Iraivi in the Light of Feminism and Misconceived Machismo

Jove Jerina. S M.A. English, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Trichy-02, Taminadu. Email: [email protected]

Abstract This paper centers on how the movie Iraivi praises womanhood in each perspective through an analysis of the characters through a linguistic viewpoint. Iraivi, in reality, celebrates the female sex. It talks woman's rights through the mouth of all the male characters. In Iraivi , the male characters are the portrayal of the manliness who controls the life of women in various perspectives; yet the male characters are the genuine celebrators of women; regardless of whether she is a postmodern or a convention-bound. A linguistic analysis plainly uncovers that women are really celebrated by men. In this movie, the obstacles and suppressions of women are the real medium that has been used to uphold the pride and importance of women. This paper points not to accuse the male sex but rather it points just on the belief systems that shape the male in our general public to go about as a 'MAN'. In reality, Iravi through its exchanges supports the women who are in the place of taking daring choice.

Keywords: Iraivi, Celebration of Womanhood, Various Perspectives. Introduction:

A feministic and linguistic approach towards the movie Iraivi, shows how it celebrates womanhood. A feministic approach is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature gender inequality. It examines women’s and men’s social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist politics in a variety of fields such as sociology, communication, media studies, psychoanalysis, literature, education and philosophy. Feminist theory focuses on analysing gender inequality. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, objectification, oppression, patriarchy, stereotyping, art history and contemporary art, and aesthetics.

Different languages give different ways to look at the world. Linguistics pertains to scientific study of language. Linguistic approach to translation focuses primarily on the issues of meaning and equivalence. Linguistics thus tries to discover ‘what’ the language actually means. It is then the work of the philosophy of linguistics to understand ‘how’ the language means. Characterisation:

The Female Characters

Ponni (Anjali)

Ponni(played by Anjali)is a character who leads a normal life as any other village girls, bounded to tradition and culture. As her expectations, her dreams and imaginations also stand within a limit. It’s because she knew how a simple, poor girl’s life will be. Ponni has no much expectation in her life. She accepts what she gets, including her marriage life. Ponni’s goal in life is to get married and settle down with a good looking man who would pamper her. There will be a JETIRAF06013 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 47

biggest dream for every girl about her marriage, from what colour dress she has to wear on the marriage day to how the man should be to whom she has to give her hand in marriage, even before she enters into the phase of marriage. But for this girl, her dream about her marriage is very simple as she is.

She marries a man who openly states that he can’t be a good husband that she expected and imagined. That hurts her, yet she adjust with that and leads a normal life that each and every women in our society. She is dumb when she got to know her husband’s extra marital affair. Her husband’s gratitude toward a particular family leads him to go to jail. At that time only she undergoes many trouble like any other poor woman in the society. This incident becomes responsible for a germination of hope in Ponni, for an independent life without her husband. She portrayed as a weakest character in this movie that undergoes many troubles because of her husband’s foolish decisions. She faces her life alone without any support from her husband. This moulds her character and transforms her from the weakest to the strongest of any other women characters in this movie. Through the linguistic perspective the dialogues of Ponni reveals her nature. In her school day there was raining, a girl asks Ponni lets enjoy the rain. There she says,

“I wish to get drenched but we become wet no!”(Asa than, ana nananjuruvomae!)

Through this dialogue we get know the reality of life of a normal girl. They wish to do many things yet the afraid of the society; they hide all their deeds and bound to the customs. It’s the custom that never allows a woman to be free. The same thing is happening to this women character Ponni. Here Ponni is a round character who started her role in life as a naïve girl and transformed into a matured character. From a convention-bound woman to a postmodern woman the transformation takes place. The transformation can be understood through a dialogue uttered by Ponni in the movie,

“Am I a machine to mould you, to give you a proper life, to bear a child for you and to take care of it?”

This is a stereotypical expectation of society that every newly married woman liable to as the character Ponni, which then destroyed by her ray of hope for an independent life. Ponni the strongest of all women characters in the movie.

