. But when in a movie (Kaala), you give a wrong message that “let people living in bad conditions continue to live in them. It is better than completely taking away even that right away from them” while you you yourself live comfortably, that does come accross as double standards.
Now one might argue that, this was not even the message of the movie. It was rather that, in the name of helping people (promising them of a better livelihood), one shouldn’t deceive them. But sadly it didn’t come accross to me like that. Either due to somehow squeezing in lots of ideology or due to poor film-making (I would like to believe it is the former, given that I think Pa Ranjith is a good film-maker), the movie gives a very random message that does reek of double standards all along!
Hence my persistant stance that Pa Ranjith whether intentionally (due to ideology) or unintentionally (due to poor fil-making) comes accross as this privileged person paying lip service to the idelogies he preaches but doesn’t practice.
About Brahmins – I liked a particular line in what you’ve written. Which went something like, “if privileges aren’t ceded, they have to be snatched away”! Excellent one that. And it is a natural thing to happen. But when it happens, the privileged will evolve too, and instead of practising overt forms of discrimination, they resort to covert forms. My only point is, this will keep on continuing. This battle of the privileged vs un-privileged.
Brahmins have definitely contributed their fair share to this conflict. Now consider this example. In the current scenario in TN, the OBCs are the ones who rule the roost. They are privileged now. But look at the treatment they are meting out to the Dalits! Be it with regards to honor killing, or caste feauds or even the dual tumbler system, the privilged OBCs are running rampant. Now, how might you even snatch the privilege from them??
Lastly about the link you sent – It is a highly biased one man, with laughable scholarly standards! There are lots of such articles running around the webm either praising Brahmins or dissing them off. But they are all biased.
Should you insist, I can point-by-point refute them (not a Brahmin supporter, me!). If you want a more scholarly (but biased) view of Brahmins, I suggest you read Kancha Ilaiah (from Hyderabad University). That guy makes it more compelling (although all he ever writes is against the Brahmins).
For a neutral and scholarly discussion, pleaase follow Romilla Thapar and Wendu Doniger. More recently there is this scholar at IIT Hyderabad, Haripriya Sridharan, I guess. Her work is also neutral, and carries a lot of weight. But please don’t be misguided by some crappy article believing it to be the truth.
@Varsha – I never agreed with your “disease analogy”. I said fair point for you to say what you say. Never agreed. Analogies can be given for anything. What you call a disease, I can call a ‘life enhancer”. Its all about playing with the words. Regardless, I firmly believe that the privileged will not give up. In oen way or the other, they’ll always look to retain some of their privilege, and there is nothing wrong with it. Equality is a myth. A utopia, if you can call it. Theoretically, it sounds like an amazing idea, but practically is implausible (IMO). It has never before occurred in human civilization, nor will it ever happen.
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shaviswa
June 12, 2018
If you are a male, you cannot criticize a female on her performance. You are immediately branded as a misogynist.
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edwardssammy
June 12, 2018
@Padawan, that Twitter comment thread is quite something. BR saar, you are more popular than I thought you were. Looks like you are no longer the hipsters’ choice .. 😉
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The Ghost Who Walks
June 12, 2018
@Jaga
What happens in closed walls is nobody’s business. It is my personal right to offend anyone, as long as no one knows that he/she gets offended
See, this is problematic for 2 reasons.
These closed walls are not so insular. What goes on inside my 4 walls informs my actions outside. The people who have been at the receiving end for decades if not centuries are aware of this fact.
Framing it around the right to offend makes it seem more innocuous than it is. We are not talking about throw-away jokes but about deeply entrenched discrimination that grows and feeds off such environments.
Again, like I said in my earlier post, this is not to suggest that our personal spaces need to be policed or anything, but to point that while we can (and should) complain about all the rabble-rousing in public spaces, one also needs to be aware of how our private spaces are contributing to the whole mess.
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jaga_jaga
June 12, 2018
@the Ghost…,
Agreed that the walls are not insular! Also to your point that private space conversations do contribute to the mess.
But there is no way it can be changed is my point. Because like you yourself said, there is no way personal spaces can be policed. And personal spaces are the ones where you vent out what’s in you. And what’s in you is not only egalitarianism and equality, but also notions of privilege and pride. Quite a natural human tndency, this.
Bottomline – there is no way to monitor personal behavior. But there public spaces are quite different.
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The Ghost Who Walks
June 12, 2018
@Sanjay, Siva
PS: the very scene in “Lagaan” which was so patronising to dalits and deeply insulting to dalits’ was “highlighted” as an example, by one of your readers, of how to deal with this subject, made me numb and angered from within.
I think we are reading this out of context. I bought that the character like that would be called kachra in the world the movie was set in. In fact, the movie is all about needing all kinds of people to build a team. In fact, it is the sudden change in the villagers about Kachra that felt off to me. There might be issues with the writing and how these scenes were staged, but the i felt the politics were progressive.
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Srinivas R
June 12, 2018
Hasn’t no one watched the horrible lip sync by Kajal Agarwal and the others of her ilk? The bubbles within which live is quite stunning..
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Srinivas R
June 12, 2018
@Jaga_Jaga: very fair point about OBC domination. Almost all caste related violence in TN involves the OBCs and when it comes dalit oppression, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that it is exclusively done by OBCs. I am aware of or rather experienced the covert discrimination by Brahmins, but I am amused that the OBC domination and discrimination is never called out in TN politics
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Srinivas R
June 12, 2018
“Equality is a myth” – Truer words etc. etc. The flip side is that Freedom is possible. As Rahini mentioned in a different context in the other thread ( in a different context), Freedom is progress and if we strive for Freedom for all to live a life of their choice, we would go some way in addressing the equality as well.
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sanjana
June 12, 2018
“but I am amused that the OBC domination and discrimination is never called out in TN politics.”
There is not much difference between OBCs and dalits. That maybe one of the reasons for them not getting much blame. And OBCs were also at the receiving end of discrimination by brahmins.
Oppressed becoming oppressors happens all the time.
Are not some women use the law that is meant to protect women to harass men for personal revenge?
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Tambi Dude
June 12, 2018
@jaga_jaga: You wrote a wonderful reply until you praised Romila Thappar and Wendy Doniger. Gasp.
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GODZ
June 12, 2018
spoilers ahead
l am surprised…Out of 140 plus comments, not even one comment one comment mentioned about Mark Anthony of Baadsha..So when Ranjith does something he is a propagandist..When Suresh Krishna does it He is an ultimate masala film maker..Fine. So when Suresh Krishna portrays an entire religion in bad light(even Anthony’s goons are Christians – Albert), its the best “Rajni Kinda” movie. Fine. So whats is Rajni kinda film?..For the past 20 years..None of the Rajnis Super Hit movies were a hit because of Rajni Factor. None. and what is Rajni Factor? Misogynist dialogues, Baboon Antics, mindless dialogues etc. So when Rajni says “pichiduven..adikire adiyile amma kite kudiche paal veliya varum”, thats the Rajni movie everyone wants is it not? Is that not a insult to the actor?
Kaala is not a perfect movie..that does not mean its a bad movie. Of course what worked for me need not work for everyone. Sometimes, you never care about any of the aesthetics aspect of the movie, when a movie connects to you at an emotional level. Rajni of Kaala is a revelation. Having seen Rajni in indestructible avatar over the years..its not only refreshing to see a vulnerable Rajni but its a delight to watch how Rajni subtly hides that vulnerability with dignity and courage in his eyes.
When Smallest of Small heroes care for their image, Rajni gives a damn about it. When Nana patekar forces Rajni and make him fall in his feet, I have never seen anything like that in any Rajni movie. To me, it was a huge emotional moment. To see u favorite actor as vulnerable like this is a pain in itself. I felt the same pain when i watched Wolverine.
Immediately when inside the car when Eswari Rao inquires about his injury, Rajni gives a smile. In that smile, he expresses subtly both the pain and love at the same time! For me the deaths worked because Rajni beautifully expresses his loss..When Rajni Says “En Thalapathi”..you will feel the pain in his eyes.
What makes Nana patekar roles sinister is here is a man who truly regrets for killing Kaalas family and he apologizes. He truly believes that he has to do it because he believes what he does is Dharma. When Rajni confronts Nanapatekar in the closing scenes, Rajni arguably displays the best performance in any movie. He expresses loss, anger,helplessness,love for the kid etc etc what not!!…
For me this is out and out a Rajni movie. This is the Rajni that any Non-Rajni fan longed to see for years. It has his flaws. Ranjith could have piggy packed his views and expression in a Rajni movie for a more powerful voice but he gave us the Rajni we all longed to see for years. So his creative Sins if any could be forgiven for that. An Ageing Kaala is 100 times more livelier than a prosthetic Robo Rajni.
Their was never a perfect Rajni movie in the past 20 years. So when compared to those mindless Crap, this is one jewel of a movie that going to shine for years to come.
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MANK
June 12, 2018
I cant believe pavan got upset and left the blog. i am still not convinced what upset him really. Its hard to understand what would upset people these days.
And i see that a lot of our regular commenters are missing now. what happened to our venkateshs, the original and the honest one
Now i partially agree with Shaviswa and others that we stick to film discussions on this blog. there are exceptions, but i think most of what happens is some dude who comes in and trash talks about women and the rest of the thread is all about bloggers replying him. this happens periodically until someone gets banned or someone quits or whatever.
may be that certain comment about Brahmani community and UPSC exams should have been moderated out. but may be if Brangan had done that , knives would have been out for him. its really hard
Btw i am following the FCSouth film club now. it seems to be fun with people interested in seriously discussing about cinema. Hope it stays that way
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Varsha
June 12, 2018
jaga_jaga: Feel free to disagree. I never ever expected you to agree to my analogy. My point, in my previous comment, was that the fact that I too say the phenomenon is ubiquitous should have been clear from the analogy I gave. That is all I was trying to say in my previous comment. You are free to call it whatever you want, just as me and everyone else. But IMO, it’s not playing with words. It’s playing with human life.
And yes, complete equality is definitely a myth. Just like perfection. But then, don’t we all strive to come close to perfection? Just because perfection cannot be attained, do people, who are passionate about their jobs, do it as imperfectly as possible? No, they try to come as near to perfection as possible. No movie can possibly be taken without any drawbacks that the critics won’t point out. But does any filmmaker, who is serious about his job, strive toward imperfection? Or, at least, what he/she perceives as imperfection? Or any film critic or any other professional, for that matter. No. So it is with equality also. Complete equality is not practically plausible, but working towards it and achieving success wherever possible(the examples I gave are some of the success stories) itself makes a huge difference to social well-being, so it’s never a lost cause.
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sanjana
June 12, 2018
Talking about films, we missed BR reviews for 102 not out, Parmanu and some other films which did well and not so well.
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sanjana
June 12, 2018
Can we have a thread where missed films get some views and comments from interested readers?
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Jaga_Jaga
June 12, 2018
@ Srinivas R – Yes very much the case, it is! Brahmins in TN are very convenient scapegoats (scapecats, I must say – they are shrewd enough!) for the dominant OBC folks, christian missionaries, and fundamental islamists.
@Thambi Dude – Their views may not be pleasing to contemporary Brahmins and their lifestyle, but I find both very scholarly, and both do acknowledge the positive contributions made by the Brahmins, as well. Every community is important for a nation’s civilization. Contemporary Brahmins tend to appropriate everything and grab a disproportionately large share in the nation’s history. And this is what is rightly pointed out by both of them.
@ Varsha – Your point is very well taken. Especially the following sentence, “working towards it and achieving success wherever possible(the examples I gave are some of the success stories) itself makes a huge difference to social well-being, so it’s never a lost cause.”
