An Analysis on Torture King 23Rd Pulikesi – a Political Satire Film

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An analysis on Torture King 23rd Pulikesi – A Political satire film S.Yamunai Selvan Dr.P.Govindaraju Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, India Abstract One of the most interesting and ever-viewed concept in cinema could be political satire. During Hitler's regime, mocking the political system and its loopholes is evident through film made by film-maker Charlie Chaplin1 (THE GREAT DICTATOR). Films on political satire could appear as only comical in some ways but it also points out the way our political systems are engaging in current scenario pinpointing a strong opposition towards its nature. Evidently, the films bring out only the fatuous characteristics of political system giving suggestions for its proper management. As far as Tamil Cinema is concerned these could be some of the important movies which come under political satire: Muhhamad bin Tughluk (1971), Amaidhi Padai (1994), Joker (2016). Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikecei2 (2010) is a film that happens on an imaginary region called Cholapurapalayam which is a place created on-screen to appear under British regime. It describes about the rule of king where people suffer due to his activities concerning the region. It mocks about the important loopholes that the current political system has left unsolved such as caste-clashes, emerging of foreign soft drinks in the region and the kings who support the alien countries. This research brings out the satirical aspects dealt in the film through scene-by-scene analysis method. It employs qualitative methodology underlying semiotics. Though this film is released before few years it purely brings out the current exceptional activities of political system in Tamilnadu and highlighting its authoritative nature, and main objective is to study how this movie played a catalyst role towards development, believing this research could bring in detail about the social problems that are dealt in the film. Key words: Political satire, film studies, political communication, content analysis.

Introduction From ancient times satirists have shared a common aim: to expose foolishness in all its guises – vanity, hypocrisy, pedantry, idolatry, bigotry, sentimentality – and to effect reform through such exposure. The many diverse forms their statements have taken reflect the origin of the word satire, which is derived from the Latin satura, meaning “dish of mixed fruits.”THE COLOMBIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA (pvenglishteach, 2015). Now, political education means opening...minds, awakening them, and allowing the birth of their intelligence; as Cesaire said, it is ‘to invent souls’. To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them. Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Wayne, Political Film, 2001) Satire has long been a tool of political criticism. Although the term satire may describe an entire work, a passage, or a tone, its characteristics are shared: among these, it employs comedy or humor; has a target and an ideal to compare it to; and folly or vice in detail. We could sense the Political satire on the period of Bharatiyar’s Journalism. After that that was well crafted by the actor come Editor Cho.Ramaswamy in his political magazine Thuglak3. Still the magazine is publishing by weekly. “Nevertheless, in the modern Tamil theatre and its off-shoot, Tamil cinema, satire as a direct political tool was hardly ever present. This is indeed unusual considering that Tamil cinema was a medium that was used as a transformational and propaganda mechanism for the Dravida movement. In a state where cinema has incubated so many party-affiliated political leaders, Cho Ramaswamy chose this untreaded path of a satirist. And in the process became a bold, unforgiving, opinionated, dissenting public voice. Behind every word that his characters uttered lay Cho’s own politics” (KRISHNA, 2016) Today there are numerous YouTube channels and meme pages are coming with sharp satirical contents to criticize the existing political systems and its bureaucracy. Cartoonist of Ananda Vikatan a Tamil weekly magazine Hasif Khan4, Chummanachiki5 YouTube channel, Joker – a Tamil Political satire film which has been released recently are the recent political satirist records from Tamilnadu. Tamilanadu’s current exceptional situation paved way for the sharp Political satire contents in digital media. We are living in an era where everything and anything could be spoofed or criticized by the public who are all having social responsibility and creativity. They have a great advantage with technologies and their participation in digital media is very active these days. It’s really good in some cases, but some of the meme and video satire materials which have no social responsibility would hurts the particular person, i.e. ‘Character assassination’. A

