The Females in The Family Man

 

Raji

Suchi

Dyuti

Indian Productions on Netflix and Amazon barring the odd exception, have been disappointing. The Family Man, however boasts of slick, high – octane action, authentic characters and most importantly, really good writing. Srikant Tiwari, played by the always marvelous Manoj Bajpayee is an antiterrorism agent who is overworked, underpaid, and bent over with the burden of unrelenting personal and professional pressures. His best friend JD helps him cope with delightful doses of humor and wisdom doled out over vada pav. Sharib Hashmi is superb in this role. Much has already been written about The Family Man, particularly its culpability in portraying one too many Muslims as minions of unmitigated evil, oversimplifying the Eezham issue and its unwieldy portrayal of love jihad, and I will concede that these are valid concerns but The Family Man, warts and all has a lot of good things going for it. 

It is so immensely satisfying to see the Malayalis and Tamilians on the show portrayed with accuracy and realism. And of course, Manoj Bajpayee’s Srikant, who comes across as a regular guy dealing with extraordinary situations is at once steely in his determination to do his duty, achingly vulnerable when he tries to keep things together on the home front and hilarious when he is ribbing his buddy, being confounded by his daughter’s propensity for getting into trouble and getting blackmailed by his son. He alone, is reason enough to watch The Family Man.

While the show itself has been at the receiving end of more love than criticism, the same cannot to be said about its female characters who have come in for more than a fair share of vitriol. These are regular characters who are not perfect and yet given the amount of scathing condemnation directed their way, it makes you wonder why the female of the species are always reviled for not being perfect and why it is so hard for so many to forgive women for minor errors in judgement while of course, traditionally men are allowed to get away with murder.

Wife is not Synonymous with Saint

Take Suchitra Tiwari (Priya Mani) for instance. She is the long – suffering wife who is sick of picking up the slack for her husband who is always off saving the nation and can barely make time to take his kids to school or his wife, to the hospital when her water breaks. It is a thankless task to play the petulant, dissatisfied spouse of a national hero, but Priya Mani does a good job with what she is given. Her Suchi is a complicated character who wants more out of life (surely, there is nothing wrong with that as it is a woman’s prerogative to choose satisfaction over sacrifice!) and seems to have developed feelings for a colleague (Cue loud gasp!). Naturally, the denizens of social media have taken to slut – shaming her, never mind that she is just a frustrated human being who is doing the best she can for her family as well as herself. Is that such a terrible thing? This is not an endorsement of extra – marital relationships but why are there so many out there who are so hard on feminine desire and unconventional choices made by women for their own personal reasons? It is a troubling mindset and I await the day when we are as forgiving of female foibles as we are of toxic male misconduct.

An Imperfect Daughter is not the Devil Incarnate

Dyuti Tiwari (Ashlesha Thakur) is an interesting character and not the typical sweet Daddy’s little girl. Smart as a whip, rebellious and impatient with both her parents, Dyuti is determined to do her own thing even if it is stupid and reckless (as demanded by the script which insists on making life complicated for its protagonist). The teen falls for a guy she meets over the internet and it turns out to be a stupid idea since the entire ill – advised romance has been masterminded by her father’s nefarious nemesis. Dyuti is forever sneaking off to meet this dude and making out with him. Folks have been registering their outrage over her actions which have been deemed as unworthy of our culture and traditions.

This again begs the question as to why we insist on pretending that childhood is a time of unsullied innocence which should be preserved even at the cost of knowledge and development. Teenagers are restless, hormonal creatures with a natural curiosity about their bodies and are keen to explore the adult world. Surely we need to educate them about sexuality and safety, encourage communication of their doubts and feelings, instead of judging and shaming them over the assorted foolishness of youth? I have no doubt that it is the adults who need an attitude transplant in order to ensure that children grow up with a proper understanding of all things pertaining to their bodies, become adept at expressing themselves and form healthy attachments.

