Etharkum Thunindhavan Movie Review

 I watched Etharkum Thunindhavan yesterday.

I appreciate the movie’s following message:

1.       Women’s honor, dignity, and worth don’t lie in their bodies. If men had seen a woman nude, it doesn’t impinge on her honor, dignity, and worth in any way.

2.       It is men who cheat to obtain intimate footage from women in the name of love who should be ashamed and faulted, not the women who trusted those men.

3.       Men who comment, “Link bro. Full video send me bro. So hot bro, how did you nab her bro?” are the ones that should be shamed publicly, not the female victim who was manipulated, forced and publicized.

4.       The world should start talking sordidly of the m*n who dupe these women in such videos – the shooter, camera placer, the rapists, not the women in the videos.

5.       A body is mere flesh and bones. It’s not the vehicle holding a woman’s life, dignity, honor, and worth that breaks down if men happen to see it whole, especially when it’s non-consensual.

6.       Trusting a man after falling for his not all men lines, loving him, following him, consenting as an adult is not a crime – organizing a sex racket, filming women without their consent, raping them, beating them, blackmailing them, circulating their intimate footage are BIG TIME CRIMES THAT WARRANT JAIL TIME. However, most of us only blame women for trusting men which makes us go Yes all Men and Not All Men group spewing the same lines the cheating m*n lavished the girls they wanted to victimize – don’t see all men in a bad light – good ones exist too!

7.       Women should assume power by exposing those men who do this – I do exactly this, only to be shamed by “rational, Ambedkarite” pages. Aid and abet who unite when it comes to women retaliating.

8.       Boys should be raised with restrictions and discipline just like girls – apply equal rules at home. If sisters do housework, brothers do too. No sexism.

9.       If no one would marry Thennadu girls coz they are “spoiled”, no one would marry Vadanadu men as they are all rapists.

W The things that I don't appreciate in the movie are as follows:

A big bummer is the constant use of the phrase, “This will be her ruin!” when referring to the victimized women. Even Kannabiran, who leads the conception that such occurrences in a woman’s life don’t have ill effects on their lives says the phrase often. They also use the phrase, “give and take brides,” affirming women as objects. This is the root of all patriarchy – women are objects so they “spoil” when “used/seen/” by men.

The portrayal of women as damsels of distress and a white knight rising to save them also disappointed me. The girls are completely helpless and only cry. None showed the presence of mind, trickery, or any other self-initiated smart and bold steps. The role of men as the protector is further entrenched especially during the arrest scene during the climax where mute women with gratitude on their faces and tears streaming from their eyes, strew flowers from their hair on him. I like how Pa Ranjith framed a scene in Kaala where a woman who is stripped defends herself by attacking her assaulters rather than feebly cowering.

The movie’s doing away with such subconscious mairu culture is very tenuous and ill-structured.

I am waiting for the sequel to see if they addressed the above for more effective unlearning of #mairuculture