Mohan G’s ‘Rudra Thandavam’ (Richard Rishi, Gautham Menon) is a long, lethargic drama about drugs (and possibly a counter reaction to our Dalit filmmakers)

Posted on October 1, 2021

Spoilers ahead…

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Posted in: Cinema: Tamil

27 Responses “Mohan G’s ‘Rudra Thandavam’ (Richard Rishi, Gautham Menon) is a long, lethargic drama about drugs (and possibly a counter reaction to our Dalit filmmakers)” →

Yajiv

October 1, 2021

“Mohan G Kshatriyan”. What a name 🤦

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praneshp

October 2, 2021

From twitter:
“””Anything made by @beemji & the likes, BR goes wah wah & is so interested in their “film making” but here BR dons the hat of a political journalist, all he see is propaganda.Ranjith’s films r as problematic as this one. As propaganda driven as this one.Why not point those out too?”””

Congratulations brangan, now I have seen everything.

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Srinivas R

October 2, 2021

@Yajiv-The support he enjoys and the movie has received in TN tells you all about how deeply casteist we are.

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Satya

October 2, 2021

While anti-caste narratives are really important in today’s times, I am beginning to feel that everyone is jumping into this to project themselves as better men among the rest. Is this a surge of consciousness or, is ‘Dalit’ the new sexy??

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brangan

October 2, 2021

Satya: Is this a surge of consciousness or, is ‘Dalit’ the new sexy??

No, no, no.

If you see my title, this is a COUNTER to the Dalit films being made.

It can be basically be summed up as “don’t keep blaming Thevars all the time because we are very nice and very conscientious people who actually go about saving Dalits.”

And this is interesting in one way because the Dalit films have rarely (at least I cannot remember any) “named” any community whereas these films — through attire or a type of mustache or a place — make it easy to guess we are probably talking about Thevars.

Plus, like in my review, I said there’s a Dalit lawyer who talks about the greatness of Muthuramalinga Thevar.

So these are basically reactionary films to the kinds Pa Ranjith and Co make.

PS: DId that not come across in my video review?

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brangan

October 2, 2021

praneshp: Thanks for that comment. Nice to know both sections now hate me 😀

But seriously, what do you do if the “filmmaking” is really bad? At least, I do point out that at least the storytelling is clean.,..

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Satya

October 2, 2021

Did that not come across in my video review?

Oh come on, BR. This was not about your review. Not even about you.

I am just wondering that with many filmmakers suddenly trying to explore these themes now, if Dalit emancipation is turning into a ticket to a personal facelift for these men. It has begun to feel like “Look at me, I am paying lip service on Dalit emancipation through my film, so now I deserve your unconditional respect, no?”. Your review and what you tried to say was very clear for me and I too don’t agree with the trolls.

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brangan

October 2, 2021

No no, Satya, I did not say your comment was about me.

I am saying that this film is not about Dalits, but from the OTHER POV.

So yes, this is a “caste film” — but it is not “paying lip service on Dalit emancipation” etc.

That’s what I was wondering if you thought my review suggested.

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Yajiv

October 2, 2021

@Srinivas R:

Yes I was surprised (although I shouldn’t have been) by how popular Draupathi was and how popular this one seems also.

And now this guy has political backing beyond the local PMK level also, as high ranking TN BJP members showed up en masse for a special screening of this film, so who knows what lofty heights he’ll attain in the future.

A bit puzzled by GVM’s decision to star in this though. Just a year ago, this guy was dragging GVM on Twitter (IIRC).

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KS

October 2, 2021

@brangan: Taking @praneshp’s quote seriously for a moment, I have to ask:
as an unmistakably upper caste upper class urban type, are you ever a bit apprehensive, consciously or otherwise, of dismissing (or even strongly criticizing) PaRanjith type Dalit films?
After all, its a very touchy subject, and anything short of unambiguous adulation could be weaponized as upper caste thimuru suppressing-oppressing-and-depressing Dalit awakening.

I often get accused of that myself among friends when I express my view that PaRanjith films are just old movies with a few photoshopped frames of Buddha or Ambedkar inserted in the background (eg Kaala=Nayakan+Ambedkar). These images serve as a talisman to make viewers tread lightly, tempering any criticism with sufficient praise as well. Sometimes it feels unfair, as this level of analysis is a luxury other movies never receive.

