By Kailasham R
In a post on Prashant-Simran movies from the 90s that went live shortly after Diwali 2021, I made a comment that “on-screen romance in Tamil cinema would see a tectonic shift in grammar and vocabulary” in the decade or so that followed. A reader requested that I elaborate on this point. While this request forms the cue that triggered this post, I realized that a proper response would need to cover how the portrayal of the hero and heroine characters changed over this period, before getting to how the romance between these characters was captured on screen. You are now entering a narration that meanders and have been warned.
No one is claiming that at the stroke of the midnight hour on the first day of the current millennium, drastic changes were witnessed in Tamil cinema. The transition was gradual, and several movies in the early 00s retained the 90s ethos. A few of them still clicked with the audience. Those that were too anachronistic were consigned to the refuse heap accordingly.
Mechanical Engineering student-na oru fire vendaan?
Actor Murali in Idhayam is a medical student, Arjun and Vineeth are aspiring doctors in Gentleman, Prabhudeva is an arts college student in Kaadhalan, as are Vineeth and Abbas in Kaadhal Desam. Kunal is a business school student in Kaadhalar Dhinam. Arjun has completed a degree in visual communications in Mudhalvan. Ajith is an aspiring composer in Mugavari and a filmmaker in Kandukondain Kandukondain. The twins Prashant run a catering business in Jeans. Many movies of Sarathkumar and Sathyaraj show the protagonists as school dropouts. Several movies that released in the 90s did not focus on the professional background of the lead characters and this lack of detail, in many cases, did not really affect the story and its progression. Explicit references to engineers during this period, were few and far between. There were exceptions: Prashant is introduced as an electronics engineer in Kannedhirey Thondrinaal, while Rajinikanth’s character is an engineer in Padayappa. Madhavan is a software engineer in Alaipayuthey.
It would take a 2001 film to formally burnish the image of an engineering student as the movie’s protagonist. While the machinations of wooing the belle in Minnale did not stray too far from the ideas developed in the 90s, the scene where Maddy is introduced as a rebellious mechanical engineering student was a cinematic acknowledgement of the growing number of engineers in society. The engineer had arrived on the silver-screen, at 4 AM queues outside the embassy, as a statistic waiting for H1B approval, and an identity in themself.
It would take a wake-up-call, more than a decade later, in the form of Velaiyilla Pattadhaari to acknowledge the challenges and travails faced by the male Indian engineer.
American Mappillai
Again, a case of art reflecting life, as the new way of life promised by the land of the free and home of the brave, also provided a cinematic plot point in the form of a groom from the USA being introduced as a wrench in the wheels of romance between the lead pair of the movie. The Groom-of-Doom character makes a brief appearance in Alaipayuthey, before receiving a more full-fledged picturization in Minnale. In many movies, this plot element is treated as a minor inconvenience that could be brushed away, as shown in Endrendrum Punnagai. Santhanam delivers a brilliant parody of this plot element in Thillu Mullu 2.
The concept was turned on its head in Sivaji, where the lead character is an expatriate who returns to India, finding love and fulfilling his true calling.
Manamedai Blues
We are in the 90s. We are entering the last half an hour of the movie where despite their best efforts to unite, the lovers have been separated by fate and appans-with-weapons. The girl is getting married off to someone else, possibly an American Mappillai. Our hero, in the final throw of dice, snatches the microphone from the insipid performer singing at the wedding, and pours his heart out. The lady leaves the altar and runs into the open arms of our hero. Oru poiyaavadhu sol kannae is an archetypal example of such a song. Cue short speech from the teary-eyed couple to the elders, and all ends well.
The trope of last-minute drama in the wedding hall gets repeated well into the 2000s and 2010s, featuring in movies like Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam, Boss Engira Bhaskaran and Oru Kal Oru Kannaadi, with the major exception that there would no longer be any tear-jerking symphonies at this stage of the movie.
Pick up. Drop. Escape
In an era where the narrative largely followed the arc of two lovers versus the world, the concept of infidelity was portrayed, albeit in a slightly heavy-handed manner, in Manmathan. It is hard to imagine that STR was only 21 when he acted in this movie. Amongst the Tamil movies in this period, the only other movies to tackle this topic must be Pachai Kili Muthu Charam and Naan Avan Illai.