meme or political satire video will inform the public only the seriousness of the particular issue, it’s not giving the solution. Giving a solution to those social issues is not their job absolutely Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly forbidden. Political satire is usually distinguished from political protest or political dissent, as it does not necessarily carry an agenda nor seek to influence the political process. While occasionally it may, it more commonly aims simply to provide entertainment. By its very nature, it rarely offers a constructive view in itself; when it is used as part of protest or dissent, it tends to simply establish the error of matters rather than provide solutions. One of the most interesting and ever-viewed concept in cinema could be political satire. During Hitler's regi m e , mocking the political system and its loopholes is evident through film made by film-maker Charlie Chaplin (THE GREAT DICTATOR). Films on political satire could appear as only comical in some ways but it also points out the way our political systems are engaging in current scenario pinpointing a strong opposition towards its nature. Evidently, the films bring out only the fatuous characteristics of political system giving suggestions for its proper management. As far as Tamil Cinema is concerned these could be some of the important movies which come under political satire: Muhhamad bin Tughluk (1971), Amaidhi Padai (1994), Joker (2016). The king of torture, Pulikesi the 23rd (2010) is a film that happens on a imaginary region called Cholapurapaalayam which is a place created on-screen to appear under British regime. It describes about the rule of king where people suffer due to his activities concerning the region. It mocks about the important loopholes that the current political system has left unsolved such as caste-clashes, emerging of foreign cool- drinks in the region and the kings who support the alien countries. This movie is chosen to undergo research as it is considered one of the important of its kind. Literature Review (John.S.Nelson, 2013) In this section the author explained about the rhythms of political satire with examples of Bulworth (1998) and Bob Roberts (1992) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) the three satirical films. In which he stated that Satire counters the chorus of conventional wisdom when the world becomes corrupt. In the tone and outlook, satire is often among the most realists of popular genres. Satire works in important part by turning politics into words. Literacy satire is not alone in this. Satire as a distinctive form of politics began in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece; and to the present day, theatrical satire depends on the deft delivery of closely worked and clever wording more than it does on props, costumes, make up, or even the inspired performance of physical comedy. Cinematic satire follows suit (Ganesh, 2015) Saravana Ganesh has written about the Marathi movie 'Court' in his blog. He stated that Court is a very simple movie which documents the present judicial system in a realistic way. It makes the observer passive bringing out the mass psychology, judicial absurdity and bureaucracy which seems to be more tightened within the system without identity but it could change the life of people who needs justice. (BASKARAN, 2006) In this article Theodore Baskaran a Researcher in Tamilnadu mentioned about technical and content aspect of the film Imsai Arasan. The Director has done a brave attempt through this film. Kattabommban and Ettapa have not been shown directly in the film but the story goes as fiction in that period. Pulikesi is a fictional character that supports the British government and when Ukkirabuddha comes to the kingdom the situation changes. To counter the criticism against mindless entertainers, many filmmakers here have been saying that the audience wants only such films. Another argument one often hears is that Indian films have their own grammar and so do not compare them to international cinema. This film 66

disproves both these points of view. Moreover, the characters in the film are not the stereotypes to which Indian/Tamil film audiences are used. Very imaginatively Simbudevan has chosen the Salvador Dali moustache for Pulikesi. He knows that this growth on the upper lip can become an ideological symbol by itself, like Hitler's or Bharati's. He ended the article with this strong line that this is not the first historical comedy in Tamil cinema. There may be others. But what sets apart Pulikesi is that it is a work in which the elements of cinema blossom. And it is not a mere historical. It is a parody with healthy concerns. Above all it is a thoroughly enjoyable, buoyant film comedy. (Wayne, Dialectics of Third Cinema, 2001)

In exploring the dialectics of Third Cinema, this chapter seeks to construct a dialectical relationship between the now and the original historical moment of Third Cinema’s emergence between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s. This requires a focus on Latin America as the theoretical and political crucible of Third Cinema. I am seeking to construct a dialectical relationship both in terms of Third Cinema film practices, then and now, and Third Cinema theory, then and now. A dialectical relationship between then and now recognizes, at both the level of film practices and film theory, the threads of continuity that connect us with the past as well as the transformations in theory and practice provoked by new historical contexts. This dynamic accounts for the films discussed in this chapter which in one way or another demonstrate transformations and continuities in the strategies and concerns of Third Cinema. I explore the shifts to allegory and satire in The Voyage (Fernando Solanas, 1990) and Miss Amerigua (Louis R. Vera, 1994) and generic transformations of the musical in Evita (Alan Parker, 1996) and Dollar Mambo (Paul Leduc, 1993). Description and Analysis Gapsi and Akkamaala Nickson, a British officer visits King Pulikesi. He enquires about digging a golden well and asks permission to sell foreign soft drinks through his vendors in the country. The king replies him ’No need for requesting, this is your country’. Therefore, these drinks enter easily into Indian market. To popularize these drinks among people, vernacular actors, sportsmen are used and it comes with 30 per cent discount in the market. The Minister comes with a point as the arrival of foreign soft drinks would affect local market. But the king refused to take it and doesn’t care about the market being diminished and prioritize only on freebie imposed on drinks by the vendors. Soft Drinks like Pepsi and Coco-cola have been changed name as Gapsi and Akkamaala in the film. Recently in Tamilnadu the youngsters protested for the need of Jallikattu, in that they also came up with the demand of prohibiting foreign drinks which are injurious to health and took an oath on never drinking it. Even Tamilnadu trade unions have informed that they will not sell these drinks from March 1. So, this film which has been released before 10 years clearly shows how these foreign energy drinks came into our market and also how the popular actors are used for promotion. These foreign companies have done a lot financial assistance for the country and thereby also use popular actors as ambassadors. In Tamilnadu, one popular actor among youngsters ‘Vijay’ was put up as an ambassador for Coco-cola Company. But in his film ’Kaththi’ he criticizes about foreign drinks which have exploited our country and becoming major threat to farmers who are in need of water. When asked about this contradiction, he replied that he doesn’t know about the health threats these drinks contain when he was acting in those Cola advertisements. King’s tyrannical regime is hated by his brother Ukkirabuddha, who is an intelligent diplomat. During his ruling period he prohibits Gapsi and Akkalama and also punishes the actors and boxers in the country who involved in the promotion of these products. The foreign vendors who have seen a good profit on their drinks visits Ukkirabuddha, the new king. At that time the questions he raises to them are important. The vendors produce a soft drink at the cost of two for 2 rupees and sell it for eight rupees. They stated it as ‘your people are foolish and have no common sense’. So they won’t raise questions on this issue. In new King (Ukkirabuddha’s) regime, energy drinks were abandoned and drinks which has 67