Feminine Rage, Righteous or Otherwise is not always the Answer

Raji (Samantha Akkineni) is one of the most divisive characters on The Family Man. Let us talk about the brown face first. I am all for creative liberty, but it is hard to get why the makers insist on doing ridiculous things like apply dark make – up on an originally dusky actor who became suspiciously light – skinned over the years simply to adhere to existing audience perceptions of what a terrorist hailing from the Dravidian South might look like. It is impossible to get over this, despite a gutsy performance from Samantha who does an impressive job of selling her character’s prowess as a trained Commando capable of killing with her bare fists.

Leaving the brown face aside, let us talk about some of the other issues with this character. Raji has been through a lot having lost loved ones to the depredations of the Sri Lankan army and is herself a victim of gang – rape. Rescued by Bhaskaran, the leader of the rebels, she reinvents herself and emerges as a killing machine who has weaponized even her sexuality and body for a cause she fanatically believes in. Her rage is understandable but it is also a cautionary tale, for anger can be addictive and empowering but this emotion is corrosive and it burns everything within indiscriminately till there is nothing left but the destructiveness of righteous rage. Worse, it can always be manipulated by others for personal or political gain.

The script does not have anything good in store for Raji, but it is interesting to note that she appears heroic and villainous in turns, which again is such a typically problematic way of portraying women – If you are not the Madonna then it means you are a whore. And it boggles the mind, that the many faces of the feminine remain unacknowledged by most.

Mare of Easttown: A Morbid Murder Melodrama that Mostly Works

 

Mare of Easttown (Disnay Hotstar) may be described as a murder mystery but it works more as a drama, or more accurately, a melodrama. Marianne (only her mother calls her that) Sheehan played by Kate Winslet is quite a character, holding on to more pain than she can bear after losing her son to drugs, depression and suicide, going through a divorce, raising a grandson whose drug addict mom wants him back and handling a demanding career which comes with crushing pressure to deliver while shouldering the grief and trauma of others. She has been dealing with mounting public fury over the case of a girl who has been missing for over a year, led by the victim’s mother. If all that were not enough, Mare is called in when a teenager and single mom is found dead. The suspects include Dylan, the father of her child, his girlfriend Biranna who assaulted her hours before her death, a Priest with a suspicious past who gave her a ride to the scene of her death, and Mare’s ex – husband who was buying things for the victim’s baby and is suspected of being the actual father.

Kate Winslet is extraordinary. It is refreshing to see a lead actress who has not lived on celery stalks all her life or been botoxed to within an inch of her life to give the failed impression of reluctantly imprisoned youth. She looks like her character – an exhausted woman who does not have the strength to bother with her appearance or even run a comb through her hair which is mostly scrunched up into a messy pony tail. The crows’s feet, wrinkles, and excess pounds are allowed to show and yet, Winslet is resplendent like only she can be as she delivers a powerhouse of a performance, making the viewer empathize and root for Mare, even when she is at her most intractable or unlikeable.

Thanks to Winslet and a wonderful supporting cast which includes the likes of Evan Peters (you will remember him as the delightful Quicksilver from X –Men), who plays Detective Colin Zabel, brought in because the powers that be feel Mare needs more than a little help and Jean Smart, Mare’s mum, Helen ensure that the seven – part series is never less than engrossing. Both these characters bring in some much needed humor to lighten the proceedings which is otherwise a bleak, unsparing look at small – town America devastated by drug troubles, poverty, crime and other horrors which will always be beyond anybody’s ability to fix.

Yet, for all its pluses, Mare of Easttown leaves the viewer feeling somewhat unsatisfied and flat. The big reveal in the end is also not as devastating as it might have been. Perhaps it was overkill with all the concentrated angst that was packed into every one of the subplots… So many characters with a drug habit and suicidal tendencies. So much poverty and unremitting hardship. So many broken relationships. Such overwhelming pain, rage, grief and bitterness. With young girls driven to prostitution by desperation and murderers who kill because they are simply evil and also for reasons that are profoundly moving, it gets to be a little too much. Buffeted with a relentless stream of distress, the viewer switches off after a point and a key character’s sudden demise does not have the impact it ought to have.