Appreciate it genuinely!
People who genuinely pander to this philosophy are fewer in number – especially from among those who are privileged (IMO).
@Sanjana – I’ve been crying hoarse for the review of a movie called “Iravukku Aairam Kangal”
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JJ
June 12, 2018
The lip sync issue with Nana Patekar’s dialogues is because he is mouthing all the dialogues in Hindi. While it is perfect in Hindi, you realise how it is the Tamil lines are dubbed over Nana speaking in Hindi. There are a few lines in Tamil that Nana says Haridada’s first meeting with Kaala, and those lines are retained as it , even in the Hindi version.
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harish ram
June 12, 2018
@GODZ: That was a big ‘tackku’ moment reading the commentary on Baasha. Will have to revisit the film to see if it fits into the POV you suggested. From memory, I remember he had Kesavan (Nagma father), a hindu, in his team.
PS: Rangaswamy, as accountant is a typecast, so I would understand for not including him into the clique.
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Rm
June 12, 2018
The abuse, masquerading as criticism against brahmins, in the comments section are genuinely disturbing.
“Brahmin mafia”, “paapan paapathi”, “crap such as veda and manusmrithi”
What happened to respecting the religious sentiments in this portal? Sorry to indulge in whataboutery, but had posts of same nature been made about some other community, the person who made the comment would have been called out left, right and center.
Anyone is ofcourse free to criticise, but it needs to be done in a civilized way.
Sorry to make a political point, the comment about chief secretary Girija Vaidhyanathan in the context of Thoothukudi protests, I too saw memes related to this in twitter. But people who cry hoarse that there is no way to establish the people who died in the protests were elements with criminal background doesn’t blink once to make this accuse blatantly, just to bring the anti brahmin angle inside. Why don’t you stop with blaming the state government directly, what is the need to bring this brahmin angle inside without any basis. Reeks of pure hate and hypocrisy.
“They deserve every bit of anger and resentment that exists against them”
This is truly alarming. Person who makes this kind of comment would not hesitate to say the same thing, when verbal attacks escalate to violence.
And the most unfortunate thing perhaps is, people who call out anti-feminism, come in defence of individual rights and such things are maintaining radio silence, Far from it, some regulars to this blog endorse such comments that reek of racism and bias by ‘liking’ it.
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Jaga_Jaga
June 12, 2018
@harish ram, and @GODZ – Agreed with this one! In the Tamil Movies, Back in the 90s (less so) and more often in the 80s and 70s, Christians were the ones portrayed as being the suave white collared criminals.
Christian Women were the ones shown to always wear this revealing dress and be of low morals. Pretty much akin to how Brahmin Maamis are contemporarily shown in bad light.
Interestingly, it was not the case in the Tamil movies of 1950s and 60s. It was a distinctive feature of the 70s and 80s only.
I was myself insensitive to this point, until Seeman brought this up in a speech which I listened (one of the few valid points he has). So yes, that is definitely valid!
So yes, Christians and Brahmins have been conventionally shown in poor light. Christian priests however have been accorded due respect, but Brahmin priests have been made a laughing stock almost always!
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GODZ
June 12, 2018
@Harish…Its Anthony who makes the plot to bomb a Hindu temple!! Can you believe it. Suresh Krishna brilliantly Exploited the us-vs them in that movie by portraying a christian as a villain and a Muslim-Hindu Coalition against Mark Anthony. It worked Brilliantly with everyone. IMO Had he named the villain as “kitty” or “Vallavarayan”(haha), it would have still been a hit but not a blockbuster and a cult film as its perceived today.. Thats why none of the later Rajni films could match Baashah because they cannot find that ultimate “them”.
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Jaga_Jaga
June 12, 2018
Sorry one more point…another group always villified are the North Indians. Those leaving in Sowcarpet specifically. And fueling it are those proclaiming the proud “Tamizhan daa” types.
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Aadhy
June 12, 2018
As someone who has ‘liked’ the supposedly ‘anti-brahmin’ comments in this post, let me explain where I stand in this debate. The reason I support their arguments, although I might have problems with the vitriol-filled tone of these comments, is that these voices need to be acknowledged here in this space which seem to be appallingly ignorant about upper caste privileges, calling Ranjith ‘racist’ and making other eyeroll-inducing statements. You can see the number of people who got offended by the politics in this movie, failing to differentiate between ‘anti-brahmins’ and ‘anti-brahminism’.
I personally didn’t get involved in these debates here because it somehow quickly devolves into nasty mud slinging. These caste-related discussions need a more open & receptive atmosphere. One side has to show willingness for an open discussion, to understand the evils of following a thousand year old social structure, even if following certain ‘traditions’ under this system falls completely under a person’s individual rights. The other side has to exercise some restraint in the tone and make a distinction between accusing a specific set of people and the ideologies/practices which are.discriminatory, directly or indirectly. In this blog, while this ‘atmosphere’ is maintained while debating gender issues (most times), it’s sadly absent in the case of caste-related discussions. I echo MANK in feeling that, it’ll be best to just stick to cinema-related discussions with respect to Kaala in this space. I am willing to engage more in this direction when I feel the atmosphere here is less toxic and more open.
I would like to end my comment with a quote from Ambedkar, which echoes the movie’s sentiments and stance, for those who think the movie or the director is racist.
“By Brahmanism I do not mean the power, privileges and interests of Brahmins as a community. That is not the sense in which I am using the word. By Brahmanism I mean the negation of the spirit of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. In that sense it is rampant in all classes and is not confined to the Brahmins alone though they have been the originators of it. This Brahmanism which pervades everywhere and which regulated the thoughts and deeds of all classes is an incontrovertible fact. It is also incontrovertible fact that these Brahmanism gives certain classes a privileged position. It denies a certain other classes even equality of opportunity. ”
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Madan
June 12, 2018
““By Brahmanism I do not mean the power, privileges and interests of Brahmins as a community. That is not the sense in which I am using the word. By Brahmanism I mean the negation of the spirit of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. In that sense it is rampant in all classes and is not confined to the Brahmins alone though they have been the originators of it. This Brahmanism which pervades everywhere and which regulated the thoughts and deeds of all classes is an incontrovertible fact. It is also incontrovertible fact that these Brahmanism gives certain classes a privileged position. It denies a certain other classes even equality of opportunity. ”” – Well elucidated by Ambedkar as ever. However, he could not have possibly imagined that said Brahmanism would one day be demonstrated by a Dalit, Uttam Khobragade, and his daughter, the more infamous Devyani Khobragade (Uttam is world famous in Mumbai for ordering terrible Chinese make buses at a high price). Nobody is saying a Dalit has to be a saint to gain the same privileges that a Brahmin entitles himself to via the caste system. However, being mindful of the price that this privilege network extracts from society is not too much to ask, surely. But, coming back to Ambedkar, maybe he did imagine because he seemed more aware of the fallibility of human nature than Gandhi or Nehru.
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Madan
June 12, 2018
“In this blog, while this ‘atmosphere’ is maintained while debating gender issues (most times), it’s sadly absent in the case of caste-related discussions.” – Because associating with gender equality is fashionable for the middle/upper middle class urban Indian. Caste on the other hand is the dirty old secret of Indian culture that one would rather not talk about.
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Ramesh
June 12, 2018
@Madan.. Why is it called brahminism and not Goundarism or mudaliayarism or yadavism? It’s just a convenient term to ascribe all social evils to brahmins , cunningly used by dravidians , leftists and communists.. And to say that they were the originators of this is just nonsense..notions of superiority,negation of equality etc are inherent in all cultures.. By using the term brahminsim it just denotes or puts the blame entirely on one community.
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Ramesh
June 12, 2018
Agree with one of the comments saying “BR tends to glorify even MR’s worst movies.I can’t imagine he had so many good things to say on movies like Kaatru veliyidai, Yennai arindhal and AYM, but so miserly when it comes to Kaala. I would largely agree with his review of Kaala and Kabali , but kaala especially had lots of beautiful moments.
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Madan
June 12, 2018
@ Ramesh: In the first place, you ought to address the question to Dr Ambedkar as he used that term. Unfortunately, that is no longer possible. Secondly, if you read Ambedkar’s quote, he is in fact crystal clear that all communities are capable of the same kind of behaviour. I will reproduce the words:
” it is rampant in all classes and is not confined to the Brahmins alone though they have been the originators of it. ”
In that sense, it is not much different from racism or sexism which all seek to demean another group or place them in an inferior/disadvantaged position vis a vis the privileged group.
“And to say that they were the originators of this is just nonsense” – In the Indian context, it absolutely is not. That many Brahmins have become progressive in the years since independence does not change what they did in earlier times. And the ones who don’t want to progress make it not very difficult to believe what their ancestors would have been capable of. Forget other communities, I hear we are fighting over vadagalai/thengalai all over again. Er, will there be a temple scapegoat, sorry, elephant this time too? I should have seen it coming when the instructions circulated in Chennai after all these years that vadagalais should wear yellow naamam. Do we really have nothing better to do in the 21st century? Of what use is the education that Brahmins have utilised to command privilege if we are busy establishing privilege even within the Brahmin community?
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Srinivas R
June 12, 2018
@Ramesh – the reason its called brahminism is because the scriptures that define the hierarchical caste structures were beleived to be written. Based on those scriptures certain castes were denied access to basic rights while a certain caste appointed itself as top of the jury. The idea of superiority on the basis of caste is so deeply ingrained that even today if you want to rent an apartment in Mylapore, your caste is a criteria. i have had house owners telling me that they intend to rent or sell their flat only to Brahmins. They take pride in the fact that this apartment building exclusive for Brahmins. On the other hand, they will mock affirmative action for communities denied access to education based on the scriptures written by them.
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Srinivas R
June 12, 2018
I meant the scriptures are believed to be written by Brahmins
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Arjun
June 12, 2018
““They deserve every bit of anger and resentment that exists against them”
This is truly alarming. Person who makes this kind of comment would not hesitate to say the same thing, when verbal attacks escalate to violence.”
That is your extrapolation.Nowhere in my comments have I supported physical violence. And no, one or two incidents of poonool cutting does not equal violence except in the minds of whiny paapans.
““crap such as veda and manusmrithi”
What happened to respecting the religious sentiments in this portal? ”
Sorry, but why should i respect a text that says brahmins are born from the head of god and shudras from the feet? And another text that says a shudra who hears the aforementioned passage being recited must have hot oil poured in his ears?
“Why don’t you stop with blaming the state government directly, what is the need to bring this brahmin angle inside without any basis. Reeks of pure hate and hypocrisy”
Because literally everyone in Tamil Nadu knows that the puppeteers of this farce govt are all paapans. Similarly everyone knows that both OPS and EPS are paapara adimais, The unelected, powerful Brahmins influencing the center’s policy decisions towards the state are those like Girija Vaidyanathan, Nirmala Sitharaman, H Raja, Su Swamy, Prohit. Thoothukudi police firing could not have happened without her approval Each one of these characters is absolutely despised by 99% of the people. And the Brahmin media mafia, both liberal and otherwise (Hindu, Dinamalar) etc are the ones doing propaganda on their behalf.
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harish ram
June 12, 2018
@GODZ: It went over our heads possibly because the Hindu-Muslim coalition Vs Christian mafia is the template of Indian independence struggle engrained in our psyche?
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brangan
June 12, 2018
Ramesh: Miserly? Dude, the first five paras are saying good things about the film. Did you even read the review?
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Arjun
June 12, 2018
@Jaga_jaga: “And it is a natural thing to happen. But when it happens, the privileged will evolve too, and instead of practising overt forms of discrimination, they resort to covert forms. My only point is, this will keep on continuing. This battle of the privileged vs un-privileged.”