The rural-urban divide
In the 90s, movies set in the villages would involve themes of family honour, rivalry, scheming and plotting, comedy scenes featuring Goundamani-Senthil, and the works. Romance, if any, in the movie would play out amongst the backdrop of elements discussed above.
By the early 2000s, romances set in the city had a predictable pattern to them: the role of the heroine in these movies were so peripheral as to be filled by vacuous imports who couldn’t speak the language. For every gem unearthed in the form of Laila, Simran or Jyothika, we have had several one-film and no-hit wonders fall by the wayside. The meek heroine trope is plain to see in Dheena, Saamy, Dhill, Dhool, Ghilli, and Pokkiri, to name a few. Pithamagan and Ghajini, despite their dark themes, provided welcome relief in the form of heroines with an impeccable sense of humor.
Subramanyapuram and Paruthi Veeran renewed the appeal of rurally filmed movies and kicked off a trend which has not yet peaked.
I’ve fallen for on you
In a frightening number of movies from this period, the actual spark of romance between the lead actors is kindled when one of them physically and quite literally runs into another. This marked a change from the “kandavudan kaadhal” (love at first sight) concept from the 90s. Rendu and Maruthamalai are a couple of examples that readily come to mind.
Three Karthiks and their love stories
Lastly, if I had to pick three definitive movies from this decade that could be considered veritable treatises on romance, I would pick the arc that begins at Alaipayuthey and ends in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, passing through Unnale Unnale. The male lead in all the three movies is named Karthik. All of them are engineers. While all of them contain the love-at-first-sight plot point, they also faithfully capture the vagaries of romance. VTV particularly shows that unrequited love need not end in self-destruction for the lover.
Baradwaj Rangan 
rsylviana
April 13, 2022
@Kailasham – Enjoyed the thesis on female characters’ profession even though I had certain disagreements on the same.
I actually think Jessie’s profession not being portrayed in detail goes with the character’s writing. I don’t think she likes her job as much as she likes Maths. IMO she goes for her job because that’s what is expected of her from her strict father/family. She even laments to Karthik that her days are dull with her monotonously just going to office and coming back home and confesses to him frustratingly “enaku enna venum nu enakae theriyaathu Karthik” in the end . Her entire push-pull romance with him fittingly represents this eternal dilemma she has to choose between what she wants to do (or atleast figure it out) vs what she has to do.
Special mention to Yaaradi Nee Mohini Nayanthara. I thought the movie, for all its faults, cleverly portrayed most of the female population who are forced to put on a different mask / personality when they come into work so that they are taken seriously and professionally. Even in the scene where she chastises Raghuvaran (very rudely) when he comes to office is explained by her having a bad day in the office after getting yelled at by her superiors and her having to deal with the office gossip that has surrounded her after their Australia trip.
I’d forgive Ghilli Trisha for not having career aspirations because she is a young everyday woman who has been pursued relentlessly since she was young by the Biggest and Mightiest Goon in her town with connections within the entire State Government. Her and her family’s priority would obviously be to first get her out of the country safely so I understand that.
What bugs me is characters like Thani Oruvan Nayanthara and Theri Samantha. Nayanthara in Thani Oruvan all but forgets that she went for Civil Service Training(no mean feat AT ALL) after she falls in love only to conveniently put on her ninja suit back on when her lover wants to tail someone for his mission. Samantha in her intro scene shoots off a monologue to how difficult it is to save a life and then becomes a dutiful wife and mother with no mention of her previous life.
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Nimmi Rangaswamy
April 13, 2022
In the 70s and 80s K Balachander’s heroines always had jobs- sex worker, bank clerk, secretary, writer, dance teacher, cook/house help – even second leads and mothers-in-law had jobs- no loosu ponuus in sight! I love this director despite the rather tortuous screen writing for all of his female leads
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Rahini David
April 13, 2022
Teachers were well represented, no? At least better than other professions.
Kadalora Kavithaigal and Mrs. Palanichamy. In both cases their role was central to the plot.
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Priya Arun
April 13, 2022
Oh wow! Yes, it makes sense! I need to watch it again to understand the process. Flawed or not, I admired the film purely for VC’s complicated character.
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brangan
April 13, 2022
Priya Arun: Yes, Leela is a doctor in Kaatru Veliyidai (with little significance in the rest of the plot)
Actually, it has everything to do with the rest of the film. At first, she heals the physical wounds (like a literal doctor) of the man; then, metaphorically, she “heals” his toxicity with her absence and her love.
