Kalakkanavu is a docudrama written by V. Geetha and directed by Mangai. I got a chance to watch it at the University today thanks to the Women studies Centre and Centre for Historical Society.
Kalakkanavu or A dream in Time is a documentation of feminist movement in Tamilnadu during late 19th Century and early 20th Century. Most of the stories are undocumented. V. Geetha has strung together a drama based on the articles written by early feminists in magazines and the dairies kept by many women. It was very fascinating but one could see how little information we really have about the women. What were their thoughts, what were their lives like...Their history is very fragmented.
One of the most thought-provoking moment was about how Periyar fought for women's liberation. When his wife, Nagamma, dies, he says:
"She had been a wonderful companion but I do not know if I was such a good companion to her."
But more telling is his comments on the issue of chastity. It is all the more telling considering the situation in present day Tamilnadu, where they hounded Kushboo out for daring to make a comment on pre-martial sex. After all chastity is a convenient tool to imprison women. No one dares to talk about chastity for men.
The drama was in Tamil. My friend Bharati and I exchanged notes at the end. We both found that neither of us had understood more than 10-20% of the words. Someday I need to start learning Tamil.
No comments:
Post a Comment