high health benefits such as coconut water and others are promoted by the same actors who did it before for foreign energy drinks. A ground for caste clashes Our country has many problems regarding caste and religion. The clashes between different castes and religion have been an important issue till now. This film brings out a parody on the caste conflicts happening around. In the kingdom of Cholapurapaalayam people of two of two different castes are fighting for about ten years. When this problem comes to a head, so they decided that king would give a solution. The two caste names had only one difference (one caste name is Nagapathani6 another caste name is Nagappathani, only one letter ‘p’ is different from the other).With this they fight between each other as to one is real and old other is new and fake; they only have the caste-origin and so on. In Tamilnadu, government will not give a hoot on caste conflicts and will not solve these issues in fear of losing the vote bank of any particular caste that is ignored. As shown in the film they will not give a proper solution on these fights thereby caring their own welfare. The political situation in the state has been presented by the director in a satirical way. So, when people arrive to King on solving the issue he gives a different judgment as ‘hereafter any caste conflicts would be held in the new ground that is allocated for it’. By night, the ground is arranged for the fight and the king commences the fight saying that doing such activities in public place would damage public properties, so when it is done in a ground there will be no problem and it reduces damage .He added that collecting taxes for these fights would also increase revenue of the country and your death will give happiness to other people. So he says when this plan is a success grounds for language clashes, ethnicity clashesand religion related conflicts would be separately arranged. This particular fight is financially assisted by the owners of Gapsi and Akkalama. During the break, the people were given these drinks. The king gives a certificate to winners with an employment offer in government. The new king Ukkirabuddha who has taken the rule destroys the ground that is arranged for caste conflicts and renovates it into a children’s park to play and learn fighting. The politics behind awards The awards given to political leaders and bureaucrats do not depend only on their talent and performance. It may be due to pressure given to awarding organizations and for the motive of doing something in return to politicians who have helped them in any way. In this film, Nickson is very much happy about the efforts of king Pulikesi in making golden mine so he asks what the king wants in return. The minister suggests giving SIR7 award for the king. The late chief Minister of Tamilnadu J.Jayalalitha’s name has been suggested by the ministers of AIADMK for Noble Prize for Peace. So, the motive of understanding the purpose of awards and awardees is not clearly stated by them. The awards given to political leaders and other popular figures have been given on the due pressure and for something beneficial to particular organization. This politics behind the awards is also dealt as a parody in the film. Arms corruption The corruption behind the arms and armaments for soldiers is a known phenomenon in our country. The incident where the soldiers were given their vests without proper protection, (bulletproof jacket) is one of the known corruption activity by the country. Many of them died and there are politicians behind this exploitation and are benefited under each level. In the film, the king Pulikesi punishes his workmen for not making strong weapons for the war. Being friendly to thieves In the film it is shown, as a kingdom which doesn’t care about people’s welfare joins with the thieves who boycott the resources of the country asking for a share. This situation is likely here, the theft that is happening with the help of politicians and influential persons. In a recent incident, large amounts of money have been taken from a train with the help of policemen. The film shows the friendship of the king with thieves and their deal of sharing the resources. 68