That may be true, however the earlier overt forms of discrimination are thousand times more pernicious than these “evolved” covert forms. All they can do now is treat non-brahmins as second class people inside their temples and mutts. Who gives a crap. Earlier when they held power, even non-brahmin elders would be addressed in orumai (vaa da, poda) by 10 year old brahmin girls. They could not walk in their agraharams. Periyar and dravidian movment wiped this assholery clean off the state.
The even greater achievement of Periyar, Kalaignar and other mass leaders from the Dravidian movement is democratization of education, especially higher education and medical education. Whether it was Rajaji then (who closed down record number of schools and encouraged caste-based education, “kulakkalvi thittam”) or H Raja today, they don’t want non-brahmins to attain parity in education. 100 yrs back, sanskrit knowledge was compulsory to study medicine. Today they push for NEET…”evolution”. Like I said earlier, if NEET and merit had been the only criteria for studying medicine in TN, quality healthcare would have been confined to a couple of rich brahmin ghettoes like Mylapore and Adyar. Poor backward castes from villages would have had to wait in a long queue, with (of course!) Brahmins being given priority… TN would have resembled Orissa today.
And yes, I agree some parts of the article are hyperbole, but the assertions on keeping brahmins out of medicine and bureaucracy are bang on.
And to the person who glorified UPSC exams, yes, by their very nature, ultimately all competitive exams will be gamed by those with access to resources like coaching and yes, good mugging skills. What’s so great about the last 70 years of our corrupt, predominantly brahmin babus churned out by UPSC system? That they failed to implement policies that will eliminate manual scavenging? That there is a bribe to be paid for everything from getting a death certificate to getting a house registered?
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sanjana
June 12, 2018
Now this thread has become like a full blown masala movie I have some popcorn with me and coffee. Not filtered but instant one.
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Sanjay Kumar
June 13, 2018
@Sanjana: It is all relative. Indians as a whole were kachras and dogs in the eyes of the british rulers sometime back. And yet we run to those countries for education and employment. Our government has cordial relations with them.The British, French or others still have not reconciled to realities and they still practice discreet discrimination.
We have appropriated their language, their parliamentary system, constitution, legal system, medical education and many positive aspects without a second thought. This is called moving on or gradual assimilation which benefits the country. Recently there are noises about being pure desis discarding everything alien. From where they will start? Will they cut off all those benefits? The same thing about regional pride movements which thrive on sons of soil theories and language impositions.
And what about our collective attitude towards africans or american blacks?
Hmmm…let me put it this way, the push or the conciliatory tone of “Move On” should come from the victims not the accused. To make the point obvious, a rapist should not ever bring this up to the victim, who is in all probability has been scarred for life and may take a lot longer to heal from the horrific abuse she/he went through and this “move on” egging is not going to help one bit.
Coming back to the very problematic scene in Lagaan, the whole episode involving a deformed dalit is to make him invisible and make him not even peripheral to the collective victory of the small band of villagers taking on the might of English administration. The derision, contempt that one should derive from the characters who mock him with a nasty casteist slur is completely missing. This is not only problematic, not acknowledging this as a problem actually exposes the apologist more than anything else. In peraanmai, the character who mocks Ravi is not an endearing character, his actions, actually make the viewer uncomfortable and a visible discomfiture with his actions. There is no moral relativism here, considering that we derive morality and judge actions of humans based on “humanitarian first” basis/philosophy!
PS: Among dalit circles, the advent of Britishers is usually associated with progress and unchaining of the shackles of caste. So much so, dalits consider that English came late into our history and left early. Despite colonial rule, Englishmen were probably the first set of rulers who valued education and more importantly making it open across all castes. They left a lasting legacy of a modern administration system and English, whose impact is so huge, that we are able to communicate it here-a forum who are largely in the top 1% of India’s elite (not much i should add-a monthly income of above Rs 67,000!!
https://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/QxSmwS3bn5alaoRMKexoKJ/How-much-the-richest-1-earn-and-spend.html
This colonial rule analogy is a anomalous to the discussion here
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kaizokukeshav
June 13, 2018
Some times I feel that India is a volcano where one lava drop detests another. I mean where in the world people are fighting for what’s written in some age old book. I seriously doubt if current generation Brahmins even know what’s Manusmriti, leave aside Vedas. Seriously ? And the 2% in cricket analogy, hey dude why don’t you and ask Kohli, Rahane, Bhuvi and Shami. India, infact the world, has already changed big time, what hasn’t changed is “may be” the so called Dravidian idealists.
So who shood away the CSK team to Pune and then there was no news of Cauvery river issue that caused this in the first place ? Seriously ! So can I say the scorching summers are over, and with a pro-govt Govt in Karnataka and all this outrage has no meaning anymore ?
Politicians have been playing people’s outrage for times immemorial and people still keep falling for it. Just realize this for a second and all the complaints will vanish. Political mouthpieces fall into the same category. Atleast there is technology for a reason in current world which is almost available to every one, use it judiciously. Which one you choose – Think of past and cry, or think of future and smile ?
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Enigma
June 13, 2018
Has the anti-Brahmin feeling in TN increased after the BJP government assumed office or is it the power of social media that has amplified existing sentiments? I was just thinking out loud. I lived in Chennai from 1976 (when I was born) to 2003, never experienced any hatred. I have been to Chennai and Tanjavur every year since then, again I haven’t observed anything.
Anyway what is important is reconciliation. Brahmin mutts have to apologise for the sins of the past. Leadership of mutts and priesthood should not be restricted to Brahmins. Religious texts with discriminatory sections in them have to be rewritten.
More importantly prominent Brahmins should not take positions which do not respect majority sentiments. H. Raja and certain others seem to be completely tone deaf. I also hope Brahmin groups openly declare their support for DMK.
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Enigma
June 13, 2018
Rm, religious texts and scriptures have to be respected. However, if there are passages in there that openly call me inferior, I will be seething with anger.
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praneshp
June 13, 2018
@brangan: I think deep down, Ramesh, like me, is pissed off that you wrote even one positive word about KV. But I come to your blog for your views, not agreement with mine, and you have made that clear over the years.
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Madan
June 13, 2018
“Sorry, but why should i respect a text that says brahmins are born from the head of god and shudras from the feet? ” – And the ‘best’ part is Dalits don’t even have a varna. Not just down the pecking order, they don’t have a place in the order. Makes my blood boil when the supposedly ‘enlightened’ Sadguru tries to justify caste system saying there is a reason why something like this has been there for thousands of years in our country.
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Ramesh
June 13, 2018
@Madan… My intention was never to give a clean chit to brahmins and I agree there are still vadagalai , thengalai fights going on and it’s shameful..My point is it’s never been unique to brahmins and it’s found in all cultures..
Few brahmins becoming progressive after independence is also non sense.. There have always been progressive brahmins and there will always be regressive brahmins 100 years down the line. On an average, I can say from experience progressive brahmns are more in TN than most communities. Brahmin OBC marriage happens without much fuss than marriages between two OBC communities.
@Arjun.. How parochial to dub Rajaji casteist.. Rajaji doubled the school enrolment overnight with his new scheme.And all his life he fought caste discrimination.. As a lawyer he represented dalits who were denied education, in Gandhi ashram he worked with dalits, he along with vaidyanatha iyer championed temple entry movement.. I can go on..He envisioned a craft based education , and such a scheme is commonplace in many countries. Today india needs good plumbers ,carpenters, as much as it needs engineers and doctors.
Democratising education and social reforms have nothing to do with Periyar or MK..Most of the social reforms were introduced by congress and it’s such an irony Pa Ranjith, uses periyar in his movies.A man who instead of condemning keezhvenmani massacre , condemned people who forced dalits to fight for their wages and held a lot of regressive opinions on dalits.
@BR yes I was quite surprised u had good things to say on movies like KV AYM and YA
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Srinivas R
June 13, 2018
Addressed to the russian sounding commentor – Noone is fighting for whats written for whats written in manusmriti, but they are sub conciously trying to hold on to that “superior” tag. Let me give a personal example. I grew up in west mambalam, a pre dominantly brahmin locality. There was no discrimination, we mingled freely, played cricket etc. The point where discrimination happened was when it came to religion. There was a temple in the street and the way others were treated vs how i was treated was a clear indication of hierarchy. This subtle difference will come to play in religious or traditional scenarios, say a carnatic music class, some temple festival etc. Sometimes, this will spill off into day to day conversations also. You would be outed as “other”. So, yes. Blaming Brahmins for all the trouble in the world is stupid, but acknowledging the discrimination, albiet not major, that is still prevalent is necessary
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Varsha
June 13, 2018
jaga_jaga: Thanks. And yes, I agree with you. They are indeed fewer in number. But, IMO, numbers don’t matter much because in most cases the underprivileged are a majority. When they realise that these few are speaking for them, they will naturally support their cause. It takes time, but it’s also a time-tested fact.
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Siva
June 13, 2018
The Ghost Who Walks: ” I think we are reading this out of context. I bought that the character like that would be called …. ”
Errr …. My understanding of the actual issue here — or even if one exists — that involves the usage of the word k*****, referenced in Sanjay‘s and your comments, is zilch. Nada. I do not even understand/speak Hindi. I have no understanding of the underlying history here either. Even at the time, I watched Lagaan in the dubbed Thamizh version. And I seriously doubt if the dubbed version had the Thamizh equivalent (if there is one) of the derogatory word in question.
In short, my only understanding from Sanjay‘s comment was that he had felt really bad and angered with the usage of such a word on a person, even if it was in a movie. I found his empathy very similar to the anger I felt when I watched Paeraanmai. As far as this movie goes though, while I felt that the central idea that formed the rest of the movie was very good (5 young girls taking on a terrorist), the slurs part (from my earlier comment) really exasperated me. Hence my comment 🙂
sanjana: ” Talking about films, we missed BR reviews for 102 not out, Parmanu and some other films which did well and not so well. ”
sanjana: ” Can we have a thread where missed films get some views and comments from interested readers? ”
Jaga_Jaga: ” @Sanjana – I’ve been crying hoarse for the review of a movie called “Iravukku Aairam Kangal” ”
Guys, I hereby ardently direct you to reread my earlier comment in this thread that begins with:
” BR:
Here is a request: … ”
To repeat, we really could use a pointless thread 😀
In all seriousness, I am wondering if BR is right now singing (and dancing 😂) the line:
Aasa Dhosa Appalam Vada!!!! 😂 😂
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Madan
June 13, 2018
@Ramesh Never implied that Brahmins became progressive only after independence, only that a much larger proportion have done so. As for the rest of your comment, if you had read the thread, you would have seen my earlier comment that the Brahmin is the bogeyman of TN. Just blame everything that goes wrong in TN on Brahmins. If you had read my comment below the Ambedkar quote, I had mentioned a case of a Dalit behaving in a privileged and entitled manner. She finally got called out for it not here but in USA. So I am fully cognisant of the hypocrises in other communities and while Brahmin bashing is still justified to a large extent, I would urge them (backward caste communities) to also look in the mirror.
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sanjana
June 13, 2018
Moving on is an option. Or one can fight non violently until one gets 100 percent success. The first is a sort of compromise and lazy option while the latter is good for the society.
I dont have an idea about the full text of manusmriti but I know it is repressive for both the underclass and women. We can have a revised version. If constitution can be amended why not manusmriti?
About Rajaji. I heard conflicting reports about him. Telugus and Potti Sriramulu fasted for separate telugu state because they felt tamilians grabbed all the government posts and privileges.
If only Ambedkar had become the Prime Minister of India instead of Nehru, things would have changed faster.