With the tragedies getting piled on, one is hard – pressed to believe that every character on the show has to deal with so much destructive crap on a daily basis. After all, one of the biggest issues with life is that too many have to deal with boring monotony and the sameness of a humdrum existence for too long to the point where the prospect of sordid drama actually sounds enticing. In Mare of Easttown though, one character is dealing not just with the trauma of a missing daughter but is simultaneously battling cancer. Another has to deal with family trouble brought on by a junkie brother who is stealing from her and scamming her friend whose daughter is missing etc. Mare’s best friend has to cope with a cheating spouse, a daughter who has Down’s syndrome and is being bullied in school and a son who is acting up because he is privy to a very adult secret. You would think that the writers couldn’t possibly add to her cup of suffering but they do! The hits just keep coming for Mare and everyone in her life and after a point it is one too many.

This is definitely the golden age of television, but I am afraid that a recent trend is that a lot of purportedly good shows suffer from way too much writing and the result is a certain gassiness that is hard to take. Character arcs suffer too because so much mandatory care – laden baggage is crammed into their backstories. But despite the bloat, Mare of Easttown is worth watching. Because, if I haven’t mentioned it already, Kate Winslet is in it.

Thoughts on Mari Selvaraj’s Karnan

 

How do I put this? Karnan is one of the best films I have seen in recent times and truly deserving of that over used phrase ‘epic’. A towering tale of oppression with a protagonist (played by Dhanush) who is one among the downtrodden and refuses to take the path of least resistance, inspiring the others in his tiny village to rise with him, the film is often hard to watch. The opening scene features a little girl in her death throes while the rest of the world is callously indifferent, literally trundling along the highway of life and it sets the tone for what is to follow. A skinny, hooded fellow is being taken away by the cops. There is blood on his hands and the cops are shown at their brutal worst as they beat the handcuffed man to within an inch of his life. You shudder at that display of graphic violence so reminiscent of what happened to Jayaraj and Benix and set aside your cheese popcorn which suddenly tastes like privilege.

Mari Selvaraj’s craftsmanship is excellent and he seldom sets a wrong foot forward. Unlike most others in the Tamil film industry who have handled this sensitive subject, there is no sense of propaganda, torture porn, or excessive messaging in place of good cinema. With infinite sensitivity and command over his narrative, he portrays the damning divide between the haves and have – nots. Even in the 90s, in the fictional village of Podiyankulam, these wretched people have none of the things that most of us take for granted. There is no electricity or running water in their homes, education has been denied to them for generations, and there are no hospital facilities for miles. All they want is a bus stop so they can get the hell out of there in search of jobs, send their kids to school, take a heavily pregnant woman to a hospital or simply make a better life for themselves and their own. But they are systematically thwarted at every turn by those who would rather see them remain slaves to their whims. It is hard on the conscience and a slap in the face of a smug society and its fat cats gobbling away with unlimited greed, the limited resources of a land that has failed its poor.

Karnan is replete with rich emotional content and the writing is exquisite for even smaller characters are etched with delicate strokes that takes you into the heart of the other India that we have all left behind. The hero’s older BFF (played by Lal) has never forgotten his dead wife, Manjanathi and there is a tender moment between him and a sweet old woman who calls him Manjanathi ‘purusha’ (husband) which reduced me to a puddle of goo. The cops have shades to them too and Mari Selvaraj rises above the common tendency to portray everything in black and white. All the villagers are not paragons of virtue. Some are cowardly and self – serving. One among them makes an inappropriate suggestion to the hero pertaining to his sister and is bashed up for his impertinence but this character played by Yogi Babu has his moment of redemption. Even among the cops, there are those who don’t have the stomach to see helpless citizens bashed up just because an officer’s ego has been bruised. Said officer would like to have been seated while conducting an inconvenient interrogation but his needs are forgotten when the youth sent to fetch a chair is called by his bedridden grandmother who needs help answering a call of nature. The expression on the cop’s face is priceless and the scene is gut – wrenching for it portends what is to follow.

