Pudhumai Penn (1984)

Is there anything that Revathi cannot do? The last thing I had seen her in was the horror movie Raatri (1992), and she was believable as a happy-go-lucky college student in that as she was as a young Brahmin woman on the verge of modernity and tradition here. She is such a phenomenon, and my love and admiration for her just grows with every performance of hers that I get to witness. 

Pudhumai Penn was my third Bharathiraja movie, and I am so in awe of the tight control he sustains over the world he creates in his films. Even when the movie was riding high on melodrama (which was a lot) I didn't feel detached from the characters or their circumstances. Revathi's performance, as I've already mentioned, was brilliant- she shoulders most of the film's weight, especially the parts that might seem dated to those watching in 2021. I might sound like a biased fangirl, but the rest of the cast really can't hold a candle to Revathi, and it's the trio comprising of her, Bharathiraja and Ilaiyaraaja that makes the movie memorable, along with the strong and unequivocally articulated message that it advocates. 

Coming to the feminist part of this movie now: the way this movie traces Seetha's (Revathi) journey and how it neither puts her on a pedestal nor looks down on her is why the feminist message of the climax feels genuine, sincere, and leaves a lasting impression. Despite all her conservative attributes, Seetha, from the very beginning, is shown to be someone who negotiates traditional structures like marriage in her own way. It's this conflict- her individuality vs. everything her father has passed on to her- that makes you yearn for her to find the happiness she deserves. Apart from the obvious literary allusions to Ramayana, I could also see some parallels to Henrik Ibsen's landmark 1879 play, A Doll's House. This is of course conjecture on my part- I don't know if Bharathiraja was at all influenced by the play, but it's interesting to see how the same story plays out in two completely different contexts, geographies and centuries, and stays as effective and powerful in both. Not to mention completely relevant in the 21st century as well. What a delightful realisation to have- by delightful, I obviously mean depressing.

In conclusion, Revathi maaaasss, always and forever. 

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