R ARIVANANTHAM
Ten years after ‘Attakathi’, Pa Ranjith’s ‘Natchathiram Nagargiradhu’ raps on the knuckles of the caste-ridden society with right mix of love, politics as sugar-coated pill to cure the still prevalent caste system and honour killings in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Ambedkar, EVR or Periyar and Dr CN Annadurai.
Natchathiram Nagargiradhu is one of his boldest films yet. He does not believe in subtlety. It’s thought-provoking and will make many uncomfortable with the harsh truth and is an important film that will comfort the oppressed classed and disturb the castiest political system.
- It’s thought-provoking and will make many uncomfortable with the harsh truth and is an important film that will comfort the oppressed classed and disturb the castiest political system.
- What works well in ‘Natchathiram Nagargiradhu’ is that these relationships are not glorified.
- Dushara Vijayan and Kalaiyarasan have equally carried the film on their shoulders.
It creates the emotion, one of the most profound takes on love, politics, caste system, oppression and honour killing unfold before us. ‘Natchathiram Nagargiradhu’ is something that needs to be experienced in everyone’s life.
The film with ‘A’ certification by the Censor Board begins with Rene (a brilliant Dushara Vijayan) singing an Ilaiyaraaja song lying next to her boyfriend Iniyan (Kalidas Jayaram). The visuals begin with Nina Simone’s ‘It’s a New Dawn’ and eventually, the couple get into an argument about Ilaiyaraaja. Rene thinks Ilaiyaraaja is a symbol of empowerment. The fight blows out of proportion and Iniyan takes a dig at Rene’s caste while shouting at her. That’s it for Rene.
Rene is a person who lives life on her own terms. Since childhood, she had been experienced many tortures because of her caste. In other words, she is a broken mirror and she picked up the pieces and glued them back is her life.
Iniyan and Rene belong to a theatre group and have been asked to play leads in a show about love. There’s Arjun (Kalaiyarasan), who is a conservative guy from a small town. He is a guy heavily influenced by WhatsApp forwards about women’s modesty and their coy behaviour. He is engaged to Roshini but gets attracted to Rene. In their troupe, there’s a lesbian couple, a gay couple in the initial stages of their relationship, a transwoman who is in a relationship with Joel and many more.
Director Pa Ranjith is in supreme form in ‘Natchathiram Nagargiradhu.’ When Rene sees the pole star after a nasty fight with Iniyan, she has no one to share the excitement with. It also implies that she’s moving on just like a pole star. She also talks about how insignificant humans are in the universe.
The film talks about the societal divide of people on caste, political correctness, societal status and gender are beyond the concept of love. What works well in ‘Natchathiram Nagargiradhu’ is that these relationships are not glorified. There’s no unnecessary gaze or amplifying music when two women are about to kiss each other. They have treated all relationships matter-of-factly.
Pa Ranjith makes the move viewers to stop, pause and re-think their belief. Take, for example, Arjun telling Rene that he broke up with Roshini because she wore a dress flaunting her cleavage. Rene laughs out loud and asks him what he thinks when she wears such dresses. Arjun asks her not to worry, as he won’t think of her in a bad light. Rene once again laughs and says, “It’s my choice and it’s your silly thought. I don’t care.” Simple and to the point, isn’t it?
The film also addresses political correctness and woke-ism. When a character sexually abuses a girl after getting drunk, the troupe members ask him to get out. But, the girl believes that he needs to face her and the people he wronged every day to realise his mistake. The film doesn’t believe in cancel culture but believes in second chances. Because ‘political correctness can’t be achieved in a day; it’s a life-long process’.
In this film, the director Pa Ranjith addresses women’s rights and honour killing as well. Through the conversations of the artists, we get to know the entitled behaviour of men and their understanding of women. The real life visuals and video bytes of tortures meted out oppressed class people were heart touching.
If Pa Ranjith is in supreme form, Dushara Vijayan and Kalaiyarasan have equally carried the film on their shoulders. Dushara’s Rene is a character that will go down in the history of Tamil cinema. Kalaiyarasan’s character arc, though feels rushed, will also give everyone hope to accept and realise one’s mistakes.
Composer Tenma’s songs and background score are perfect for the indie vibe that the film gives. So does cinematographer Kishore Kumar’s work.