Yazhini (Kamalinee Mukherjee)

Yazhini is one fine woman character found in the movie. While Ponni is of village background and tied up with customs, yazhini is a postmodern woman. She takes care of her child, husband and family, and takes up a role as working woman like any other postmodern woman. Though she falls under the category of postmodern woman, she is not much independent to lead her own life. After comes out of the life of her drunkard husband she is forced by her father to marry another man chosen by him. Her dilemma of taking decision keeps her as a partial postmodernist and partial custom-bounded. Her major obstacle in her life is her fear of taking decision and facing life in dilemma. In a scene, while she argues with her husband Arul (played by S. J. Surya) she warns him,

“I’ll be no more available for you if you are going to behave the same way hereafter”

Yazhini fights a lot to sustain in her marital life. She is more concern about her daughter; that is one of the reasons that keeps her going in the marital life with a drunkard husband. The reason behind her husband’s habit of drinking keeps her patience. The character of Yazhini in the movie is the one who always stands in the middle of the road.

Malarvizhi (Pooja Devariya)

Malar is a widow who is involved in a purely physical relationship with Michael (Vijay Sethupathi), and prefers not to fall in love with him. She declines the proposal of marriage brought

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by Michael’s uncle. She proves herself as a pure postmodern woman. She does what she wants. She is so independent in all aspects especially economically. Women are bound to men mostly on economically, that made men to underestimate them. As a postmodern woman Malar escapes from this circle. After the death of her husband she realise many things. That made her to behave matured when she gets a marriage proposal from Michael who engaged in a physical affair with Malar. She is an artist too. Generally an artist is the one who has the ability to change anything into art. If the artist is a poet he/she will express his/her emotion as a poem. If the artist is a painter, he/she will choose the medium of painting to transform his/her emotion into an artist. In Iraivi, the character Malar, an artist chooses the medium of painting to express her emotions and to free herself, from the unwanted stress that caused by solitude. Malar is the ideal character who strongly believes herself and lives her life in her own way and maintains a balance in her life. Malar, a true feminist she is.

Arul’s Comatose Mother (Vadivukkarasi)

Arul’s comatose mother is the prey of machismo. Her role is massively passive throughout the movie. Yet has a strong effect on the audience. Because when heard is efficient, the unheard is strongly effective. The thing which we could not hear is more effective than the thing which we could hear. Though she is in an unconscious state, she is the reminder for the men who are dominant over his wife, sister, or mother (any woman in that case). Only in the first scene of the movie she actively appears in the movie. That one particular scene in which she cries, because her husband ashamed her in front of her relatives. This is a major problem that faced by every dumb woman in the society. The movie clearly shows how these mental traumas faced by the women and to where it leads. This movie wittily portrays how much important a woman to a man. The mother character is the existent example of this.

The Male Characters:

Arul (S.J. Surya)

Arul is a filmmaker, an alcoholic, a lethargic dad and a useless husband. He falls into the habit of drinking because of his film that stocked from releasing by the producer. Being a director Arul would have written next story by working with another film producer, he could have released that too. But he justify himself for not writing another story by saying that his movie is like a baby in the mother’s womb before giving birth to that baby, the mother cannot conceived with the other baby. This is a convincing statement that provides pity on him. Though Arul looks like aggressive and self-centred, he become so lovable when it’s comes to his wife and child.

While analysing in-depth, the movie that got stuck from releasing named MAY 17(17.05), is about the cruel massacre that took place in Sri Lanka, against Tamil people. So this emotional movie that he dreamed to express about his Tamil relations to the homeland, leads him to the habit of drinking when it got stuck without releasing. Arul has a strong and passive backer of womanhood. When he finds his life in a chaotic place, he decides to let his wife free to live her own life. Because he know this it’s hard for her wife to adjust with his misfortune and arrogance always. The words that he use against her wife to let her free are really aggressive, but the emotions that he express while using those words against his wife shows, how much he is concerned about his wife. This concern makes him the tool that the director uses to endorse the importance and dignity of womanhood.

Jagan (Bobby Simha)

Through this male character the movie celebrates the womanhood actively. This very character shows respect for woman in his everyday aspect. When he found a co-student in his class disturbs a girl, he stands for that girl without her knowledge. This shows not his heroism, but his respect towards womanhood. In the middle of the movie, he states that, things should be there in

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its proper place, where it is given due respect. This statement aptly suits for woman too. Many women lose their life in the hands of a wrong partner. The dialogue that uttered by him,

“Soon you will be set free from the hands of monsters kannagi!”(Arakargal kaiyilirunthu vidupaduvai kannagi!)

Proves him as a real feminist and also proves his stand against machismo on women. His concern for Ponni shows him as a character with wrong deed, but his intention of marrying her proves him as genuine feminist. He never forces Ponni to marry him, be gave her a proposal. And he distance himself from her when he finds, she has no concern for him. The gentility of Jagan found in the movie that lacks in many men in the society. The movie never aims at cursing men rather it celebrates womanhood through the mouth of men. Jagan is a great example for it.