Tamil name In Tamilnadu, the films released should have the title in Tamil. Those films only have tax exemption. During DMK’s regime there comes a law on having only Tamil Names for the companies. So in this film, when the foreign vendors come to the kingdom to sell their energy drinks, the king Pulikesi says that the products must be given a name only in Tamil and if not the situation will be difficult to handle. The true history and inferences Pulikesi the 23rd is not a mighty and powerful in appearance. He is seen with heavy bellies. In one particular scene in the film, he would be sitting with only head shown to others with remaining parts covered with white cloth. A painter would be doing his portrait and he replaces the remaining part except the head as king Pulikesi with the other men who look strong and majestic. It is done as per king’s wish and he says that ‘Our future generations will be afraid on seeing this portrait of mine. They don’t know the truth that we have done it like this. So my head portion will be joining with the person who is strong and majestic’ and concludes as history is really important.This is also one important satirical aspect of the film that conveys what is said as history to us and what has happened in real. Government- irresponsible’s and state of responsible employees in a system The above mentioned are dealt through two scenes in the film. 1. An armed soldier would not concentrate on his work looking somewhere else and other soldier would be taking a nap while standing. The king Pulikesi would be angry on seeing this and says ‘Coming late morning and going earlier evening. You would take an hour for lunch and would not do the work with dedication. For this you are paid’. Some government employees are of this kind, doing work slowly without any effort and taking a short sleep doing work. This couldn’t be applicable to all the employees. Still there are persons of this kind in many states. So this scene brings out the parody on those people. In a scene, the king and the minister would be walking around and a soldier would not be doing his work as ordered. This makes the king angry and he wishes to punish him. At that time the minister would become more emotional and searches his weapon saying that he would kill him at once. But he will not have any weapon in his vests and have come to work forgetting it. 2. Pulikesi’s chief commander named Agandamuthu; this man doesn’t like Pulikesi’s activities and his relationship with Englishmen on account of arrival of energy drinks into their kingdom. King’s authoritarian rule is disliked by him though he couldn’t say a word about that. Even though the kingdom is filled with corruption and unethical practices he is honest man and when Pulikesi’s brother Ukkirabuddha comes to rule he works with him because Ukkirabuddha is a good king. Agandamuthu protests against Pulikesi and Rajaguru Sangilimayan. So when a government is full of corruption and illegal practices there are few employees who are honest to their level but they are still under some pressure. In Tamilnadu, IAS Sagayam who is well known for bringing out Madurai granite scandal8 is now working in some different department which is not meant for him. An eulogy for political power When a king or a leader does any good deeds he would be praised with several honorable words and he himself will encourage that. When king Pulikesi arrivers to the court, the soldier who does heraldry for the king would repeat several titles that has been awarded to him, at that time by mistake he will miss one title which makes the king Pulikesi very angry and he punishes him severely. During King Ukkirabuddha’s rule he wouldn’t encourage these activities and eulogies towards him as he is more sensible than king Pulikesi. He says the soldiers who does heraldry, to avoid titles and asks them to say only ’The King has arrived’. In Tamilnadu, the late chief Minister J.Jayalalitha would be known as Honorable. Puratchi Thalaivi Idaya Deivam Amma. The ministers of her party would call her in that way in addition to the media channels controlled by her. 69