It’s a flawed film but this conceit is solid. Plus, after he is captured, she works in a series of Red Cross camps (though we are shown only the last one).
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shaviswa
April 13, 2022
@R Kailasham
“Nayantara in “Thani Oruvan” has cleared the civil services examination, ”
This was one of my pet peeves with this film. After showing Nayantara’s character as a fiery civil services candidate on the train, and the way she responds to the horse riding trainer, her audacity during the training days etc. they go on to say that she quit the training because she could not come to terms with being in the same place as the hero who had rejected her.
She could have also been one of the hero’s friends who help him in his quest to attain his dream, no? Oh yes – she does but not as an equally ranked IPS officer but as a lowly forensics expert who aids the hero.
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krishikari
April 13, 2022
Kadhalum kadanthu pogum from 2016 is all about a woman struggling to have a career and a man who helps her. Okay, it was an adaptation from a Korean film but a amazingly well done, and one I learned about from a readers write in on this blog. It may not fit in with this “grammar and vocabulary” post as it is an exception, but would certainly fit one about women’s careers in Tamil films.
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Priya Arun
April 13, 2022
I often feel many films of the 70s had more progressive films than ever, where women’s employment is concerned. Of course KB’s contribution was huge.
(Never heard of Joy. Will catch it. Thanks)
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vijay
April 13, 2022
Reg. women/careers, back in Manadhil urudhi Vendum in 1987, KB dealt with a nurse and her struggles to keep things moving despite personal issues and having to lead her family. Not his best movie certainly,but the profession does play a part. SPB’s cameo(as somebody who decides to stay single because his profession is his true love) was memorable. The 90s/2000s movies didnt even go this far..even the hero’s career/profession was just a background at best. I am not sure why we dont make movies like say “Joy”, a semi-fictionalized account of the lady inventor of the kitchen mop brand popular in the US. There should be more such stories from around here waiting to be unearthed.
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Priya Arun
April 13, 2022
@Kailasam, Wow! Inspired by your post, I have just been writing a post (in my mind, of course) about women and their careers in Tamil cinema. And you have said it all. What a brilliant nuggets of memory. Careers of women is something that has been taken up by a few, perhaps after the 90s. Yes, Leela is a doctor in Kaatru Veliyidai (with little significance in the rest of the plot); Tara is an architect in OKK, NEVP, in fact, has a kind of career related conflict. I so agree with you about Jesse’s floating around when Karthik is all immersed in his career (notwithstanding her having a job at Tidel Park, Ascendas and in the US). I also remember Sneha in Autograph. Again, all this is post-2000.
Staying to your topic of the 90s, I must say, watch out for the late 90s cos that is when the legendary loosu-ponnu was born. I hope she has retired for good now, along with her boss-lady cousin on the other end of the tinsel spectrum, the shrew who could be only tamed and made to feel feminine for the first time in her life by the saviour knight.
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R. Kailasham
April 13, 2022
@Vijay: Wow. That is surely some bit of trivia 🙂 Thank you. I remember joking once that “Vazhve Mayam” taught us what cancer is, “Jeans” showed us what the US lifestyle feels like, and “Kaadhalar Dhinam” introduced us to internet dating. I will now remember this bit about MMKR.
@Macaulay: I haven’t watched Five Star. The plot line sounds quite novel from your description. When analysing “grammar and vocabulary”, I tended to focus on identifiable and repeated elements in films that released during the period. While Five Star does sound novel, could we say that it established a trend which other directors/movies followed? For this reason, I decided against “Boys”, which though ahead of its time, did not really gain traction in terms of imitation by other directors.
As an addendum, I would add Parthiban Kanavu and Sillunu Oru Kaadhal along with Alaipaytuthey as the three definitive movies of the decade to explore the theme of “Love after Marriage.”
Also, I should have mentioned Meera Jasmine’s live-wire performance in Sandakozhi (SK-1), when reminiscing about heroines with a sense of humour. She pulled it off quite admirably, and I like this movie much better than its sequel (SK-2), even though I am a fan of Keerthy Suresh. SK-2 couldn’t hold a petromax to SK-1, which had a much better soundtrack and a more gripping storyline.