Michael (Vijay Sethupathi)

Michael is the personified shape of male dominance and cruelty against women and how women are exploited physically and sexually. His attitude towards his wife Ponni proves him as a monster. And his extra marital affair adds essence to it. This character is so bounded with one particular family who have helped and helping Michael’s family, to the level of killing someone for the sake of that family. Though this shows the gratitude of Michael, not sounds good from the viewpoint of a wife. So as a husband Michael fails to do his duty even when his wife is pregnant. Iraivi through the character Michael shows what are the duties that unfulfilled by the hopeless husbands in the society. By showing the mistakes Iraivi tends to correct them. Michael personification of mistakes that committed by the hopeless husbands, that are to be avoided.

The Father (Radharavi)

The father is the perfect example for how a man can ruin a woman’s life. He didn’t look before he leaps. So he regrets at the final years of his life. This character has been used to show how should not be a man to his wife. Linguistic viewpoint:

The movie titled ‘Iraivi’ (Goddess) has doubts of having reference of its existing in Tamil language. This movie strongly stresses on this term often in part of this film, that symbolises the movie celebrates womanhood.

Through the dialogues that have been used in the movie it is very blissful to justify that the movie Iraivi is a celebration of womanhood. Majorly those were uttered by the character Jagan. At the beginning of the movie he raises a question to the professor what is essential to be answered and left unanswered. The question related with a Tamil epic “Silppathigaram” in which the protagonist Kovalan accepted by his wife, even after he commits adultery. Jagan’s question is this, “Would Kannagi (wife of Kovalan) have been accepted, if she also has done the same?” Though this question makes sense, it is left unanswered. The reason behind is that the customs. Women should strictly be bounded to the customs whereas men are free to break them. Jagan’s this question gives us a clear sense that he is the important character, especially a male character, who speaks feminism effectively. The character called Ponni, through whom the transformation of an innocent woman into a bravest one is shown. Her dialogues are much important in elucidating the transformation. In very starting of the film, when it was raining her friend call her to get drenched in the rain, there she says, “I wish to get drenched but we become wet no!”(“Asa than, ana nananchuruvomae!”) In Iraivi, rain has been shown as a ray of hope for freedom. No women in our society are whole heartedly ready to taste the freedom, because their tie to customs never set them free to taste it. This freedom is tasted by the character Ponni only at the end of the film. She sets herself free from

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all the obstacles that stopped her from tasting the freedom of life. While other women characters in the film are still not ready to set themselves free from the customs that never allow her to fly high. Jagan after getting drunk he blabbers one thing which shows a true feminist’s heartache for women’s freedom from the monstrous men, “Soon you will be set free from the hands of monsters kannagi!”(Arakargal kaiyilirunthu vidupaduvai kannagi!) This gives a ray of hope for the female sex to be set free from the monstrous hands. This movie clearly shows that a woman can be set free not by the society, but by herself. The transformation has to happen from within of a woman. “Am I a machine to mould you, to give you a proper life, to bear a child for you and to take care of it?” This question that aroused by Ponni and Jagan, in different point of the film to different persons. This dialogue is more like against the stereotypes that considered as the duties that have to be done by every woman in the society. There is a song in the movie (Manithi) which arrives at the end of the movie as a call for women to come out the boundaries that prevent her from enjoying her freedom. This song shows freedom of woman linguistically by using the term ‘manithi’ that is unsure about the existence in Tamil language. “Manithi veliye va, Manithan endra sollukkulae adangathe pennae!” The linguistic aspect keenly shows and attains what the movie aims at. The very song (manithi) restrain the whole essence of the movie.

Conclusion:

The movie Iraivi gives a convincing conclusion that the freedom of a woman can be given by no one in the society except by herself. It is she who has to take it up rather than expecting it from someone’s hand. Unlike any other movies, in which the female characters stay strong and voice out for women's equality, in this movie the male characters who are really voice out for women's equality. This makes the movie more effective than any other feminist movies. The linguistic approach and the characterisation strengthen it.

REFERENCE

Singh, vikram. Breaking the stereotypes: a feminist reading of the movie Dangal, Vol.5.Issue 1. 2017.

Jain Jasbir, Rai Sudha: Films and feminism – Essays in Indian Cinema, Rawat Publications, 2002.

http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-cinema-column/Women-in-Tamil-Cinema08-02-12.html

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