For Cauvery water, tamilians have to fight the lingayats and gowdas than the brahmins of Karnataka who have little or no say.
In Maharashtra, there is a sort of peace between the communities as of now.
The responsibility is on everyone of us to have that utopia.
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jaga_jaga
June 13, 2018
@Arjun – Kudos to the unabashed Brahmin bashing in what you’ve written!
Indeed like you wrote, Periyar did pass along the privilege from the Brahmins to the OBCs. Not all people only the OBCs. Who now treat the Dalits with enormous disprespect. You’ve sidestepped this point entirely while heaping reams of dislikes for the Brahmins!
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brangan
June 13, 2018
If anyone is interesting in writing about a film I haven’t reviewed, do email me the text and I will put it up as a post. And we can get a discussion going.
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jaga_jaga
June 13, 2018
@BR – “email me the text ” means what?? the names of the films are already given here…eg. iravukku aairam kangal
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brangan
June 13, 2018
Meaning, write a small para or a review or a set if bullet points — anything that can serve as a “post”.
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Vidhya M
June 13, 2018
“if privileges aren’t ceded, they have to be snatched away” – I read this line in one of the comments and it got me thinking on a tangential note. Is Dharavi a privilege or a right to its residents?
If Dharavi is like one of the many Chennai slums that sprang up one day and expanded to become a locality, then would it not be a privilege that they enjoyed till now, but need to cede to the legit owners (Govt, in this case) when demanded? Is it not wiser for Kaala to sit across the table and have this sorted with Hari?
Im not sure of Dharavi’s origin & apart from being an eyesore, its actual impact on Mumbai’s urban planning – but since Ranjith talks about the general displacement of the Urban poor: In Chennai, slums have quite often resisted changes to infrastructure in their area, at the cost of horrible traffic, flooding (2015..), diversions, real estate devaluation etc. One project which was promised when I was in my 10th std, was completed when my daughter was in 5th (in T.Nagar) that too with huge compromise in design and ease of use.
This isn’t about caste, as Chennai’s slums house people from all castes (except maybe Brahmins). This is just to ask how a planned housing board colony is a bad idea for these people?
I agree that the Golf course idea was a stretch, but couldnt they have negotiated for a football ground or a cricket pitch instead? The dialogs which mention in passing how “not everyone will get allotment because many dont have jobs” dont give a clear picture of the situation. And when Kaala mentions that the place is worth 40000 crores, one could understand why the Govt remains steadfast in developing the place. It did not help that Hari bhau wasnt corrupt or with malicious intentions. Initially he only seemed to have a goal and was just working towards it (till all the murders happened)
Call me Bourgeois or narrow-minded – despite liking the movie, the idea of “nilam engal urimai” for a piece of land over which your ownership is debatable is quite a puzzle to my middle-class mind! It only reminds me of the (terrifying) land-grabbing cases that used to happen in Tamil Nadu – where an innocuous hut could come up in a vacant plot and slowly the legal owners get arm-twisted to sell the place off.
(My apologies if I have hurt the sentiments of anybody – my opinion is colored by my experiences, which I don’t want to elaborate. I could have missed the bigger picture in the film but this is my thought. Kabali fought for respect – which I get. Kaala fights for rights – which seem grayish to me)
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sanjana
June 13, 2018
Landgrab is done by vested interests. They use the tactic of huts. They maybe extortionists or slumlords. The slumdweller is only a pawn. The average slumdweller aspire for better homes and when they earn good money they buy flats They may surrender their shanties for some good price or rent it. The circle goes on. I have heard that some company executives stay in slums temporarily.
The developers grab land to build gated communities which is affordable only for a few rich. Where the poor will go?
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Uncouth Village Youth
June 13, 2018
Big takeaway from the comments section and the review – the ruling class is happy as long as ‘THEY’ liberate the oppressed. When the oppressed liberate themselves and start asserting, SHTF. Sort of how I was happy to teach my wife driving, but sulked when she stopped depending on me. A GVM condom scene gives instant erections, while a dalit director is accused of peddling his ideology and people are ‘concern trolling’ the loss of the filmmaker in him. My guess is, had the same been done by MR/KB it would have been celebrated as progressive and path breaking. Ranjith dude has done a pretty good job of triggering ‘filter kaapi liberals’ & ‘latte conservatives’ alike.
For those who are interested in the Dalit easter eggs – this one does a pretty good job.
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/kaala-is-not-a-rajinikanth-movie-a-dalit-bahujan-reading-of-the-anti-caste-politics-in-pa-ranjiths-film-4505063.html
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Uncouth Village Youth
June 13, 2018
@Vidhya : Where do I start? Was everyone born with the land that they live in ? The process that you described is exactly how humanity spread all over the world. A few go and occupy a piece of land, it develops and the government regularizes the same in due course. The problem is, this regularization happens selectively favoring a privileged few. Lets ban – land ownership for everyone,land resale,estate inheritance and see how it goes.
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brangan
June 13, 2018
Uncouth Village Youth: a dalit director is accused of peddling his ideology…
Wow, must be nice living in such a black-and-white world, no?
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MANK
June 13, 2018
Vidhya M, as Brangan mentioned in one of his comments. there is a lot of anger and ideas in the film. Anger that is not rightfully channeled and ideas that are not fully developed.
Ranjith’s anger here is about The continual denial of rights and displacement of the dalits .his broad solution to the issue is a class revolution inspired by the communist ideas. now i dont have to go into detail about the failure of communist, socialist experiments , not just in our country but all over the world. so in that regard its a fantasy, irrespective of the grungy , gritty nature of the film, with a big mass movie star and a happy ending where the dalit class succeeds in eliminating its main enemy and retaining their land and their rights
the logical, legal issues that you pointed out are glossed over or are made immaterial by putting the class above the individual, it rises above the individual cases of land grabbing that you pointed out. What Ranjith is saying is, that these people have worked and built this place in dharavi for over a century now – i think the first influx of tamil immigrants to dharavi happened in 1920’s – and it belongs to them and they should get to decide how it should be developed rather than the upper classes in the society who have been controlling and ordering them around for centuries now.this is analogues to the situation that existed between the Zamindars who owned the land and the peasant farmers who worked it.
It would be interesting for you know that when the first democratically elected communist government came to power in Kerala , the first of their measures was the Land Reforms act by which a ceiling was put on how much land a person can own, there by excess land that was owned by the landlords was distributed among the farmer tenants which were people from the lower castes. but that has not brought about the required results if you look at the rising cases of land grabbing and encroachments by big cooperates and people in power that has been happening in the state
The film Kammatipadam is the accurate portrayal of the Dalit class and the issues they are facing. how the the land that was distributed to them post the land reforms acts has been regained by the same land lord class through new means . its unflinching in its potrayal of the exploitation of the Dalit as well the divisions and flaws that exist deep within the Dalit class itself which continually rob them of their land and their rights.A dimension that is sorely lacking in Kaala. As i said Kaala is a fantasy and a celebration of the working class pride , while Kammatipadam is the sad reality
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brangan
June 13, 2018
MANK: I don’t know if a nuanced Kammatipadam-like story is possible in even regular mainstream Tamil cinema — let alone a huge star vehicle like this one.
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Jaga_Jaga
June 13, 2018
@MANK – Fantastic statement this:
“there is a lot of anger and ideas in the film. Anger that is not rightfully channeled and ideas that are not fully developed.”
I have the same problem with a lot of Ranjit’s movies! I copy-paste what I had written about Kabali. The same thing holds good for Kaala too. Kaala (IMO) got worse. Kabali was much better.
This is what I had written about Kabali:
“In this case, I felt that it was a very good movie which was both slow and too fast at the same time. Within any given scene, the events seemed to unfold so slowly that you were almost lulled into a nice sleep. But just when you begin to yawn, boom here comes the next scene with seething action which opens up your eyes. WOW so awesome excitement ahead, you think. But immediately excitement evanesces into boredom yet again. This loop recurs throughout the movie, and suddenly you see “a film my Pa Ranjith…” flash on the screen. You see everyone leaving the hall, and just think, did I see a good movie with a lot of flaws or a bad movie with lots of good things??”
Only change is with Kaala, I am more assured that it is a bad movie with a lots of goodies in between.
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Thupparivaalan
June 13, 2018
Is it possible to make a masala-film with heavy political overtones in tamil cinema that comfortable coexist with each other? are there perfect examples of such Indian mainstream films with a big actor?
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brangan
June 13, 2018
Uncouth Village Youth: The fact that film-making is important in an issue movie is something that comes up like clockwork in my reviews — not just here.
See this review of Sir, for instance, which is about the class divide.
https://www.filmcompanion.in/caught-2018-sir-review-rohena-gera-tillotama-shome-baradwaj-rangan/
“Sir does tell a story that touches on cities and villages, the contradictions in Shining India, the plight of widows, class structure, and so forth. But the director’s success is in making a film first. She is no doubt invested in these issues, but she isn’t beating her breast and wailing — whatever she wants us to think about is folded into the story and the characters, like spinach in an omelette. It is Good For You™, no doubt, and it will provoke healthy discussions, but you don’t taste the spinach.”
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MANK
June 13, 2018
I understand that Brangan. even in malayalam, directors like Rajeev Ravi and Dileesh pothen are rare, who handles these complex socio political themes with nuance and from all angles. But i do commend the major malayalam star actors like Dulqar and Fahad , who are ready to take supporting or non pivotal parts in these films, so that they can reach a much wider audience
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Srinivas R
June 13, 2018
@UVY: “A few go and occupy a piece of land, it develops and the government regularizes the same in due course”
So if a govt. tries to regularize a slum dwelling, why is there a need for revolution? I am just curious. I understand that vested interests will not act in the best interest of slum dwellers and they may be forced to relocate to a place where their livelihood will be difficult, but how does revolution or continuing to stay in the same slum help the people settled there? Sorry if I come across as naive or malcious, I am just genuinely curious. We have seen the history of communism driven class revolutions and it again results in power concentrated at the hands of elite few. So why is revolution portrayed as a viable or the only solution. Are there no other options?
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Aadhy
June 13, 2018
Vidhya M : To understand land disenfranchisement, you should go back to the pre-urbanisation period when today’s cities were a cluster of small villages, some agrarian and some not. This is a period when the feudal Zamindari system was rampant. The Hindu Varna system specified who should do what – Chanakyas were priests and scholars, Kshatriyas were Warriors and rulers, Vysyas were merchants, Shudras were labourers and panchamas were outcastes. On adherence to this system, the Dalit bahujans were continuously stripped of the land they owned, the land they lived on for so many generations, and pushed to settlements outside the areas inhabited by the top 3 varnas, these settlements what you’d call today’s slums.
Now as we move into the industrialization era, money started pouring in the government”s coffers. A collective agglomeration of these small villages became cities, and these cities started expanding, which meant the dalit settlement areas or the slums, stuck out as sore thumbs for the government, located here and there inside the city’s perimeter. Now imagine the zamindari system replaced by the government, only difference being instead of forcibly grabbing the land for free, the government offers a small compensation, which is in no way proportionate to the land value. Part of the compensation includes moving these people from slums to housing board structures built near these slums. In other words, moving from horizontally cramped slums to vertically cramped buildings, at the cost of losing the little bit of slum land to real estate. Remember this is the second instance of disenfranchisement, after having moved to slums as part of the first disenfranchisement.