The villages led by Karnan are not above taking the law into their own hands, so great is their rage at having been failed repeatedly by the law, bureaucratic red tape and a country and its people who are perfectly content to leave them behind in the dirt. In the pre – interval stretch said to have been inspired by the Kodiyankulam riots of 1995, a bus is stopped with a hurled stone and even as the passengers flee in terror, the vehicle is attacked and taken apart by a horde of angry young men in an act of wanton terrorism that somehow feels inevitable. It is terrifying, especially when you can’t help but think that if this is based on real events, then there must have been casualties unlike in the movie where everybody save the attackers have melted away into the surroundings…

The performances are excellent. Dhanush is extraordinary whether he is playing the savior of his people, or the angry youth with a loving side to him or in a tearful dance at the climactic portions where he conveys the anguish of one who is painfully aware of how much his people and he himself have lost and the heavy price paid for a few gains that those more fortunate than them have taken for granted for yonks. It is powerful, poignant and heartbreaking stuff. This is one actor who seems to have committed himself to creating a superlative body of work for himself and his efforts have paid off in rich dividends for himself as well as cinema lovers. Natarajan Subramaniam, who plays the bad cop deserves mention for a wonderful performance too as do the rest of a well-cast ensemble.

Did I mention the music? Santosh Narayanan’s score is tremendously rousing and used wonderfully. Kanda Vara Sollunga is an instant classic and I keep hearing it in my head. The other tracks are also monster hits and they work even better onscreen and contribute to a satisfying theatrical experience.

Much has been made of the fact, that this film is an interpretation of Karna from the Mahabharata. There are characters named Duryodhana, Draupadi, Abhimanyu, and the villain is Kannabiran, and the director’s purpose in doing so, appears to be to question the existing status quo and our own definition of right and wrong when it comes to those with power and money and those who lack these. Of course, the role of religion in enforcing an ancient evil that is the caste system is also examined and Mari Selvaraj subverts traditional religious tropes by depicting headless deities and grama devatas who are usually those among them whose tragic fate have seen them elevated to Godhood. The visual imagery and heavy – handed symbolism is overdone in parts and I would have liked a closer look at the struggles of women in this milieu but these are minor quibbles in a film like Karnan where so much works beautifully. Take a bow, Mari Selvaraj. Karnan, which follows on the heels of his remarkable Pariyerum Perumal, is a powerful film which is going to haunt me for a long time.

Interview with Abigail Dean, Author of the Excellent Girl A

 

Girl A  by Abigail Dean is an exquisitely crafted literary thriller and is one of the finest books I have read in a while. It is an agonizing tale of sustained abuse suffered in childhood, but the author chooses not to dwell compulsively on most of it. Instead she takes us through the nightmare that continues to cast long shadows on the lives of victims and their desperate struggle to flee the monsters that continue to stalk them from their memories of a traumarized childhood. Though, I like to think of myself as hardboiled, I wept at various points in the narrative. Small wonder this debut novel has taken the literary world by storm! 

Sharing the unedited version of my interview with Abigail Dean:

1.      Lex Gracie is a fascinating character – resilient, intelligent and remarkably strong. It was an interesting creative choice you made not to focus on the gruesome particulars of what went down in that ‘house of horrors’ but on the far reaching effects of abuse and its prolonged impact on the psyche of victims, even one, such as Lex who seems to have made it, given how gritty she is. What prompted this decision? I’m very interested in true crime, but one of the questions I’ve always wondered is: what happens next? There is often a lot of media attention on a particular case or crime, to the extent that certain photographs or buildings acquire an odd infamy. But for the people actually affected by those events, there are so many months and years and decades after: how do people live then? In Girl A, I wanted to explore that quieter time, which is so often hidden from the public view.