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brangan

October 2, 2021

No, KS. I loved ATTAKATHI, loved the filmmaking of MADRAS (the movie not so much, as it felt like SATHYA meets SUBRAMANIYAPURAM), disliked KABALI, thought KAALA was mildly better, and loved loved loved SARPATTA.

I have always maintained that I am a FILM critic — so the only thing that matters is the ART itself (rather than the message in it).

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shaviswa

October 2, 2021

I am not interested in either types of films that are being made now. Among Pa Ranjith’s films, I could appreciate only Madras. Kabali and Kaala were so horrible. So horrible that I have stayed away from Sarpatta too.

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Satya

October 3, 2021

BR: Yaa I got that. I am also aware what Draupadhi was about. Should have posted my comment on a more relevant thread, which could help in avoiding this confusion. Sorry for that.

Unlike Mari Selvaraj’s films, most of the recent Dalit-centric narratives are just painting caricatures of the oppressors as the antagonists without making them feel like real people or even making us see why they are resorting to oppression and violence. These characters do not have any personality, and painting multiple communities in a bad light broadly and walking scott-free is disturbing. None of these films seem sincere in their attempt to address caste. As I said, they have begun to feel like these narratives have become tickets for personal facelifts in the society as a “responsible” filmmakers.

But what Mohan G did isn’t any better. Though what he did is a 180 degree turn, it is still exactly the same in terms of what it does to communities in the society. With their lifeless and blatant propagandist writing choices, these filmmakers are only seeking personal glory. Shouldn’t they? Yes they should. But they should be responsible while addressing social issues. Is that too much to ask as a film viewer? Serious Question: Can’t we have an oppressor antagonist in a Dalit-centric film or a Dalit antagonist in a Upper caste-centric film who are identifiable and well written, with clear motives that are understandable?

This applies to Sekhar Kammula’s Love Story as well. It tackles two very sensitive issues, and does a good job with the one that isn’t casteism. And that is a pain in the a**, when the lead pair’s romance, clearly a subplot, felt worth watching compared to the rest.

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RK

October 4, 2021

@Baradwaj Rangan,
Off topic. What are your thoughts on Shekhar Kammula’s Love story? Waiting for that 🙂

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theeversriram

October 5, 2021

@brangan, why can’t a Dalit lawyer talk about greatness of Muthuramalinga Thevar?

M Thevar belongs to all Tamilians/Indians no?

Fixing each leader/icon to a caste is a stupid habit that started in TN in last 2 decades.

Ambedkar is a national icon right?

VO Chidambaram – Pillai
Veerapandiya Kattaboman – Naidu
Theeran Chinnamalai – Gounder
The list is too long.

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Yajiv

October 6, 2021

@theeversriram:

Is it truly a recent thing? I see yesteryear (grandparents’, etc) generations do this all the time, calling so & so “namma jaathi kaaranga” as a point of pride. Or did they pick this up in the last 2 decades too? (Find that quite hard to believe tbh.)

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Srinivas R

October 6, 2021

@Yajiv – I will go a step further and say some of them have legends build around them disproportionate to their actual deeds thanks to the influence of caste groups. This has happened over many decades.

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Gaja

October 6, 2021

Bharadwaj: Looking forward to the Deep Focus interview with MOhan G

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gnanaozhi

October 7, 2021

Hey BR,

After much ado I watched the movie and as a movie its utter nonsense. Am surprised its getting such a response (I walked out post interval)

But on the opening points you made,

1) why is it wrong to say Ambedkar is a universal Indian hero? Like I am a Brahmin and I absolutely love reading anything Ambedkar has written. His intellect is almost overpowering, he has extreme lucidity of thought, had a very prescient vision and to me would have made the perfect first PM for India. In him I think we lost our Lee Kuan Yew in the sense that he was the one major pre 47 leader who knew exactly what India wanted. But because I am a Brahmin, I can’t claim him as my own also?

2) dalit conversions – there is extensive literature from British sources on (around 1850 on) that talk about how conversions should be bottom up to weaken the whole filthy “pagan pyramid” (not my words, but paraphrasing many original works). Even a few short years ago (1995) a branch of the Vatican published the Joshua project where again conversion of Dalits is a priority.

How’s bringing this in the movie wrong or incorrect? It’s an inconvenient truth yes, film makers have steered clear of it, but as others have pointed out,if a PA Ranjit (who has made ludicrous claims like Raja Chola was not a Tamil) can make outright propaganda movies like Kaala, why not a movie that touches on this inconvenient subject also?

