The year 2022 was when cinema bounced back to some semblance of what it used to be before the pandemic struck the world. There were many blockbusters from the south Indian film industries, and quite a few of them had interesting women characters as well. This was a welcome change in a male-dominated field, where most films are hero-centric and mass entertainers have seldom had memorable women characters. Quite a few small budget films this year too had impressive women characters, who broke onscreen conventions and surprised us. Here are our favourite women characters from southern cinema this year:
Gautham Ramachandran’s hard-hitting courtroom drama is about a young woman whose father is accused of sexually assaulting a minor. Gargi (Sai Pallavi) is convinced of his innocence and fights the legal battle along with a sympathetic lawyer (Kaali Venkat). Along the way, she realises that the truth has been staring at her in the face from the beginning. Gargi is a difficult role to play, but Sai Pallavi nails it with a fantastic performance. As she goes from disbelief to resolution, Gargi makes a powerful statement that lingers with the audience for a long time after the film ends.
Set in a Noida factory that makes disposable gloves during the pandemic, this Mahesh Narayanan directorial is about a couple caught in a viral video scandal. Hareesh (Kunchacko Boban) is at first outraged but slowly begins to suspect that his wife, Reshmi (Divya Prabha), might be the masked woman performing a sexual act in the video. Reshmi’s instinct is to flee and go back to her hometown in Kerala, but she quietly stands up for herself when the time comes. Divya Prabha plays Reshmi with nuance, and it is through the minute changes in her expressions that the plot unravels.
In this black comedy about domestic violence, Darshana Rajendran plays Jaya, a young woman caught in a toxic marriage with Rajesh (Basil Joseph). Jaya has no support from her family that’s aware of her situation, and so she takes matters into her own hand and decides to pay Rajesh back with the same coin. The Vipin Das directorial is laugh-out-loud funny and Darshana’s action scenes with Basil bring the roof down. Easily one of the most entertaining Malayalam films this year.
A gentle, lovely drama about a couple contemplating if they should call off their arranged marriage, this Rahul PK directorial shines with its realistic and empathetic writing (co-written with Pooja Sudhir). Shraddha (Siri Ravikumar) isn’t so enthralled with the prospect of marrying Suri (Bharath GB). She is fiercely independent and is thinking of moving cities to pursue her career. The confusion in their relationship brings their parents into the conflict. Suri’s mother Vimala (Rekha Kudligi) and Shraddha’s mother Geetha (Pushpa Belwadi) are seemingly poles apart but they discover that they have something in common too – their professional ambitions. How often have we seen mothers on screen doing anything other than housework and childcare? Or a woman who rejects a ‘sincere’ man receiving respectful treatment? Without vilifying or castigating anyone, this film provides an enjoyable insight into the evolving nature of relationships.
Based on Kalki’s historical fiction series, Mani Ratnam’s PS-1 is a faithful adaptation that retains the flavour of the original. Kundavai has many shades to her – she is an intelligent and observant politician, a woman who knows the social disadvantages of her gender but knows how to pull strings, and a romantic at heart who wants a man who will understand her ambitions. Trisha brings out Kundavai’s subtle machinations beautifully. The scene in which she casually disrupts a conspiracy by bringing up her brother’s marriage prospects isn’t there in the book, but it is true to Kundavai’s character – and Trisha was pitch perfect.
Mrunal Thakur is a serious contender for the dreamgirl of the year award, if there was one. As Princess Noor Jahan who pretends to be Sitamahalakshmi, Mrunal plays the lovelorn lady with timeless grace. This swoony period romance, directed by Hanu Raghavapudi, is among the surprising blockbusters of the year and it’s thanks to the chemistry that Mrunal shares with Dulquer Salmaan.
Mithran Jawahar’s romcom about a food delivery boy and his love life wouldn’t have been half as entertaining without his bestie, Shobana (Nithya Menen). She is his neighbour, friend, philosopher, and partner in the colony bhangra dance. Nithya Menen is hilarious, vulnerable, and endearing all at once. If she has better chemistry with someone other than Thiru (Dhanush), it has to be his grandfather (Bharathiraja) with whom she even shares facial sessions.