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R. Kailasham
April 13, 2022
@ Priya: Thanks for the note. Interesting that you should mention Kandukondain^2: I revisited this movie recently, enjoyed it thoroughly, and blogged about it. Here is the link, if you are interested: https://kailasham29.blogspot.com/2022/03/kandukondain-kandukondain-retro-movie.html
As for the part about movies not showing the career paths of the heroines, it could be said that the career path of heroes in many Tamil movies is also not shown prominently. While Alaipayuthey clearly does this job, in Unnaale Unnaale, the role of Vinay as a civil engineer gets pushed to the background. In any case, I have copy pasted my comment from another thread on this site, for your reference:
In “Kaadhal Kottai”, a watershed romantic movie, we see Devayani’s character striving hard to land a job.
I could give more examples, but it seems in general that if one asks “What does the heroine do apart from being in a relationship with the hero?”, there are a fair number of movies which would return a clear answer, and many others in which the answer is not so clear.
For example, Jothika’s character, hailing from a small village in Tamil Nadu, in “Dumm Dumm Dumm” is largely defined by her idea of pursuing an engineering degree before entering married life. Jo’s character in “Kaakha Kaakha” is a school teacher passionate about her job. I think both Jo’s and Meena’s characters in “Rhythm” have their careers mentioned in the movie. Reema Sen in “Minnale” works at Ford.
Shalini’s character in “Alaipayuthey” is firmly committed in her ambition to become a doctor. Both Sada’s and Tanisha Mukherjee’s characters in “Unnale Unnale” have career-goals, even though the movie doesn’t dwell too deeply on this aspect. Nayantara’s character in “Yaaradi Nee Mohini” is one of a senior manager in an IT firm into which Dhanush’s character joins as a fresher. Trisha’s character in “Endrendrum Punnagai” is firmly committed to her career in the advertising industry. Trisha’s Hemanika in “Ennai Arinthaal” is devoted to her craft, dancing. Samantha’s character is given the role of a doctor in “Theri” but the movie considers this as only a minor plot point. Nayantara in “Thani Oruvan” has cleared the civil services examination, while her character in “Mr. Local” is the Managing Director of a TV network. I haven’t seen “Kaatru veliyidai” but I think Aditi Rao Haideri’s character is a doctor.
On the other hand we have movies like “Mudhalvan”, where we don’t know what Thenmozhi’s career ambitions are. Ditto in “Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya”, where I can’t seem to remember what Jessie wants to do in her life. On a similar note, many of the blockbusters of the mid 90s would not have a career-angle attributed to the leading lady: “Kaadhalan”, “Gentleman”, “Jeans”. We shall forever remain in the dark about the career aspirations of Trisha’s characters in “Saamy” and “Ghilli”.
Clearly, there are movies that fall into both the categories, as described above.
The travails of a small town girl looking to get a job in a big city has been described with a nice touch of humour in “Engeyum Eppothum”. Remember the song “Govinda..Chennaiyila puthu ponnu?”
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rsylviana
April 12, 2022
Oh yea! I haven’t watched Five Star still but remember all the hoopla surrounding it. The film was talked about for its music and its noteworthy concept of 5 newcomers being introduced by Maniratnam’s Madras Talkies . I think it also clashed with Ullam Ketkume because that movie too had the similar concept of a bunch of newcomers being introduced in the same film , although originally called “PEPSI” (a clever abbreviation for its lead characters) and finally releasing much later than Five Star due to production issues .
Prasanna hails from my hometown and went to school in the same locality my school was and is actually my sister’s college senior too. So we were extra excited for the movie but our excitement was neutralized by the tepid response it received from others who had caught the movie in theaters.
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Macaulay Perapulla
April 12, 2022
I am also surprised you missed “Five Star” in this. It was quite a trailblazer in tamizh cinema exploring
1) Rural Vs Urban (without each judging each other)
2) Friends deciding to co-live with their partners
3) A woman waiting for his husband until she realises that the wait wasn’t worth it
4) Friends using Alumni groups to track friends
5) A friend falling head over heels with another friend’s wife only to realise that he didn’t know any better
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Priya Arun
April 12, 2022
Kailasam, enjoyed reading your article. Amidst all the Engineers and America dreamer boys, there was hardly any mention of the education and careers of the female leads. Colleges and office buses (GVM!) were only a setting and backdrop. Even if some films did show them having a job, they didn’t speak of them as a career. This is sadly prevalent even today. The only films that were exceptions in the 90s were those of Rajiv Menon, some of GVM and MR’s Alaipaayudhey. Kandukonden-Kandukonden is my favourite example. Speaking of which, this movie also dealt with the concept of heartbroken-yet-moving on.