2.      The dynamics between the siblings seems to be complicated particularly the relationships between Lex – Ethan and Lex – Delilah. It intrigued me that Lex seemed more willing to forgive Ethan and his dubious decisions prior to and in the aftermath of their ordeal than her mum. Do walk us through the process you followed to peel back the layers of their collective psyches to reveal the raw and still bleeding wounds within. Creating the different dynamics between the Gracie siblings was one of the best things about writing Girl A. They may have grown up in difficult, traumatic circumstances, but they share the same alliances, rivalries and barbs as any other siblings. Lex loves her older brother, Ethan, despite questions about his complicity in their parents’ abuse. As the oldest of the siblings, they bonded as children over books, over their love of school – and it’s that old allegiance that makes Lex stick by Ethan, despite the fact that he’s become a very questionable adult.

3.      There was hope permeating the book, even in the aftermath of gut – wrenching grief, trauma and loss. Do we dare to remain positive despite being confronted with evidence of unspeakable evil and human capacity for inflicting harm no matter the number of restraints placed to prevent it? Lex is such a strong, resilient character. She’s the heart of Girl A, and her perspective – wry, humorous, cynical – really does fill the book with hope. As a reader, I usually find that it’s the scenes of human connections, even in the darkest circumstances, that move me the most.

4.      Girl A was refreshingly non – judgmental on many levels seeming to point towards circumstances brought on by factors like grinding poverty and unholy influences (that creepy Jolly!) as the perpetrators of monstrous cruelty. But to what extent do you think individual folly and broken systems are responsible for societal evils leaving aside variables beyond our control and what can we do to prevent others from suffering the fate of the Gracie siblings? I’m glad that you found Girl A non-judgmental. It’s crucial, for me, to have characters who feel like real people, and real human beings are rarely simply good or evil. I don’t have sympathy for every character in Girl A, but I try to have some understanding for each of them, however misguided their actions become. There are many moments in Girl A where the community is complicit in ignoring the children’s suffering – where people try to step in, but fail to do enough - but that’s not intended to be judgmental, either. I don’t have the confidence to assume I would act differently. It was one of the things I found most uncomfortable, writing the book, and I think it’s a question for each reader to ask themselves. 

5.      You have mentioned drawing inspiration from true – crime stories like Fred and Rosemary West, Jasmine Block and the notorious Turpins. How did you go about researching these cases as well as the experience of severe trauma brought on by prolonged captivity and sustained abuse? I was aware of a number of cases through my interest in true crime, so the focus of my research was psychology, rather than real-life events. Each of Lex’s siblings has a very different reaction to their childhood, and I read into what those reactions might be. They range from Delilah’s suggestions of Stockholm syndrome to Gabriel’s uncontrollable rages, which pursue him into adulthood. That said, I also want there to be ambiguity in Girl A: how much of each character’s reaction can be attributed to what happened to them, and how much is simply who they are?

6.      Girl A has been welcomed with thunderous applause and record sales, deservedly so. The screen rights have been sold to Sony. How is the view up there in that stratospheric sphere of elusive success? Just as surreal as it looks, I think! As a writer, you spend so long working in isolation, obsessed with the characters and the story. The most amazing thing, for me, is that my characters are out in the world, there for people to love and detest and challenge – as I’ve done with so many books myself. I’ve received a few messages expressing particular contempt for Jolly and JP, and knowing that you’ve sparked those kinds of feelings in readers is the absolute best.

7.      Do share a glimpse into the next book you are working on. It is eagerly awaited… My second novel follows two characters in the aftermath of an attack: one loses her mother in the atrocity, and the other believes that the whole thing was a hoax, and sets out to disprove it. Like Girl A, it deals with themes of trauma behind the headlines, and with the different perspectives of different characters, just as the Gracie siblings each remember their childhood in a slightly different way.

 An edited version of this interview appeared in The New Indian Express.

Plum cake and Praise for Shakti!

Recently, I did an interview with Dinamalar, a leading Tamil daily and the response has blown my mind! Really want to thank my fellow Tamils for the overwhelming appreciation they have showered on me in an endless stream of touching emails. It made me feel absolutely special and wonderful. Thanks ever so much! As STR says to his own legion of fans "Neenga illama naan illa). 