But this kept happening in Indian cities, with some of the slum dwellers forcibly moved to housing board buildings, some forcibly pushed to the borders like North Madras, while some still resist this land usurpation, especially the fisher-folk in slums like Ayodhyakuppam and Dommikuppam In Chennai close to the sea. And no, it’s not true that all castes live in slums. It’s mostly dalits and a few MBC castes (panchamas and shudras). Making it worse is the capitalist upper caste greed to buy off as much land as possible because, hey investment, thereby giving the real estate to exploit these conditions even further.
It’s not that the governments have done nothing to stop this. Communist governments in West Bengal and Kerala have implemented land reform acts for capping the amount of acres one can own, as MANK had already mentioned. Kammatipaadam indeed was a movie which depicted reality of the land grabbing that continues to exist even after communist reforms were implemented.
But MANK, Kaala is neither a documentary nor a slow-burn drama, it’s a voice of Dalit assertion deliberately made for the mainstream audience with a superstar at the forefront. Kaala is imagined like an epic that culminates in a war. You can’t blame it for not being a Kammatipaadam. It’s a voice that needed to be heard, taking an optimistic ideal view of things of how an ideal government should step in and ensure the land rights of the disenfranchised, not just at state levels, but at a national level. The grim reality of Kammatipaadam is something we already know. Both kind of films can co-exist.
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MANK
June 13, 2018
Kaala is neither a documentary nor a slow-burn drama, it’s a voice of Dalit assertion deliberately made for the mainstream audience with a superstar at the forefront. Kaala is imagined like an epic that culminates in a war. You can’t blame it for not being a Kammatipaadam
I am not, if that was not obvious from my comment. i have said that these 2 are different kinds of films. just that, a liitle bit more nuance in depiction of the Dalit class would have made it better ,
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Vidhya M
June 13, 2018
Sanjana: Yes ma’m. Land-grabbing works the way you mentioned, I agree. But these “thideer” huts / iron shops / pookadais start humbly, then go on to get well settled with all amenities ( so far ok ) but then proceed to dictate terms to the hapless legal owners (middle class mostly) of buildings in the vicinity. Im now so tempted to click pictures of the 3 encroachments in my barely 200 meter long road. 😦 (I know personal experiences dont count much in the bigger picture, but still.)
MANK: Thanks for the comment. Very well explained. But when Zareena asks for inputs from the people, not a single person tells her they are happy with what they have, but instead they go on to list out many requirements, some of which seem basic (like toilet facilities). Even after all these years? In that case, shouldn’t a mass leader pay heed to his people’s opinions? 🙂 I agree with you – it is a film that simply pitches its core ideology against the backdrop of Dharavi. But somehow Kaala’s character came across as being stuck in his times, not willing to listen to the newer generation. Opportunity presented itself to the Director to give a good solid explanation for this stance of his, in the scenario when Kaala’s sons mention that they would like to move out. But it wasnt used well (or did I miss it)
Uncouth Village Youth: Fair enough. Which is why I want to know how a housing board colony would be detrimental to their progress? People who settled in a place are given an opportunity to legally own a piece of it, albeit with a slice of the pie going to the developer – is this that bad an idea? I agree – regularization happens selectively – but Kaala’s strife should have been to procure fair share to all and not stall the project in its entirety! Now with Kaala gone, it is going to be easier to lure the others with prospects of toilets, cricket ground, temple, masjid and what not – because, remember, the aam junta wasnt all that resistant to Zareena’s proposal.
Removing Ownership of land / Property – ah that would be a good decision. Us, old time middle class IT mongers are stuck with apartments in the core city, either commuting to far off suburbs in rickety transport or giving up one’s career in entirety (women mostly). To be able to move around to where one’s calling lies is a dream for us. 🙂 But do you see that happening 🙂
In all – from the way advance bookings are happening for this film in Chennai – it appears the urban elite have taken to the movie whereas the real target section has not responded well. (Going by multiplex vs single screens) . Correct me if am wrong please
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Madan
June 13, 2018
I cannot comment on what Kaala has or has not depicted. But in Mumbai, even slum land commands a hefty price. There are slum lords controlling the supply of slum tenements. They are either themselves or backed by corporators. Needless to say, they are an important votebank for politicians and slum clearance itself becomes a bargaining chip for politicians. Eg, the way for building a new airport in Navi Mumbai was cleared by the nautanki of Kripashankar Singh blocking the removal and rehab of slums on AAI land at Vile Parle (where the existing airport is located). This land would have been used to build a parallel runway, pretty much doubling the capacity of the airport to handle flights. It currently operates at 60 flights an hour during peak time, no kidding. But if the parallel runway had been built, who will give contract for a new airport where Maha politicians are raring to make a killing? As it is, in falling over each other to make money on the new airport, I fear it may end up being a case of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Majority of Mumbai’s population lives in slums and Dharavi long since ceased to be the largest slum in the city. I don’t think you can extrapolate the situation in Chennai to Mumbai or Nayagan to today’s times. That is, the Dharavi of today is very different from that of Vardabhai’s times.
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sridharraman
June 13, 2018
Regarding the structure of movies, is there a study that has been done on how movies are perceived based on how they begin/end?
I ask this, because, I feel that I would have liked Kabali much more if the movie had ended differently – basically, the incessant shooting in the rooftop hotel just killed the movie for me. On the other hand, the brilliantly shot Kattravai Pattravai song that served as the climax for Kaala was a stroke of genius.
Irrespective of how one reads that song – allegorical or literal – it brought a good closure to that “story”. The postscript for Chennai (and other cities) was just the coda.
I came out of Kaala very impressed, a huge extent influenced by the finishing touches. I was able to forgive some of the clunky staging scenes in the initial parts of the movie.
In many ways, it’s similar to Kaatru Veliyidai. The movie was made brilliantly (even if the writing, performances were bad), but it still had a few scenes that were amateurishly made – e.g. the scene in the hospital where they are all in a circle and the father starts scolding his wife. (you could almost hear the “Action”)
I wonder if certain scenes are delegated by the director to their assistants and this leads to inconsistent film-making. Or is it a more “human” reason – people are in good form on some days, but not on all days?
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brangan
June 13, 2018
sridharraman: That whole section with Karthi’s parents/family felt very odd, and I have a feeling something got cut. Plus the casting was so off wrt Karthi’s mom and dad.
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Rajeev Hari Kumar
June 13, 2018
I’m a bit baffled by Ranjith’s endorsement of communism in Kaala (from what I’ve heard. I haven’t seen the film yet (nor do I plan to in the near future)). Considering Ambedkar’s views on communism
https://mobile.twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/968896544060657670
isn’t it a bit strange to see Ranjith club Ambedkarism and communism together? It isn’t just Ranjith either. I’ve seen a number of Dalits who worship Ambedkar proudly flaunt their allegiance to the hammer and sickle. And while I’m all for being your own man/woman and not slavishly following even the most heavyweight of intellectuals, isn’t this romanticisation of communism done by many followers of Ambedkar fundamentally at odds with the man’s opinions on the ideology itself? Or is there some context to his views on communism that I’m missing out on?
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Vidhya M
June 13, 2018
Srinivas: My question too is similar to yours. Even the issue of “displacement to newer areas where employment is difficult” could be a temporary one, given the rapid expansion of urban territory. And just to mention, this does not happen only to slum dwellers – my husband got displaced from Madurai as there was no opportunity for him there in the Software line. And he still isnt comfortable with the ways of Chennai – after a good 20 yrs (I know the analogy is a bit trivial, but just to emphasize that people from different walks of life are made to relocate involuntarily)
Aadhy: Thanks for the reply. Im in a fix – I do understand what you / UVY / MANK / Sanjana have mentioned here. About how things started off with good people occupying a place, forcibly due to their caste or otherwise, getting tossed around by the Govt for schemes that would have little relevance to their lives and losing their ethos in a new setting. I get it. I keep typing relevant counter points, but keep erasing them as they do sound inhumane – atleast on paper. And someone said – being humane is important here.
I hope there is a viable solution for this atleast after a decade – when the displaced slum dwellers arent forced to move out again & shall have legal proprietary rights over their residences. (Talking about Chennai)
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Aadhy
June 13, 2018
I’ve seen a number of Dalits who worship Ambedkar proudly flaunt their allegiance to the hammer and sickle.
That’s because caste and class hierarchy go hand in hand in India, barring very few expections. If communism aims for the empowerment of lower classes, Ambedkar fought for the upliftment of lower castes.
The reason Ambedkar didn’t believe in communism is because it denounced the constitution. In other words, he rejected the far left i.e. authoritarian and anarcho-communism. Ambedkar’s views aligned more with socialism where the labour class exclusively elect their representatives. His fight with Gandhi on the issue of a separate electorate, within the realms of the constitution and democracy is well known. In fact he was instrumental in making India a democratic socialist republic.
The Kaala-Lenin clash could also be viewed with this Ambedkarist-communist prism, as an underlying commentary. The Lenin character fails to localise his world–politics knowledge to suit the needs of Dharavi, which Kaala is severely critical of.
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Jaga_Jaga
June 13, 2018
@Aadhy –
“That’s because caste and class hierarchy go hand in hand in India, barring very few expections.”
That is definitely no more the case today. The displacement of Brahmins as a “class” and the empowerment of OBCs in most parts of the country has ensured that class and caste no more go hand in hand in India.
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sanjana
June 13, 2018
Poor brahmins are there. But the number is decreasing due to one child policy adopted by them. Some are into no child policy too.
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Srinivas R
June 13, 2018
Vidhya: I think getting a job in a new location is a bigger problem for daily wage and blue collar workers. I know our domestic help was relocated to some where in far off OMR and promptly returned in a week’s time ( this was a few years back). There is no job and the living conditions aren’t good enough. I think the key point that I take from Aadhy here is that, they don’t have a say in when and where they are relocated? is the new place ready for living? That is where the anger is I guess. But the question still stands- is a revolution or staying put the only solution. How do other countries deal with this?
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harish ram
June 13, 2018
@sridharraman: There is a behavioral science concept called ‘peak and end rule’. It says when someone consumes any form of communication, the peak point of the communique and the end stays longer in the mind. Good Professors usually tailor their presentations keeping this in mind. In Indian cinema, thanks to the interval block and climax, the script is inherently packed to satisfy this phenomenon.
So coming to Kaala and Kabali, I agree with your take. Because of the pulsating ending in Kaala compared to WTF ending in Kabali, I too felt more satisfied walking out of the theatre.
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Raj
June 13, 2018
“But that is how this movie is — it sacrifices the personal (even in terms of logic, sometimes) to make its political points. Take the scene where the developer makes his proposal, with golf course and all. There is no way someone like Huma (who was born in Dharavi, and not some stranger) would sit by silently, in support of a golf course where so many more flats could be built. But then, the golf course idea allows the screenplay to make its points about how the Dharavi residents prefer more local games like cricket and football (that can be played anywhere and don’t need manicured lawns).”
@Rangan: I don’t think the scene was done to make a point about local sports. It was a dig at the NGO’s whom many people believe are not in touch with the real issues of people at the ground. They might have good intentions but not a clear vision. Huma character IMO was to show that difference and to show NGO workers as OUTSIDERS. There are some references in the movie highlighting it
Rajni sarcastically saying: “Enna Africa return madam”, doesn’t recognize her as one of the locals.
Huma continues to think what is correct in her opinion but not keeping in mind what the people think: ‘Meeting with Nana Patekar’ is one such instance. There is turnaround in her only when she is made to touch Nana’s feet.
IMO Huma’s character was in the film to show 2 things
To reflect the perception of NGO’s working on the ground
To bring about the openness & maturity of Selvi’s character . Also it brings about the strong ties between Kaala and Selvi too.
At the end of day Kaala was as much about family as it was ideologies!!!
