What is my problem with Tamil movies?

Now many would think me unfit of commenting on anything remotely Tamil or Indian. That's probably because i don't pray, or wear sarees every day, don't believe in marriage and the thalli, and yes because my spoken Tamil needs more than just a little work. But just to set the record straight, I think I'm probably more Indian/Tamil than people would like. I've lived through the culture, the rituals, the praying, and then i lived through the internet, the reading, the feminism, the books and grew. Put me on a checklist, and i would tick off 5 or more than the streotyped Indian characteristics. I have wavy hair, big eyes, long lashes, dark skin, i eat with my fingers (cause i love licking them after!), i talk too loud, i love the noise and chaos that comes with people and relatives, i like mashed up vegetables, i read and write Tamil? But wait, those arent actually just Indian are they? Maybe the physical features, yes, that's just DNA and genes, but everything else is just me as a person. I must have been influenced of course, by my parents, but also by my friends? my teachers? books? the internet? and yes...movies!

Also contrary to popular belief, I have seen quite a number of Tamil movies, most by force i would have to say. But at the same time, i would like to thank my Mom especially, because i sincerely feel i would be unapt to comment on Tamil movies if i wasn't put through each 3hour musical every once or twice a week. I've seen enough tamil movies to tell me that they all have a pattern. Ok let's forget the 5/6 songs in each of them, cause okay a little dance never hurt anyone? And the unrealistic fight scenes, where the hero takes on 10-20 people and flies through the air, stops in mid-air and delivers a kick that knocks them all out!

But the one pattern that is totally unacceptable are all the Indian women portrayed in ALL of these movies. The storyline of each movie is usually about the same old same old i-love-that girl but i'm a parayah. I've seen some awesome movies too i will admit, but definitely nothing revolutionary in the past 10 years or so? Ok maybe one comes to mind, and biographies aren't always that bad. But the idea, that the old movies that were awesome WAS awesome because it dared to tackle social issues way back then, it dared to be different. Now, yes we do have movies about men and women of different castes getting married, but after what? After a 20 minute fight scene, at least one girl being raped or molested, an evil father, and then the HERO (cause that's the way real life is, we all need a Hero to save us!) rescues the girl and ties that thalli. What message is this? That all men are supposed to be born Heroes that every girl needs? That racial discrimination can only be settled by a 20 minute fight scene? And what happens to all women?

I understand that it caters to the Indian majority back in India, but that is the whole issue here. Not just for Tamil movies but for movies in general. Media has so much of responsibility to influence and educate the public and here we are sending them all the wrong messages! I am not saying there are no SUCKY english movies , yes there are! But today i shall tackle Tamil movies, and the one major flaw i do not see in english movies, the role of women in society. Women in western movies have evolved! Beyond the point that now SEX, is no big deal! Yes they have sex, but then they also have awesome careers and amazing lives. Correct me if i'm wrong, but the main argument for Western movies coming from a Tamil movie fanatic would be that : Women sleep around, and that degrades our society and our values! Women have affairs, and that degrades our society and cultural values!       But really, who are we kidding? Everyone has sex! And there's absolutely no reason why it's only totally unacceptable that women have sex or have affairs!

And I for one, am totally fed up, with the society that has been created by Tamil movies and its likes, even here in Malaysia. I've never been able to walk anywhere without one guy singing a Tamil song to me, or screaming at me to look at him or whistling as i walk by, or say demeaning vulgar things about my body and how he'd like some of my sugar! When did harassing women become okay? When did it become the norm? I believe Tamil movies only fuel this on. It only makes it okay, that THAT is courting, and soon i WILL as all Tamil movies, drop something on the ground, pick it up and look into his eye and fall in love with him. I believe Tamil movies contribute to the abused women sitting in the corner of a house somewhere, thinking that the biggest sin would be to get rid of the "thalli" and leave her husband. I believe Tamil movies contribute to a woman being slapped across the face and thinking that its okay because it is the right of a man or a husband. I believe Tamil movies tells women that if they're raped, they should feel so ashamed of themselves that they might consider suicide, or to marry the animal that raped them. I believe Tamil movies only further enforce the male supremacy attitude that is stopping Indian women from developing as people, as contributors of a country. I believe Tamil movies only fuel on the ego that is MALE and unravels all the work feminism has been trying to achieve in the past 50 years!

I am OKAY with ridiculous story lines, but i feel social issues that matter, like FEMINISM should be addressed in Tamil movies, if we're ever going to change the mind sets of the community we're in. For once, I want to like a Tamil movie because it addresses that women are just as likely to be HEROs and to save the day, or better that we are human beings like men that have careers and personalities and contributions to the country and the world and not only be in the movies to fall in love, to marry, to be raped, or to be saved!