It’s acknowledged by many following south Indian cinema that writer-director Ok Bhagyaraj, who handed away on June 27, simply weeks after his mentor Bharathiraja, was one of many most interesting writing abilities within the nation. His pacy screenplay, with near-perfect proportions of humour and drama, are nonetheless spoken about. Curiously, although he primarily labored at a time when male star energy dominated, he at all times discovered a spot for ladies in his scripts, and wrote them with nuance.
Due to his rural background — he hailed from Coimbatore — and due to his publicity to schooling, Bhagyaraj was in a position to create a canvas the place the 2 worlds didn’t essentially collide, however co-existed. Most feminine characters in his movies had been educated and had a thoughts of their very own, and he was assured sufficient to permit them to dominate screentime. He was joyful enjoying to his strengths — normally because the harmless accomplice, somebody offering levity, and barely because the one who strays from the straight path. This is the reason his movies labored splendidly properly with feminine audiences.
I first watched Thooral Ninnu Pochu (1982) as an eight-year-old and nonetheless bear in mind the character of Meenakshi akka, the heroine Mangalam’s (Sulakshana) neighbour. She seems for a quick whereas within the movie, however units the stage for every thing — from Mangalam’s concern and anxiousness a few potential groom coming to ‘see’ her to how the village views women. Regardless of seven ‘boys’ rejecting her, Meenakshi is an image of confidence on Mangalam’s massive day. That may be a rarity for a time when village women had been written as wilting wallflowers. However the minute the grandmother throws some sharp phrases at her, she crumbles. A telling commentary on these instances.
A 12 months earlier than this got here Indru Poi Naalai Vaa (1981), the place three boys bear every kind of hassle to woo a lady, even going to the extent of attempting to study Hindi. We had been used to boys “teasing” women on display, but it surely was very uncommon to observe three boys work very laborious to earn a lady’s consideration. Radhika’s character Jaya was each playful and harmless, and the movie additionally gave us the memorable ‘Ek gaon mein ek kisaan Raghuthatha’.
The identical 12 months, in Andha 7 Naatkal, Bhagyaraj infuses the character of Vasanthi (Ambika) with verve — she’s the primary to specific her like to Palakkad Madhavan (Bhagyaraj), and even whereas being a product of her time, she is completely different. Later, when life throws her a curveball, she takes a call that’s consistent with her character — as a result of Vasanthi isn’t proven as somebody shirking accountability or being depending on somebody. She has a thoughts, and workout routines it.
Bhagyaraj may need gained infamy (or fame) as the one who took the standard drumstick and elevated it to aphrodisiac ranges, however he additionally wrote his girls as folks with want. He’s an unwitting participant within the drumstick experiment in Mundhanai Mudichu (1983). Urvashi, who performs his younger spouse Parimalam, feeds the vaadhiyar (Bhagyaraj) the drumstick, as a result of she craves his love.
One thing related was repeated within the 1988 Idhu Namma Aalu, the place Bhagyaraj performs Gopalasamy, who pretends to be a Brahmin to eke out a livelihood. He finally ends up being wooed by Banu (Shobana), the English-speaking daughter of a village elder. Once they start their life collectively, he chooses to keep up distance, one thing she doesn’t approve of. There’s sufficient double entendre from her facet earlier than issues work out.
Bhagyaraj performs Subramani, a village boy looking for a life in cinema, fairly mirroring his personal life, in Dhaavani Kanavugal (1984). The one boy in a household of women, he learns early on to maintain them secure. The well-known coin sequence – he throws cash on the ground to maintain them from watching an intimate scene in a film theatre – options on this movie. The sisters are written with integrity, women who are usually not swayed by cash and who’re eager on marrying the boys who appreciated them after they had been nonetheless poor. Radhika performs Bhagyaraj’s love curiosity, the woman who cares for him however who by no means lets go of her self-respect. She course-corrects him, she’s the ethical core of his life at a stage, all with out expectation. Curiously, this movie can be proof of how a lot Radhika had grown as an actor within the three years from their first outing in 1981.
Chinna Veedu (1985) is a crucial instance of Bhagyaraj exhibiting the viewers the mirror as to how they view girls who’re plump. It helps that his co-star was the fabulous Kalpana, who performs Bhagya, an informed girl compelled to play dumb, solely as a result of she just isn’t slim. Regardless of all that he throws at her, Bhagya by no means lets go of her dignity and stays true to who she is. Curiously, Bhagyaraj launched cinematographer BR Vijayalakshmi to Tamil by means of this movie.
The 1987 Enga Chinna Raasa, which was remade in Hindi because the blockbuster Beta starring Anil Kapoor, Aruna Irani, and Madhuri Dixit, is one other class instance of how he wrote his girls — two sturdy characters Rukmini (Radha) and Nagamani (CR Saraswathi) — on both facet of the divide, with he was content material enjoying the harmless Chinnaraasu. When Rukmini ultimately will get all the way down to battle, it’s utilizing her intelligence and ethical core.
Even in his first movie, Suvarilla Chitirangal (1979), the late writer-director wrote the movie’s lead Saroja as possessing a backbone and somebody who confronted her laborious life head-on. With age, and time, his writing solely acquired higher, which might be why you’ll be able to hardly ever consider a Bhagyaraj movie with out remembering the heroine or what she contributed to the movie.
Take, for instance, Aararo Aariraro (1989), the place he performs the caretaker in a hospital for these mentally unwell, and begins to take care of the most recent inmate Meenu (an excellent Bhanupriya). She has the larger position, the position that might get extra applause, and he meant it that manner.
The identical occurred in Mouna Geethangal, which launched in 1981, a seminal 12 months for Bhagyaraj. A movie about relationship tangles, it reveals a person attempting to woo his former spouse (Sarita) again. The movie acknowledges that he strayed, however, extra importantly, it additionally acknowledges his spouse’s determination to separate. Later, it additionally tracks her change of thoughts. Generally, Bhagyaraj positioned his characters within the gray space, the place it was not simple to guage them.
The one black mark in his pro-women stance most likely came about in 2019 when, throughout a press meet, speaking in regards to the Pollachi sexual assault case, he mentioned girls too had a job to play in such circumstances, for which he was broadly criticised. He was even summoned by the Tamil Nadu State Fee for Ladies demanding an official clarification. That one assertion went in opposition to fairly the vast majority of his writing.
Bhagyaraj started writing when Indian movies weren’t questioned relating to their gender stances or political correctness. However, even then, a few of his writing would possibly cross the take a look at of time properly.
Subha J Rao is an leisure journalist protecting Tamil and Kannada cinema and is predicated out of Mangaluru, Karnataka.
Views expressed are the creator’s personal.