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brangan
June 14, 2018
Raj: No doubt. But this is where I separate the intent vs the execution. There are many small scenes — like this one — in which characters say and do things that make VERY IMPORTANT POINTS. But they have to be massaged into a screenplay so that the character doesn’t come off as odd.
So again, how you evaluate such a scene will depend on you — whether the point itself is more important or the way it is put across.
I have said this before: When a character does something you wouldn’t expect, it’s necessary to build to it, expand on it. If you are showing a scene where a mother loves a child, one frame is enough. It is “normal” behaviour. But if you want to show the mother hating the child, then you need more — say a bit about how the mother did not want the child and it ruined her career plans, or whatever.
So when you show a world-renowned NGO worker being SO out of touch with ground realities in India, you have to write a little around it — IMO.
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Venkat Ramanan CS
June 14, 2018
“How can you forgive a scene where the upper classes are reduced to caricatures, casually tossing off lines like 60% of the people in Dharavi are criminals”
In the entire film there is this one small scene, not even a scene, an intercut in a sequence (a dig at bollywood celebrities who are socially unaware) a celebrity like lady mouths off these lines.
And Baradwaj Rangan took upon himself to generalize the entire upper class people as this lady and ask for nuance. It is unbecoming sir, instead of your nuanced writing, you are nitpicking.
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brangan
June 14, 2018
Venkat Ramanan CS: That lady was the example I used, but I also include the Huma Qureishi character and Nana Patekar in what I found a rather black-and-white rendering of the upper class.
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brangan
June 14, 2018
To add to what I said above, it’s not a huge problem in a masala movie when the upper class characters are one-note. That’s part of the world-building.
But when you are folding in issues, nuance becomes very important, because otherwise, it becomes a simple us-versus-them. Even if you see the ‘them’ as villains, you have to explain it a little more — if you don’t, the issue is rendered too simplistically.
I’m sorry if all this comes across as nitpciking, but I feel it’s not a stretch to expect more from Ranjith (based on his first two films) than, say, a Vasanthabalan (who made the simplistic Angadi Theru).
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Venkat Ramanan CS
June 14, 2018
I thought Huma Qureishi is shown to be from Dharavi and she is part of the same class. But i agree, her character was mainly a bunch of reaction shots. For Nana Patekar, he is a typical cardboard villian, there is nothing grey about him. Apart from Nana Patekar for the other two my response was not an upper class caricature one. The way you constructed that sentence felt like nitpicking. And I agree these last two films and the commercial must haves that Ranjth has to deal with has had an impact on his work. He is definitely capable of writing and directing great scenes, borrowing your line its been some parts greater than the whole for the last three of his films. Attakathi IMO is still his best work, esp that climax it still lingers.
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Raj
June 14, 2018
So when you show a world-renowned NGO worker being SO out of touch with ground realities in India, you have to write a little around it — IMO
@ Rangan: I think this is where the world views of Ranjith might differ from yours. In your mind a World-renowned NGO would know the ground realities. Here Huma’s character does opposite of your expectation and you expect explanations but in Ranjith’s world they are outsiders, symbol of elitists who wear the mask of understanding people’s issue while they don’t..its obvious in his mind and hence didn’t find it necessary to build/explain it.
I also felt the Builder’s scene bought out the myth in people’s mind about what is meaning of development. Thought it was well said through a kid that he feels they are better off if their rich friends come to their home..Their idea of development is hinging on how upper class kids treat them and not based on what they think is development. Many characters in that scene feel that way. Ranjith showcases the point that the idea of development in his people’s mind is misplaced.
Since the filmmaker is trying to showcase issues surrounding a particular class of people. I do think that the scene made me think/identify where the problems lie, how their thinking has been manipulated over the years, lack of unity amongst the group, outsiders trying to decide for them (based on the illusion that they know better) and finally Ranjith speaks his thought through Kaala.
All were not on your face writing but they could avoided the dialogue by the Architect/Builder that a Golf Course is a sign of high class (which takes away the subtleness).
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Uncouth Village Youth
June 15, 2018
@BR : The comment took off from your first impression tweet.You make a case for “true” film making, which i agree to an extent – however a lot of meaningless stuff from well known directors, bafflingly gets a pass from you. Anyway, nobody can be a zen master, not letting their biases seep into their creations.
@Vidhya : Thanks for understanding my POV. As a wise man used to say, half of us would not have seen the light of the day, had the world not let go off it’s inhumane ways.
Srinivas R: I see no malicious intent in the question. The context plays a huge role in any human reaction. I kept assigning a lady from my team, MoM duties, until she shot back(in private 🙂 ) that I’m stereotyping her. That opened my eyes, because I went back to her, only because her MoMs were meticulous. What is rationally good for the team, may not be good for the individual. I think, as a society we can take that hit, as long as it doesn’t harm the societal well being disproportionately. The landless dalit experience makes them cling on to their holdings desperately, even when offered a sweet deal.
Just an example of how land acquisition/redevelopment plays out differently for different classes. The last stretch of 500m railway track for the Velachery – St. Thomas Mount MRTS link, is hanging in the balance for the past 10+ years, because some home owners went to court. Nobody accuses(d) them of being a anti-national, Vatican funded naxalite. Now, think of how swiftly, slums/farmers are expected to hand over their land when the powers to be decree.
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jaga_jaga
June 15, 2018
Folks over here:
Yet another example of blatant Anti-Brahmin culture in TN:
Link: https://www.facebook.com/Kadupethurarmylordofficial/photos/a.941953145915604.1073741832.885054294938823/1559135017530744/?type=3&theater
So many things wrong about this meme!! What a presumptuous assumption, that Brahmins might not like that outstanding scene crafted by Ranjit (in an otherwise almost mediocre movie!)
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Vidhya M
June 15, 2018
I read an interesting fact in Vikatan’s Kaala review. In the end credits, the actors are listed without their surnames (“Nana”, “Huma” “Easwari”). Good gesture.
However I would like to know if Rajni was mentioned as just Rajnikanth or “Superstar” Rajnikanth.
That would probably indicate that the class wars are here to stay, even after caste wars end.
(I missed the opening and end credits, with my 4-year old on my heels)
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Devarsi Ghosh
June 15, 2018
Apparently, Dhanush didn’t want Rajini to do Kaala, and Rajini was convinced that Kabali was a hit despite the cold hard figures. This and other things…
http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/after-kaala-release-a-look-at-the-underside-of-rajinis-stardom/article24170885.ece
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Honest Raj
June 16, 2018
Saw the movie yesterday. The screen was nearly empty. Honestly, this was very refreshing and far more energetic than any film Rajini has done in the last 10-15 years. I still cannot believe it was Rajini who mouthed, “un kadavulayum summa vidamaaten”. But then, if not for him the film would’ve never seen the light of day.
I had high expectations on the Dhileepan character – maybe, I’m the only one who’s impressed by his daredevil stunts in Vathikuchi. 🙂 Given his character’s Meghanad to Kaala’s Ravana, I wish he had more portions.
As for Nana Patekar, I think BR handled him well in Bommalaattam – by making him speak his lines in Hindi/Marathi. For some reason, I found Nizhalgal Ravi’s voice apt for the character. But here, I’m glad Ranjith made him dub his lines. A North Indian equivalent of somebody like Sai Kumar (Ashish Vidyarthi’s voice in Tamil) – no matter how good he is when it comes to getting the diction right, there’s always a tinge of Telugu flavour in his accent – would’ve been odd. Above all, I wanted to see him together with Rajini on screen for a long time. Thank you, Ranjith!
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Rajeev Hari Kumar
June 16, 2018
@Aadhy – Thanks for the explanation
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sridharraman
June 17, 2018
Regarding the Shiva Kumar article shared here (and in Twitter as well), if the last “true hit” of Rajini was Chandramukhi and people are questioning his decision to pick Ranjith because he hasn’t given us a Chandramukhi … no thanks! I would gladly accept this phase of Rajini.
Chandramukhi was one of the worst Rajini movies. And what makes it even harder to stomach is the fact that it made so much money.
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Anuja Chandramouli
June 17, 2018
I wrote this article for the New Indian Express and am sharing it here since it was heavily influenced by the comments on this thread. Just a few thoughts on Kaala with it’s holier than thou stand which sheds light on the evils of casteism while being a part of the problem.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2018/jun/17/kaala-lays-bare-our-dark-underbelly-1828287.html
Honestly, it sucks that rabid caste pride is such an integral part of the Indian identity. And I am appalled that it is so easy to generate so much hatred on the strength of a lousy community certificate. It is shameful that rather than seek to eliminate this ancient evil in its entirety we are still allowing the damn thing to dominate every aspect of our lives. Kaala IMO proves little more than the fact that Dalit pride is every bit as bad and damaging as brahmanical tyranny from a few centuries ago.
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rsylviana
June 18, 2018
For the ostensible reason of righting a historical wrong, the quota system has been introduced in educational and government institutions, thereby ensuring that caste continues to prevail and we fail our best and brightest by denying them a level-playing field
Wow Ms.Anuja , talk about royally missing the point!!! #FacePalm
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Jaga_Jaga
June 18, 2018
I agree with rsylviana. The SCs/STs definitely do DESERVE the quota. Point should be to improve upon the existing quota system – like if one generation has availed it, next generation can’t at the same level etc etc.
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sridharraman
June 18, 2018
“Dalit pride is every bit as bad and damaging as brahmanical tyranny from a few centuries ago”
What?! I had to read the paragraph multiple times to confirm that it wasn’t sarcasm. Sadly, not. Yikes.
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Aadhy
June 18, 2018
For the ostensible reason of righting a historical wrong, the quota system has been introduced in educational and government institutions, thereby ensuring that caste continues to prevail and we fail our best and brightest by denying them a level-playing field.
Kaala IMO proves little more than the fact that Dalit pride is every bit as bad and damaging as brahmanical tyranny from a few centuries ago.
Oh dear.
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Madan
June 18, 2018
@Anuja : A couple of years back, a news channel did a report showing how Dalits are still not allowed to enter temples in many places. We have read reports of Dalit grooms getting beaten up for celebrating their wedding by riding a horse, which the upper castes seem to believe is their exclusive right. The issue is not of caste pride but of a group (upper castes) using caste to deny another group (lower castes) their dignity. So let me say that even reservations go only so far to address the issue, far from being a largesse. I have read of somebody from a scavenging family who was not hired by many companies just because he was born to a scavenger. Last heard, he took up studies at TISS. I do believe, however, as jagga said, that reservation should not be an evergreen privilege but in saying so, I recognize the difficulty for the govt to draw a line to decide which family is privileged enough to no longer require reservation and which isn’t. Forget politics, even practically it is very difficult to administer.
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Rahul
June 18, 2018
“like if one generation has availed it, next generation can’t at the same level etc etc.”
Jaga_Jaga , I know you mean well , but consider this. Lets incorporate your suggestion. Lets also add a clause that if one person in a family has experienced casteism then everyone else should be free of casteism. Every Dalit family should nominate a person who will get benefit of reservation and the others will become non Dalits. Next time the upper caste guys gang up on a Dalit groom to beat him up, they first ask him the certificate – is he the guy who availed reservation ? Then beat him up. If not, then let the wedding procession take any way it wants.
Does that sound fair?
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Uncouth Village Youth
June 18, 2018
Wow – from JAQing off in the Anitha-NEET thread, to questioning Dalit pride(based on a flawed understanding) to running down reservation, well done Ma’m. Take a bow.
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Anu Warrier
June 18, 2018
For the ostensible reason of righting a historical wrong, the quota system has been introduced in educational and government institutions, thereby ensuring that caste continues to prevail and we fail our best and brightest by denying them a level-playing field
head to desk Anuja, really?! Talk about privilege!
