A movie comes with a new template, well received and that sets a trend for similar movies. Most of the times it is not the movie we wish. A movie like Kadaisi Vivasayi or Aandavan Kattalai doesn’t set a trend even though those two are well made cinemas. But a successful Kanchana opens the door for similar ghost / supernatural movies that falls under comedy-horror genre, but horror-torture for the viewers. We had the animal series (including the donkey and a goat playing the tape recorder) and Amman series (got to know various names and avatars of Amman). There seems to be no end to cops and terrorists template movies. Beast spawns a Thunivu. In this premise, it is refreshing to see The Great Indian Kitchen (TGIK) inspiring women centric movies with woman playing the lead role. FWIW, this is a good start and I wish it continues.
Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (Malayalam), The Teacher (Malayalam), and Gatta Kusthi (Tamil) all have women taking the lead role and deals with or touches upon patriarchy, how the family setup clips women’s wings and oppresses them. How women have to hold back to meet the demands of the family. Other family members, parents, husband, in-laws, uncles, and well-wishers come in different shades, good, good-bad (good intent but prisoner of the setup), bad, and down-right cringe-worthy. These 3 movies have some connection to god’s own country – two are Malayalam movies and the Tamil one has the heroin from Palakkad. I am yet to get to the bigger connection (😀), in all three we get to see a woman kicking men’s ass. Similar to Agent Tina mass scene from Vikram, these are well choreographed and staged. Whistle-worthy moments too. Now, that is something we get rarely or never. I am a person who watched Resident Evil just to see Milla Jovovich kick ass. As long as it is not ours🤣 TGIK set a high bar both for content and form, it was a beautiful cinema. How did these three movies fare, did they succeed in what they set out to do?
Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey:
Official Trailer:
Jaya wants to complete her education. Her family wants her to get married instead. When Jaya was born her father mentions he wants to bring her up like Indira Gandhi. Innovative opening sequence shows few scenes and then it shows them again with additional information. Even though father has good intentions, reality is Jaya grew up in a setup where she gets the hand-me-downs clothes/books/toys of her elder brother. She is not allowed to pursue her wish, preferred college/curriculum/sports. Jaya agrees to get married hoping her husband may provide her the space to pursue her studies. As she enters the husband’s household, we are given hints on what she is getting to – broken remote held together with a rubber band, cracked coffee tabletop, chair leg in a band-aid, and a cracked mirror. Things get worse. As per Jaya’s calculation 20 slaps in 6 months, how many slaps she has to endure in 10 years? 20 years? Jaya hits the last straw, and hits back. What a glorious pay back it is!! Jaya brings the whole house down, literally!! What happens after the pay back forms the rest of the story. While TGIK took the serios route to show patriarchy, JJJJH takes the light comedy path to tell the story. While the story is about Jaya, we get to see how the women oppression happens from different family members either knowingly or unknowingly. Movie correctly portrays how women also end up pushing the patriarchy without realizing they are in the prison too. While everyone played their character very well, special shout out to Basil Joseph (director of Minnal Murali) who nailed the role as the husband. There are good number of hilarious, laugh-out loud scenes, and they are built well into the story arc. What happens in the courtroom is satirical and goes with the mood of the film. Finish wasn’t up to the mark but overall well-made movie and fun to watch while giving a message without thrusting it in your face.
Gatta Kusthi:
Official Trailer:
Gatta Kusthi is Manal Kayiru, Visu movie, template adapted for 2K generation. Keerthi is a Kusthi champion on track to get to national level competitions. But the family wants her to get married. Alliances slide away once they realize she is a Kusthi fighter. Veera, a male chauvinist influenced by his uncle (played by Karunas), wants a wife with few conditions – he is eighth grade so wife can’t be more than 7th grade pass, need to have a long dense hair, and obey his orders. After a few lies and a wig Veera and Keerthi get married to each other. Did their marriage survive when the lies are exposed forms the rest of the story. First half is engaging, moves like a breeze, and the mass interval scene leaves you on a high. Post that, the high we hit goes down steadily, story loses track, wanders, and ends in a wimpy climax. Falls into the trap where the hero has to save the day. Compulsion for Vishnu Vishal to redeem his hero image? Of course, he does get credit for giving the space for woman centric story. There are few good moments where the writer’s work comes through and the message, a woman has to fight her family first before she fights the rest of the world, is captured well. Few of the dialogues are cringeworthy and could have been avoided. Overall, the movie falls in the “could have been a better movie with little more focus and polishing but falls back to average due to lazy writing” bucket.
The Teacher:
Official Trailer:
The Teacher has all the right ingredients, the sexual assault, perpetrators barely out of school, drug abuse, social commentary, activists but is completely let down by incoherent writing. Director gets the mood right but there is no focus. We get few powerful characters, Manju Pillai and Chemban Vinod, but they end up being there to move the plot. Hakkim Shah who enthralled us as a maniac bad guy in Kadaseela Biriyani, is wasted here as the husband of Devika (Amala Paul), his character is not well developed, and he gets to do what he can with the given material. Amala Paul does portray the confusion, disgust, and helplessness of the character well. The final frenzied action sequence is well choreographed but fails to have the intended impact since it comes out of nowhere. Maybe the director thought a mass fight scene will redeem the movie. The Teacher movie is let down by bland writing even with bunch of good actors.