Disclaimer: I am not familiar with the ins and outs of the Tamil film industry, this article was written from the perspective of a person primarily familiar with Telugu cinema.
Of course, I scheduled my day around the movie ‘Jailer’ release. It was a whole discussion. As summer is coming to an end, my siblings and I had jobs to go to, and places to be but we needed to figure out how to get all of us to the theater before we left our parent’s home. There were miscommunications and annoyances, but perseverance to see Thalaivar on the screen got us center tickets at our third theater of choice. And let me tell you, it was worth it.
As a ginormous Anirudh fan as well, it was a dream to see his music blast as Rajnikanth appeared on the screen. Throughout the movie, Rajnikanth looked glorious. The team embraced his body and skin tone and let them shine. This was true for the other major men that appeared throughout the movie too. Seeing senior cinema stars shown through a body-neutral lens was amazing. By completely investing the storyline and character in his age and experience, we were able to see a movie that didn’t make the male lead rely on physical ability and strength to be valued.
Speaking of being valued, while there were plenty (and maybe extra) heroic shots of Rajnikanth, that didn’t take away from his character making space and sharing the screen with multiple other men (from other industries!). We saw many male friendships/alliances thrive throughout the story. Even watching three generations of men intentionally spend bonding time together during the first song was touching. While we may not be there as an entirety, this movie definitely made a move towards finding the balance between being an Indian movie of the past and of the future.
This is not to say that this movie is socially perfect – for example, women were mostly portrayed through the male gaze. It would be unrealistic to ask for a movie without evidence of any patriarchal internalizations. We just want to enjoy movies without being offended. Particularly with the bar going lower and lower for Telugu cinema, it was nice to be able to go to the movies and have fun. I will gladly go to Tamil movies if that’s where I get that.
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