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jaga_jaga
June 18, 2018
@Rahul – Oh you make so much sense! So very much….
that, let SCs who’ve availed the quota continue to reap the rewards of quota for generations together. Based on caste, let them cry foul about the injustice meted out to them by all those above them in the caste hierarchy, while stomping and crushing the poor SCs, who after all are “low class” beings.
Absolutely fair sir, that some privileged SCs this way play the caste and class card to their benefit, while the DERSERVING SCs, who should truly get the quota, let them just rot!
A very fair point indeed!
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Sanjay Shankar (@sanjayshankar)
June 18, 2018
@Honest Raj: You’re not the only person that liked Vathikuchi/Dhileepan. There’s at least two of us. 🙂
I also liked his character in the movie, especially in the portions that highlighted the differences between the two sons that the script focused most on.
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Sanjay Shankar (@sanjayshankar)
June 18, 2018
@Aadhy @KayKay I had the same exact reaction to the hip hop/rap dancers. They totally spoil the seriousness of the scenes they were in. In Madras, that whole thing was used very well. It fit the mood. Here, it’s just awkward.
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Arjun
June 18, 2018
“For the ostensible reason of righting a historical wrong, the quota system has been introduced in educational and government institutions, thereby ensuring that caste continues to prevail and we fail our best and brightest by denying them a level-playing field”
Typical tone-deaf, privilege-blind brahminical blather.
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Arjun
June 18, 2018
“And I am appalled that it is so easy to generate so much hatred on the strength of a lousy community certificate.”
Cheeky cheeky stuff. Not hard to guess why you say “community certificate”, reducing it all to the “certificate”, which is needed only to avail reservation and other benefits. Why didn’t you instead simply title the article “Why reservations must go” or something. After all, amidst the other peripheral ranting, that is clearly your central point.
“This hideous practice has to be obliterated and surgically removed like the cancer it is from our collective consciousness, quota system be damned. ”
Yes, of course. And how must it be obliterated? By eliminating “quotas” of course. Why the fuck didnt anybody think of this before. Someone give this woman an Ambedkar award or something.
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nikkie1602
June 19, 2018
@Anuja Chandramouli: Would you say the same about Black pride? Your understanding of Dalit pride is extremely flawed…maybe try and look into where the pride comes from and why.
Also before making sweeping declarations about the quota system where you basically claim the bright minds to be the one not availing reservations…check your previlige.
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Rahul
June 19, 2018
Jaga_Jaga, Please look at the following links
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-percentage-of-Dalit-or-SC-ST-present-in-Indian-Government-Jobs
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/20-years-after-Mandal-less-than-12-OBCs-in-central-govt-jobs/articleshow/50328073.cms
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/sc/sts-fail-to-break-caste-ceiling-no-sc-in-149-top-government-officers-40-pc-do-menial-jobs/articleshow/16278743.cms
This is the reality of public sector that has reservations.
The situation in private sector is even more stark.
The SC/ST/OBCs are not even getting the full benefit as per the quota and after that, since promotions are not covered under quota, this percentage suffers even more. The point is, if even the existing quota is not getting fully filled, then how can we make the case that the creamy layer is obstructing the progress of poor SC STs? It is the UCs who are usurping the rights not the creamy layer – which is just a fallacy in my opinion.
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jaga_jaga
June 19, 2018
@Rahul:
Agreed that the percent of SC/STs are not getting enough opportunities. I argue that, part of the reason for it is the creamy-layer of SCs hoarding the reservations. Thereby, preventing fair representation of even other SCs. I would love to be proved wrong here, if any data is available.
w.r.t OBCs – their domination is political. Why work for the government, when you are the govt yourself?? So, it is a huge misrepresentation this statistic – that there are not enough OBCs in the Govt. Sector. Doesn’t matter. They are the politically most powerful group in India.
w.r.t OCs – Yes they may be powerful within Govt. Jobs. But how does it matter? That doesn’t translate to any power.
The private sector is a different story altogether. I entirely agree with no reservation that , there is a huge OC domination, especially controlled by Brahmins.
In both instances, in the private sector (by Brahmins) and Govt jobs (creamy layer OCs, and quite a few OBCs), those in privilege try hard not to cede their privilege! Bound to happen…
So overall, your statistics make sense, w.r.t the SC/STs not being represented enough But the OBCs are super-powerful in this land nonetheless. The Govt. job statistics is not representative of this relaity w.r.t OBCs.
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Aadhy
June 19, 2018
Sanjay Shanka, Honest Raj : Oh I too liked Vathikuchi Dhileepan. He looked every bit someone who just needs a look or a nod to carry out his father’s orders without waiting a second. He nailed the nellai slang, as did most of the other actors. The casting in this movie was spot on, except Huma Qureshi who looked awkward playing a 40 year old. Anjali patil was solid in her part and Manikandan was a true revelation.
Also, no fans of the soundtrack here? I thought Santhosh Narayanan contributed mightily with a stellar score. More than the songs, his guitar theme for the rain fight, played to Rajni’s bearded swagger, gave me goose-flesh, The usage of flute and a chant-like hum for the villain’s theme, combined with Nana’s menacing eyes, the way he whips his kurta and his gait, elevated a one-dimensional character to almost a mythical demon, or god, I should rather say, in the film’s context.
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Sanjay Shankar (@sanjayshankar)
June 20, 2018
@Aadhy: I liked the score for the most part. Some parts were too loud for my taste. There were some scenes where only the drums palyed. I LOVED THAT. It reminded me of the Raaja’s Agni Natchathiram score for the Karthik – Prabhu encounters.
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Rahul
June 20, 2018
Jaga_Jaga
” I would love to be proved wrong here, if any data is available.”
I don’t think you got my point. Let me break it down again. There are 10 loaves of bread on the table for 100 kids. 5 kids got 5 loaves of bread. 95 kids are still hungry while 5 loaves of bread are still lying on the table, unclaimed!
At this point , to claim that the other 95 kids are hungry because of the 5 kids who got fed seems absurd to me, when food is still left on the table.
“So, it is a huge misrepresentation this statistic – that there are not enough OBCs in the Govt. Sector. ”
The statistic was presented to counter your theory about the creamy layer. Of course the OBCs are powerful and they oppress other lower castes. Not sure what I have written implies otherwise.
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Jaga_Jaga
June 20, 2018
@Rahul:
Your analogy doesn’t fit in the current situation. An obvious, and unstated assumption in your analogy is that the loaves of bread are all for kids in a single generation. What I am talking about is cutting across generations. Kindly try to find a suitable analogy, or better, back-it-up with some data, please!
“Not sure what I have written implies otherwise.”
This statement: “The SC/ST/OBCs are not even getting the full benefit as per the quota and after that, since promotions are not covered under quota, this percentage suffers even more.”
Here you clubbed together OBCs with SCs and STs. That is why I had to separate them, and add that the OBCs don’t need govt. jobs to be powerful. Whereas, the SCs and all the more STs, need it.
And another point – OBCs not only oppress those below them in the caste hierarchy, but also above them (indirectly) by virtue of being the most powerful sect out there.
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Rahul
June 20, 2018
Jaga_Jaga,
In any generation, this, next or previous, if there is food left on the table, you cant blame someone from hording the food and preventing others . What data you are actually asking for?
I clubbed together OBCs with SCs and STs for the data that OBCs are underrepresented in govt jobs. i stand by that statement.
Whether they need govt jobs or not is something that i did not imply either for or against.
It was a pleasure interacting with you.
5.This conversation is over from my side.
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Jaga_Jaga
June 20, 2018
@Rahul
Sure enough, buddy! So long as you’re yourself convinced of the analogy. And what’s the point in asking more specifically for any data when you’ve extended the golden handshake!
Should you be interested in extending the conversation, I will of course be more specific.
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PK
June 21, 2018
A few weeks back, when Rajini gave that press conference about the Sterlite issue, I tch-tch-ed, thinking what a patriarch of a thatha he was. In the sense, he was speaking exactly like a family elder on WhatsApp might. Thinking back, there was a sort of final dismissal in that tch-tch, as if I would never take him seriously as a politician again. I was reminded of that when I watched Kaala.
The mythical memory that Kaala evoked in me was not the intended inversion of the Ramayana – that couldn’t be more in-your-face – but that of Yayaati. Yayaati, the patriarch who wanted to stay young, convinces his youngest son Puru to exchange his youth for his own old age. Rajini too has stayed young for so long, but just as in the myth, in this movie, he seems to have grown tired of his extended youth and is finally returning his borrowed youth to the next generation, in style.
But even in the universe of the movie, Rajini/Kaala is a venerable patriarch, an aging lion. A Yayaati figure. He reminded me a lot of Fyodor Pavlovich from The Brothers Karamazov – a sort of flawed patriarch in many ways. Like that character, he seems to have shades of all his sons. (When I saw the early parts of the movie, the Kaala-Lenin ideological conflicts, I was hoping for a clash between generations, values and ideas like in that novel. I really wish that Kaala had explored this angle).
In any case, there is a lot of the patriarch figure that you often find in literature in the way Karikalan is written, it’s brilliant, and Rajini is fantastic in these sequences. In how he’s a good husband/father, a bit of a senile comic figure till he unleashes his roar, how he gets disillusioned when his children rebel, the drunk sequence…it’s all classic. (And that symbolic name, Karikalan. It makes me wonder whether, as much as the Amma/goddess archetype, whether the Tamil psyche has the archetype of a patriarch prominently centred in it. Think of our political patriarchs of the past 100 years. How even as we rebel against tradition, we are somehow innately enacting its dictates generation after generation, even in the midst of enacting subversive politics).
And did not one else see this? The scene in Kaala’s house, when their power is disconnected, and he gathers his grandchildren around to tell the family story – did that not remind you of the similarly staged sequence from Thevar Magan? This man, too, is a patriarch, like the patriarch in that story, but the sequence is beautifully subverted here. And as different as they are in circumstance and outcome, how similar they are in essence as the patriarch!
The death of a patriarch can mean only one of two things for a story – renewal – i.e, distancing oneself away from the patriarch’s values, or continuity – continuing to uphold the patriarch’s values. This story chooses continuity, and upholds the patriarch over the possibility of change. The archetypical patriarch’s magical power is that he is a symbol, so he is immortal. He lives through generations. Kaala, too, becomes a symbol in the end, with the ideas of the patriarch being endorsed and chosen over the conflicting, ‘softer’ ideas of Lenin. Yayaatis do not die, they live in their sons. In Thevar Magan too, the patriarch continues to live, as a symbol of (arguably ambivalent) dominance. In Kaala, the patriarch lives, but as a symbol of uncompromising defiance.
This made me think that the movie is, on some level, discourse about how Dalits view their ideological fathers. How different, conflicting ideas are weighed and viewed. It’s almost like the audience is allowed a glimpse of their internal chatter, a small part of a much larger conversation. For example, one of the questions that keeps coming up in Pa.R’s work is that of upward mobility of Dalits. Education uplifts, he seems to say, but peaceful protests also pave way for compromises. Kaala seems to eschew any sort of compromise when it comes to basic rights.
In the end, Rajini the patriarch is handed back his old age, and laid to rest, while Kaala the patriarch is allowed to live on, as an idea, in the movieverse. Read this way, the cultural statement it makes is sharp and quite amusing.
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Aadhy
June 21, 2018
PK :
That was a brilliant read, thanks !
