There have been any number of Indian films that talk about atrocities committed against women. Be it in the family, workplace, public places, or in relationships, women have been treated shabbily by their counterparts. With few exceptions, most of the women have been treated unkindly by t men in their cherished circle - father, brother, husband, and son. In fact, the women get victimized easily in the name of love and family. All men around a woman are preoccupied in annihilating "the self" of that woman. In fact, only in such annihilation, the supremacy of man is established and ensured.
Of all the films that deal with gender hegemony, I feel "IRAIVI" by Karthik Subburaj is very remarkable in the sense that it talks about three women who dare their release from "male dominated families" and attain liberation in their own ways.
The role portrayed by Vadivukkarasi is very loud and clear. We are given to understand that she had been roughly treated by her husband right from the day of her marriage. Her "self" was ruthlessly massacred by her sculptor husband. His gender hegemony was reaching a boiling point that pushes her into the abyss of unrecoverable coma. Silking into an unending coma is her answer to her hegemonic husband. With that one master stroke, she renders him a helpless wreck. Having realised his mistakes, her husband decides to take good care of her when she would not even be aware of medicare she is accosted with. This is his means for redemption. Aping their father, his two sons treat the women in their lives in the same fashion - very insensitively and in cold-hearted manner. For the aspirant film director, donned by director Surya, his wife is a nonentity. He has been obsessed with his failure and with masochist tendency, he torments himself while his sadism hurts other members of family, particularly his wife, to no end. Karthik Subburaj has done a commendable job in conceiving such a character with real finish. One could easily come across such men around us - the men who are obsessed with failures. They try in vain to etch out an epic beauty out of their failure. In reality, they could be terribly afraid of any success. Even its glimpse might scare them out. And a man who has such close ties with failures can never keep his people happy.
Next comes Michael who acts impulsively at every point of his life and the two women in his life. He commits two murders - both prompted by his impulse rather than by any sense and necessity. He is a fuck buddy to an artist who is clear about the scope of their relationship. She doesn't romanticize the bond. In fact, she articulates it unequivocally when she tells him that he is not anything more than a fuck mate to her. Her husband died six years ago and she needs sex. It is as factual as this. Nothing more or nothing less. Michael thinks that he is in love with her. She makes him understand that it is not love that prevails between them. This artist girl is the only woman in the film that doesn't get victimized by gender hegemony. She seeks her liberation not against men but beyond men. As long as women remain dependant on men socially, financially and emotionally, they will not attain liberation they dream about. Michael's wife, donned by actor Anjali, somehow knows that she would be repeatedly fooled by her husband. He has not learnt to treat women as his equals. He can patronize them but cannot find them his equals. He is greatly relieved to know that his wife did not sleep with his friend. He is a typical male and expects his wife to be a perfect 'pathni'. As her husband gets killed on the railway platform, she is advised by the old man to go and seek her life elsewhere. She too grasps the words and gets aboard the train with her child. She is perhaps enlightened and would never again seek her future in any man.
Finally, the wife of aspirant director - donned by Kamalini Mukherjee. She is modern, urban and self-disciplined. Her husband is a chronic drunkard and she is clueless about how to make things work in the family. She gives her husband every chance a woman could give and at the height of her frustration, decides to divorce and remarry. An idea every woman in her condition would seriously contemplate but hesitate to act upon.
Karthik Subburaj has excelled some of the filmmakers who have been known for dealing with gender issues. In my view, IRAIVI is more powerfully done than K.Balachander's AVAL ORU THODARKATHAI. Director Surya has come out with a superlative performance. It could be his lifetime work. Some might feel that this film is too dark and gruesome. But life for many has been like that. Mr Subburaj seems to have known that too well.
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