King is a puppet with lack of power In India the above mentioned situation is prevailing at some instances in politics. The leader who is supreme would be powerless and behind him there will be someone who take the actual power. Here in the film, though the king Pulikesi is authoritative in his words, he will be under the control of Rajaguru Sangilimayan who would rule Cholapuram Paalaya indirectly. A dialogue on people’s attraction towards advertisements When the companies Gapsi and Akkalama arrive to the kingdom for business, they decide to place advertisement boards which hold the pictures of actors and fighters who promoted them. This comes under king’s consent and he would happily say ’Our people would drink even goat urine thinking it as coconut water through these advertisements’. 1. When soft drinks companies like Pepsi and Coco-cola ventured our country they expanded their market through advertisements where leading actors appeared. 2. People believe more on attractive advertising methods of this kind and one example that happened here would be on EMU farming where they spent a lot of money on watching advertisements. 23rd Pulikesi’s (movie) onward solution to major social problems 1. Education for all and for adolescents sex education is necessary - Though compulsory education for all upto primary level has been taken by the central and state governments, sex education is not taken under debate by them. Adolescents should be taught about it to know the good and bad touch. Even in many educational institutions sexual harassment on the students are increasing due to the students not being educated about it. In Tamilnadu they often hestitate to talk this freely and there should be more debates and solution to implement it. A commercial film dealing this issue is really a surprising one. 2. Spitting and urinating in public places should be prohibited - In a country like India which has increasing population this is a major problem in many areas. It may lead to several diseases. So keeping ones surrounding clean would help to lead a healthy life. This is the second command. 3. Cu t ting a tree equals killing a man; those who cut trees would have jail sentence - Villages are destroyed and a city is developed. Cutting trees would largely increase urbanization where we build apartments in those places. This leads to environmental degradation and global warming. So cutting a tree would be treated as killing a man. Those who do this will be severely punished. This is the third command. 4. Ignoring the old-aged and Female Infanticide are punishable - Ignoring the old-aged after some point of time is not good to our society as we have a duty to respect and protect them and killing a girl baby is also punishable but even now in some villages these practices are still prevailing says the fourth command. 5. Arthanareeswarar (Lord Siva one half and Sakthi the other half, in Hindu mythology one God) Women should be treated equal with men (both equally parted). Reservation should be given to women in all areas up to 50 percent so that they would also increase their dignity and respect in the society. This reduces the male domination over women which have been more in those days. 6. People who are not familiar with reading and writing their mother tongue would be treated as the one without Ration cards - This is one of the most important command. Nowadays many people are hesitating to freely speak even in their mother tongue. Whoever does this wouldn’t be given ration cards. This command is for the society which has the habit of hesitating their native language. 7. There are only two type of Castes Male caste and Female caste - A major problem our country is facing could be caste conflicts. Though we are educated still we behave as barbarians when caste is placed before. 8. Crimes such as murder, sexual assault and theft should be given capital punishment- People who commit the above crimes should be punished with removing their major parts such as leg, hand and head. The people who do these crimes 70

will escape from the crime done in either way through money or power. To avoid this director encourages capital punishment for the committers. 9. Tax should be paid for good governance - For a proper government and governance people should pay their taxes properly so that the benefits from the government would properly reach them. 10. Bribery Abolition - Bribery often occurs when ineligible people try for any leading position through money. Corruption is also major threat to equality in education, business and other areas. So these should be severely undertaken and the one who involve in this activity would be tattooed in the forehead as ‘Beggar scoundrel’ Conclusion In Tamil, commercial movies come with a whole package (dance, music, glamour, fights, and hero-villain) Pulikesi the 23rd is also a similar movie of this kind. If looked normally it would look like a comedy movie filled with fun. But it not alone holds this purpose. It is a movie that gives a parody on present political situation that is prevailing in our country. Though the film has been released before ten years the concepts it dealt and criticized still remain unchanged. The film deals with abolition of child labor and prohibition of foreign soft drinks like Pepsi and coco-cola which are injurious to health. In addition it encourages and creates an awareness to drink coconut water and other natural drinks that is better to health.The satirical aspects in the film could be the politics behind the awards given by the government or any private body, negligence of government in handling the caste clashes on the fear of losing the vote bank, permitting foreign soft drinks to take over the market to gain profit, corruption at various sectors of government. Since this film is commercially successful it must have created a considerable impact among audience. The authoritative and unethical rule of King Pulikesi is replaced by his brother Ukkirabuddha who tries to be honest to his people and believe in good governance. So this movie not only brings the major problems in the society as a satirical content but also tries to give a solution to the prevailing ones. Media for development is a known concept with the development satellite projects such as SITE and Kedha. The Kannada daily Udayavani has also undergone development activities (Identifying backward Villages project) which are notable when we talk about media for development. The social responsibility of a creator/director in such a commercial film is appreciable even though it has been 10 years after release (Since it deals with problems in our society that are a major threat still now).In that kind it somehow serves as a catalyst for social change. Reference Baskaran, T. (2006, November 6). King who has exploded myths. The Hindu Friday Review , p. 1. Deven, C. (Director). (2006). Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi [Motion Picture]. Ganesh, S. (2015, September 29). Court: A Slice of India. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from Kolandha: http://www.kolandha.com/2015/09/court-slice-of-india.html John.S.Nelson. (2013). Rythms of Political Satire: Postmodern Politics in words, Music and Movies . In John.S.Nelson, Popular Cinema As Political Theory (p. 249). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Krishna, T. (2016, December 10). Remembering Cho Ramaswamy, the Statesman-Satirist Who Knew No Fear. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from The Wire: https://thewire.in/85908/cho-ramaswamy/ P, S. (2017, January 9). Coimbatore gets its own satire video group. Times of India City , p. 1. pvenglishteach. (2015, January 6). Politics and Satire. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/pvenglishteach/politics-and-s a t ir e Wayne, M. (2001). Dialectics of Third Cinema. In M. Wayne, Political Film (p. 163). London: Pluto Press. Wayne, M. (2001). Political Film. London: Pluto Press.