” In the end, Rajini the patriarch is handed back his old age, and laid to rest, while Kaala the patriarch is allowed to live on, as an idea, in the movieverse. “
Yes, this is also evident in the way climax song has been shot and choreographed. The colors in the climax have been discussed adequately but look at how it’s been choreographed, both fight and dance. Kaala shows up from random quarters in front of Hari dada, almost ghost-like. When Hari looks around, he can’t find Kaala. Only when Kaala wants Hari to see him, he could be seen by Hari. The ‘ghost’ guides the group in their war, that’s shot like a celebration. It’s they who Kill Hari and win their battle. When people of Dharavi says Kaala is alive, they mean the ideology and not the character. There’s no family reunion kinda happy ending. This battle has been won, the war ain’t over yet, and Kaala will appear in future battles whenever his people’s sovereignty is under attack. Kaala is an abstract idea that lives on, while Rajni dies.
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Anu Warrier
June 21, 2018
@PK, I haven’t watched Kaala and hadn’t really thought about watching it (though I did watch Kabali) but your intriguing post makes me want to watch it. Thank you – it was a wonderful read.
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Anuja Chandramouli
June 21, 2018
I wasn’t planning on replying to the comments addressed to me and generate even more outrage. But I am going to take a page out of BR’s book and attempt to clarify my stand. TNIE wanted a 520 word article and guess, that the edited version turned out way more blunt that originally intended.
Anyways, (deep breath) here we go. For all those who were mad as heck about my anti – quota system stance, I do believe that it is one of the major reasons why we haven’t succeeded in eliminating the caste system entirely after all these years (For SHAME!). Even the most optimistic liberal out there wouldn’t deny that it hasn’t really helped those it was originally intended to help, instead it has merely become just another loophole in the constitution that is being exploited by the corrupt. Looking at the big picture, the damage has been far more extensive than the paltry ‘benefits’ to those oppressed on the basis of caste. There has been much bitterness over denied opportunities and an ever – increasing rift on the basis of caste. How does this bode well for the future, when we are feeling good about ourselves for paying lip service to equality with mostly useless measures like affirmative action as opposed to working hard towards creating a level playing field and a merit based system when it comes to education and employment? How does denying a talented kid the opportunities he/she deserves and giving them to someone who has played the system or is simply not sufficiently qualified fix the guilt we have carried from a shameful past where we discriminated on the basis of caste? All we are doing is ensuring the contagion that is caste spills over into the present and future. And no, moral outrage and self – righteous vitriol spewed into the abyss of the world wide web simply isn’t going to cut it in the real world where harsh truths cannot be denied.
Also, how many of us would voluntarily opt to avail of the services offered in a government hospital or send our children to a government run school? (I am addressing this to everybody who has asked me to check my privilege. Have you checked yours? Or are you hypocritical enough to claim that you are willing to give it all up? Hah!) This is the disparity we have to concentrate on addressing. Things like the quality of education as opposed to merely ‘free education’ politicos keep harping about after sending their progeny to private institutions in Switzerland.
As for ‘Dalit pride’ which I have been accused of disparaging, first of all I would like to apologize if I came across as insensitive because I certainly wasn’t attacking the community (any community) but the point I was trying to make is that when we encourage our citizens to continue to embrace their caste identity, then there is no bloody way we are ever getting rid of it roots and all, which is what I think our collective goal should be. In the Kaala context, I found it toxic simply because as BR pointed out the upper caste characters were one-note, and the lack of a balanced perspective from someone like Ranjith is disturbing. Brahmanical tyranny (from the past) is not something I would ever endorse or justify. In the same way, I don’t think it is a good idea to whip up hatred among the castes and encourage people to abandon peace in favor of rioting or ‘dying for the cause’ and become an extremist/revolutionary etc while hating on Brahmins and just about anybody who does not share your background. Why spread hatred and even bring caste into the equation? We have politicians who do just that, thank you very much. It is the sort of thing that is counterproductive at best and life threatening at worst.
Also I am sorry but caste pride is not the same fricking bloody thing as black pride. Your skin color is something that is yours, whereas the caste system is an evil conjured up in this land because one of the worst things about Indians is we like looking down on others disparaging their skin color, religion, language, beliefs etc. and caste was created and thrown into the mix simply so we could find another reason to feel superior to our brothers and sisters while also finding a bunch of communities we could use as beasts of burden. And yes, we should do everything we possibly can to abolish it completely so that our children don’t have to hand over a community certificate before pursuing higher studies and become aware that caste is such a giant part of their prospects.
Disclaimer: This is for the benefit of the person who accused me of typical ‘Brahmanical blather’. Many, many generations ago my ancestors were not allowed into temples either and the women were not allowed to wear blouses. (They built their own temples and the women went right ahead with their preferred garment choice). But that was a long, long, long time ago and I definitely belong to the privileged category and am certainly not entitled to the benefits offered by my community certificate.
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Anu Warrier
June 21, 2018
Anuja, there is outrage today about the unfairness of being accused of brahminical tyranny. We have had perhaps 70 years, if not less, of this outrage at the upper classes. They have suffered under the yoke of that tyranny for centuries. Suddenly, they are asked to forget caste? Suddenly they are told that their outrage is ‘as bad as Brahminical tyranny’?
A few decades of ‘reservation’ is enough to level the playing field? When we have systematically denied them the right to dignity, much less education, for centuries? We (the upper castes) have reaped the benefits of being upper caste for aeons. To suddenly say, oh what we need is a merit-based system when we still don’t give the lower castes a chance to develop that merit is still handicapping them at the starting block.
Should the caste system be abolished? Absofrickinglutely. But that doesn’t work with the privileged (whether by caste or economics) saying so. If we can’t work to bring them up to a level of equality, we have no business cribbing that reservation should go. Yes, there are abuses with the reservation system. Absolutely. As there is with affirmative action. However, that is no reason to throw both out with the bath water. We should definitely be working at eradicating the abuses within. It is only when they are comparatively at par with every one else can we even begin to talk about a level playing field.
Also, your argument about ‘voluntarily opt for a govt hospital to send our children to a govt-run school’ is a strawman. Because the point is not that we shouldn’t aspire for the best; it is that the so-called lower castes should be allowed (and indeed, able to) aspire for the best education /health care for their children. So, no, ‘giving up privilege’ doesn’t mean that I have to send my kid to a govt-run school in India to prove a point; it is that I give up the privilege of assuming that ‘Oh it should all be on merit – there should be no reservation because caste is a black mark on society.’
‘Checking my privilege’ also doesn’t mean I have to give up what I have worked for and achieved. It means that I should acknowledge the head start I got just by being born into the family I was, and the advantages that my birth gave me. It means that I should be cognisant of those advantages when I speak of people who do not have it. People who are handicapped just by virtue of being born.
Checking my privilege should also be about raising the standard for all. In other words, raise others up to be your equals in what they can legitimately demand of a civil society, not stoop to the lowest common denominator so you can wave your credentials for equality.
Can we eradicate caste? I doubt it. But we can work towards an equitable society for all, regardless of caste. Reservation, though flawed, is part of the process. Take into account economics, for instance. A rich estate owner’s son doesn’t need to be admitted through the quota allowed for his caste. So work at repairing what’s flawed – check the abuses that take place that allow a rich zamindar to claim the caste card to get his scion admission into a preferred medical programme.
I don’t know of any society that is a meritocracy. I don’t know what it will take to get there. But I can use my privilege to work for it. And to fix the flaws in today’s flawed system instead of deeming it ‘a betrayal of our best and brightest’.
*p.s. Dalit Pride is approximately similar to Black Pride in that both are communities that have been traditionally victimised just for the accident of their birth.
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GODZ
June 22, 2018
To suddenly say, oh what we need is a merit-based system when we still don’t give the lower castes a chance to develop that merit is still handicapping them at the starting block.
Wow – Really Well Said and Thanks.!!
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Doba
June 22, 2018
Let us not delude ourselves thinking caste or gender violence or discrimination belong to some remote past (performed by some nameless forefather) or in remote corners of our country. It is alive, kicking and deeply embedded in our personal life bang in the middle of a rich educated home in a metropolitan city – in our language (so many abuses are casually casteist / misogynistic / homophobic), in our food, in our marriage – from the choice of partner, the manner in which it is conducted to the most horrific cases of honor killing – in our prayers etc. When any of these are criticized, people retaliate saying this is my culture or don’t hurt my religious sensitivity.
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Madan
June 22, 2018
Heard from a friend that somebody was saying, “Let them have reservation as long as I can call them chamar”. First the upper castes need to mend their casteist ways before they can talk about eliminating caste. Forget making up lost ground, lower castes are still not granted the same respect that their upper caste peers would get.
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Honest Raj
June 23, 2018
Aadhy: Also, no fans of the soundtrack here?
I’m a long way from an expert when it comes to appreciating “good music”, but I can carefully say that he raises the bar with each film – he reminds me of the Rahman of the 90s.
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Thupparivaalan
June 23, 2018
Honest Raj, Aadhy: Loved the soundtrack. He has become uniformly excellent with what he’s churning out these days. I would say he’s more a filmmaker’s composer than rahman was in the 90’s. Don’t take me wrong, 90’s rahman was seminal and stellar, but santhosh’s work fits the films he does better is all I say.
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Aadhy
June 23, 2018
Honest Raj, Thupparivalan :
Don’t take me wrong, 90’s rahman was seminal and stellar, but santhosh’s work fits the films he does better is all I say. ”
Oh yeah I totally agree. The difference between 90s Rahman and Santhosh is that bit of ‘unpolished-ness’ in Sathosh’s work, I think. Rahman’s score, even for movies that required earthy & raw sounds (Karuthamma, Kizhakku Cheemayile), always sounded well-produced, pitch-corrected and complexly layered. Santhosh on the other hand almost doesn’t care about pitch-perfection, hires more unconventional singers and is very minimalist in his arrangements ( you can hear hardly more than 4-5 instruments/layers in his songs). Those imperfections sound captivating to me. I guess it also contributes the connect we think his music has with the movies he works on.
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brangan
June 23, 2018
Santhosh’s score for Attakathi is one of the great modern-day background scores. Its connect with the minute-by-minute mood of the film is tremendous.
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romanticrealistchronicles
August 2, 2018
Finally watched Kaala. I must say BR I have never disagreed with you as much as I disagree with you now. I am almost disappointed in you. How could you love Katru Veliyidai (which I adored too) and not love Kaala which is as good….
Your comment section would have been disappointing to me if I hadn’t experienced the utter depravity it could sink to once before.
Not even gonna try to stop laughing that Anuja got paid to write an article denouncing dalit pride in a newspaper which has not more than 2 dalit employees. You talk about equalizing the start line? You talk about merit? What is merit? Is it something you are born with? Is it encoded in your brahminical genes? LOL.
Merit is what you get because you grew up in a middle-class cocoon with parents who were teachers or bank employees or businessmen who paid for your every whim and fancy. Who paid for your coaching classes. Your expensive college education. Your food. Your clothes. Because you didn’t have to go to school AND sell flowers/toys/godknowswhat on the street in order for your family to have food.
As someone posted in the comments if you are earning more than 35000 INR you are part of the top 10% and if you are earning more than 65000 then you are part of the top 1%. Have some class and be decent about it.
Can you imagine the psychological warfare conducted on Dalits most of whom are practising Hindus – where they believe they are cursed to be born as Dalits for their sins in the past life? This is a sadism and masochism that is a lived experience day in and day out. Thats the thought process….If brahmins and banias and vaishyas and landlord caste are above us socially, mentally, spiritually, its probably because they deserved it. They earned it through their sinless past lives full of meritorious deeds.
Merit, my foot!
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Prem Manuel
January 31, 2020
http://theworldofapu.com/kaala-and-pa-ranjith-the-artist/
@BR Some interesting read in this article to have an eyes to see the artist that he is Pa.Ranjith
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