Karthavyam (1990)

I was kind of disappointed by this, I'm not gonna lie. I was expecting some heavy-duty catharsis in the form of a lady cop, but all I could was man-washed feminism. Vijayashanti ma'am being quite simpable almost made up for it though, but the whole experience was underwhelming, nonetheless. 

The one thing that irked about me since the beginning itself was the positioning of a male character as the moral compass. It was by his approval or disapproval that we judged Vyjayanthi's actions for the majority of the movie, and I was not a fan of this narrative technique at all. I found Vyjayanthi an interesting character and would have loved it more had I gotten access to her internal monologues more, instead of how she was being perceived by the various men around her.

Vijayashanti ma'am killed it with her performance, though. It irritates me so much that such towering legends of Telugu cinema are basically unknown outside- they really do deserve more attention and credit for their contribution to cinema, especially because it's their work that mostly gets remade into Bollywood. Anyway, if it weren't for her, I would have probably hated this movie, but as it so happens, I enjoyed her portrayal of a distressed lady cop who just can't catch a break and has to continuously choose between family and duty and her own sense of honour. Quite moving in itself, although it definitely deserved a better script.

In conclusion, a part of me died when ma'am said "my hands were not made to wash dishes" in a disparaging tone to her grandmother. Oh, the struggles feminism has to face!