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vijay
April 12, 2022
Kailasham, and the laptop, if I am not mistaken, was first shown in our movies in MMKR in 1990, Kamal’s Madan character is seen using it. For trivia buffs.
Hey Nee rombha azhaga irukka had a pretty good soundtrack. Unfortunately the individual composers of those tracks, the likes of which included Srinivas, Ramesh Vinayagam, Raghav etc. did’nt themselves go on to have many more composing offers in hand. But then, such is the industry. Ini naanum naan illai and oru kaadhal vandhucho were favourites.
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Macaulay Perapulla
April 12, 2022
@rsylviana Oh yes! “Yaamini Yaamini” and the whole idea of six composers were quite a rage. It was shot near my house. I remember watching the shoot and then seeing the movie. It was fun.
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R. Kailasham
April 12, 2022
Thank you all for the feedback. Glad to chat with other fans of movies from that decade.
@rsylviana: I remember going to the video library with my parents as a kid and laughing at the title of the movie, and we never ended up borrowing the cassette. I have seen the comedy clips from the movie on TV, and Vivek kills it, particularly in the “Poojai” scene where Sham’s mom brings the priest home for Ganapati Homam 😀 I will make a note to check this movie out.
@Macaulay: I haven’t seen that movie. Have listened to “Margazhi Poove” a gazillion times, though. Wow, so the green card concept came into movies as early as 1994! Thanks for pointing this out. I had no idea.
@shaviswa: Nandri, boss. Haha, that was me channelling Vivek’s (“Assault Arumugam”) legendary lines from “Padikkathavan” 😀
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shaviswa
April 11, 2022
Extremely well written and good analysis. Enjoyed this every bit.
“the lovers have been separated by fate and appans-with-weapons” – I had to stop reading and laugh for a few seconds after reading this. 😀
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Macaulay Perapulla
April 11, 2022
“Again, a case of art reflecting life, as the new way of life promised by the land of the free and home of the brave, also provided a cinematic plot point in the form of a groom from the USA being introduced as a wrench in the wheels of romance between the lead pair of the movie. ” This is fascinating. I think the earliest starting point was in May Maadham (1994) where the girl meets a Greencard holding America Mappillai and runs away from him under the pretext of making his hair grow ( Thank goodness:))
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rsylviana
April 11, 2022
Really enjoyed this Kailasham. Some very good points and observations.
Just one (completely-sunk-into-oblivion-except-for-some-befitting-appreciation-for-its-soundtrack-and-soundtrack concept) film to add to the repertoire of films that portray the notion that “unrequited love need not be the be all and end all of anyone’s existence and can be channeled into something positive is Yei Nee Romba Azhaga Iruka . Even I missed it on screen and had no interest to catch this movie later in-spite of one of my college friends actively commending this film and lamenting that how a romantic drama made by Vasanth was not being appreciated by people who lapped up his other (albeit better made) projects. I finally caught it on Sun TV over a lazy weekend and was pleasantly surprised at how well-made and quite a fun movie it was.
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R. Kailasham
April 11, 2022
Thank you very much, Baddy sir, for publishing the piece. Glad that you enjoyed it!
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vijay
April 10, 2022
Another sub-genre would be the stalker with an OCD type of movies in the 2000s, with Sethu in 99, followed by Kaadhal Konden, 7G, Chellame, Saththam podaadhey and the likes..
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Jeeva Pitchaimani
April 10, 2022
I was surprised by two observations here:
That of the great Rajni himself playing the America Mappillai in Sivaji which turned this “mixture eating Mappillai” concept on its head.
That of VTV being the first to portray that love failure need not necessarily end up in destruction and that the fierce negativity that stems from doomed love can in fact be channelled into something as positive as what the hero turns into (though this was glossed over in VA already and became the theme of GVM’s movies like YA as well).
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brangan
April 10, 2022
Really enjoyed this, Kailasham. Some good analysis here 🙂
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