For the record though, Ranjit is a film maker who is literally leagues apart from this dude. Like you, I loved attakathi, Madras and have watched Sarpatta 3 times now. It’s only when he let’s the propaganda get in the way of the story telling (Kaala, Kavali) that it gets extremely tedious.

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theeversriram

October 7, 2021

@Yajiv, Namma jathi karanga was there for several generations, but large scale celebrations highlighting the caste of leaders, with tacit approval of political parties, caste/region based political parties claiming to carry forward the leader’s legacy are all pretty recent.

I have been to Devar jayanti, Devenderer jayanti, etc and each year I see the money being spent, youngsters mobilised are all on the rise.

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Madan

October 8, 2021

“His intellect is almost overpowering, he has extreme lucidity of thought, had a very prescient vision and to me would have made the perfect first PM for India. In him I think we lost our Lee Kuan Yew in the sense that he was the one major pre 47 leader who knew exactly what India wanted. But because I am a Brahmin, I can’t claim him as my own also?” – I rarely agree with you on anything political but on this, I do. Ambedkar is the PM India needed. Congress can explain away not making Patel the PM because he was already too old but as to why they sidelined Ambedkar, they cannot.

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brangan

October 8, 2021

theeversriram: @brangan, why can’t a Dalit lawyer talk about greatness of Muthuramalinga Thevar?

What I meant was that IN THE FILM, which is all about “intermediate castes are not all bad people”, this scene felt like a provocation to Dalit filmmakers. Because Ambedkar was rarely spoken of in cinema before the Pa Ranjith era — as a community icon, I mean. So when a Dalit character says I love Ambedkar AND Muthuramalinga Thevar, the dialogues felt like they were making a very pointed point.

I was not saying it is wrong at all, merely pointing to what I said in my review, that “All of this could be seen as a counter reaction to our Dalit filmmakers. “

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Aman Basha

October 8, 2021

Ambedkar’s economic views were not different from Nehru’s; in countries like India pre independence, when resources are so unequally distributed and more so on caste lines, some element of socialist redistribution has to happen. In fact, if you read some of his views, they are surprisingly similar to Noam Chomsky. He advocated for state ownership more than Nehru. He was not completely left wing, but certainly influenced by Fabian socialism.

He didn’t become PM, because most Indians would have never accepted a Dalit as India’s PM. Add to that, he was more a community leader than a pan India figure, and also a technocrat and not a vote catcher, after all, he lost to a milkman in the first Lok Sabha elections.

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Madan

October 8, 2021

If I had to guess, the part about Ambedkar that attracts gnanaozhi to him (as well as for me) is that he was much more of a realist and would have therefore taken the establishment of the civic religion of democracy much more seriously. He would have probably pushed for separation of religion and state as well for he warned that politics and religion cannot mix. We needed someone in the middle of the laissez-faire soft secularism of Nehru (which became a complete joke by the time of Rajiv Gandhi) and the hard secularism of Kemal Ataturk. Ambedkar could have been that leader for he as a Dalit was less likely to have an overly romantic or forgiving view of religion which Nehru for all his secular and socialist values ultimately held.

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Honest Raj

October 9, 2021

@Aman Basha: Totally agree! Although a caste leader, Ambedkar was never a popular figure among his own community. In fact, Gandhi, Nehru and the then Congress should be duly credited for giving him a place in the ministry. Throughout his life, he remained a bitter critic of Gandhi and Congress—which, among other things, explains the undiminished love for him among the Hindu Nationalists.

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Anand Raghavan

October 12, 2021

@Honest Raj : The point that you made, Hindu nationalists fascination for Ambedkar was always intriguing to me. What is that make them embrace Ambedkar, who was a hard critic of the discrimination in Hinduism but vehemently go against Gandhi-Nehru who were not that vocal as Ambedkar on that subject.

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Honest Raj

October 14, 2021

@Anand Raghavan: Since there was no prominent leader from their own camp, they began to co-opt the political opponents of their own opponent. Hence, one shouldn’t be surprised at their new-found love for leaders such as Ambedkar, Patel, NSC Bose, Kamaraj, PVN, or even a communist like Bhagat Singh. Had the INC been led by a far-left leader, they would’ve loved Nehru too. 🙂

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