Why on earth do celebs crib about giving interviews? I could do it all day :)

In more good news, blogger Namrata has nothing but sweet things to say about Shakti: The Divine Feminine. In fact she equates it with rich and gooey plum cake. Sample this:

As I end the year 2015 this comes across one of the most amazing reads by an Indian author for the year. It promises a lot of things and it delivers. It doesn't disappoint the reader even a wee bit. 

The author whom I claim to be my favourite still continues to be that as I anxiously look forward to her next book.

Do grab this one - recommended for every one!

Foodie Verdict

This book is like plum cake - the perfect reading for the season with perfectly balanced out tastes.

You can read the rest of it here.

The Sheer Joy of Hearing Back from Readers!

There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when somebody you have never met in your entire life reaches out to you from the murky darkness of the internet! For those with a more twisted frame of mind allow me to clarify - I am not talking about pervs who think your profile pic is good and 'want 2 make frandship with you' but about readers who pick up a copy of your book (or order it online) and actually take the time out from their lives to share their thoughts on it.

It is soooo sweet, the gesture always reduces me to a quivering pile of mush. This applies even if all the said individual wants to say is that 'YOU SUCK' and in his/her considered opinion ought to take up another career. In such cases, I console myself with the words little girls are told when an uncouth classmate tugs on carefully tied up pigtails "He likes you!" or rather "SCORE! You got through to them enough to make them reach out even if it is with a machete!" But thankfully acid - soaked emails are rare and most are very encouraging.

Sample this email from Lavanya, which has been shared with her permission. She is currently preparing for her NET Exams in December and grabbed a copy of Shakti: The Divine Feminine while buying exam guides.  Do check it out! And to all my readers out there, thanks so much for the love!

Dear Anuja,

I enjoyed reading the book because I love to read stories of the Divine. 70 percent of the stories were known to me (by reading Devi Mahatmyam) but the spin you gave them were phenomenal. I have always wondered why somethings happened the way it  did (as written in the holy books) and your characterisation was very convincing and answered many of my doubts but I feel you could have downplayed some regions which may not go well with the average Hindu psyche and minus those gnawing issues dealt in here, it is a great read.

Greatly enjoyed reading abt the platonic love of Vishnu and the equations Shakti had with Shiva and Vishnu. 

I found some words in the book didn't gel well with the rest as they were very contemporary (acc to me) for a primeval story. (Can't give examples as I was too engrossed in the book and didn't note down- yet I could feel it at some places) Yet I can't blame you for it as you have stated that the story never ends, it goes on in cycles, and is still going on and hence such timeless beings can't be held in a boundary of our making. 

About Indra's curse, I read in Devi Mahatmyam - malayalam version , that the Brahmahatya paapam he incurred was because of the death of Dadichi Maharshi (though he willingly committed Self sacrifice - Indra's selfishness was the reason why he had to commit self sacrifice). Thus cursed Indra seeks the support of Trimurthis to take him to Kali's abode for purification. After serious repentance by Indra, Devi forgives him and grants him his lost prosperity and vitality. No disagreement here as it's in line with what you have mentioned but the witchhunt was really depressing though it is very much a possibility.

I read a review of Shakti in The New Indian Express and I am pleased after reading it. Sometimes the reviews can be very deceptive. But I am very glad that I got my lazy self to buy your book as reading it was a real new experience. Believe me, I am no great reader - I have got books And left them untouched after the first few pages. Especially the widely publicised retakes on Indian mythology have always disappointed me and coz I don't get the intent of what they are trying to imply- I sometimes wonder - why the hype?

Shakti is very marvellously written and it was very easy to understand and identify with the primordial mother.

The part I loved the most - was the interaction between Durga and Mahisasura . His ultimate deliverance was very touching - which melted my heart.

I hope you continue to write more such stories adding your special ingredients to it that appeals to people like us who love to read such divine-stories yet get perplexed by the sheer volume and complexity of the sacred texts. 

All the best!

With love,