It’s rare to see such a well-written woman villain without overtones of misogyny. Bindu Panicker in this Mammootty starrer directed by Nissam Basheer is a total surprise package. At first glimpse, Seetha seems like a victim, married as she is to a man who cheats on her. It’s only later that we see different facets to her, and her cold ruthlessness that she has passed on to her sons. Bindu is brilliant in the role, sending chills down our spine as she makes casual confessions to her crimes.
There is no woman character who divided social media this year as much as Rene (Dushara Vijayan). She is the hero of Pa Ranjith’s film, which is on the politics of love. Rene is an Ambedkarite, a Dalit woman who wears her ‘wokeness’ on her sleeve – and is therefore perceived as annoying by some of the characters on screen and many of the viewers who went on to make memes about her. She isn’t written to be liked, but to provoke, and Rene does that plenty. At times, it is obvious that Rene was written from a male perspective (it falls upon her to ‘reform’ the man who sexually assaults her), but she is still a unique character who deserves a place on this list.
Rahul Sadasivan’s horror film takes the haunted house premise and reinvents it. Revathy plays Asha, a middle-aged woman battling depression. Her mother, who also had the condition, has just passed away after a long illness, and her son (Shane Nigam) begins to see signs of supernatural activity in the house. Teetering between grief and her will to survive, Asha is an unusual character written with empathy and sensitivity.
Charukesh Sekar’s film is about Ammu (Aishwarya Lekshmi) and how she battles her violent husband who happens to be a cop (Naveen Chandra). The film isn’t without its flaws, with a filmy second half that doesn’t sit so well within the narrative. However, it presents a realistic picture of the terror and gaslighting that women experience in a toxic marriage. Aishwarya Lekshmi plays Ammu with vulnerability and strength. This is also one of the few films where the female lead speaks about her reproductive rights.
Yes, it’s a shallow role in a shallow film, but that’s the point of it. Directed by Khalid Rahman, Thallumaala is about a series of brawls and the friendships and enmities that come out of it. Kalyani Priyadarshan plays Beevi, an Instagram influencer, who is engaged to the hot-headed Wazim (Tovino Thomas). When their wedding gets called off as Wazim gets into yet another brawl, Beevi coolly munches on her popcorn and watches the chaos. Kalyani’s fashion choices in the film are super fun, and she breaks the stereotype of the ever enslaved Muslim woman on screen.
Lokesh Kanagaraj’s action film with a host of male stars like Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil, and Vijay Sethupathi, barely had any space for women characters. But Agent Tina (Vasanthi) still left an impression with her surprising action sequence. In this film about a secret agent (Kamal Haasan) who takes on the drug mafia, Tina appears as an undercover agent who works as his domestic help. She doesn’t have much screen time, but boy did the theatre go wild when she explodes into a fight against the villains who attack their home.
Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval’s satirical film is about a thief (Kunchacko Boban) who files a case against a minister over a pothole. Actor Gayathrie plays the role of a Tamil labourer, who is also the thief’s girlfriend. They start a live-in relationship, and when the thief gets into trouble, she stands by him and asserts herself even amid the mounting pressure to withdraw the case. The film has a refreshingly non-judgmental lens when it comes to the portrayal of the relationship and Devi’s choices.
It’s rare to watch a Tamil film where a female character is not a love interest, mother or sister. Deepak’s film on manual scavenging is about a young Dalit swimmer who is forced to enter a septic tank and dies from the fumes. Shraddha Srinath plays Parvathy, an architect who lives in the apartment complex where the crime happens, and she provides a vital piece of evidence in the case. Interestingly, Parvathy herself was born to parents who had an intercaste marriage. While she faces a constant stream of abuse from her neighbours for her lifestyle as a single woman, it’s only later that the caste connotations of the treatment strike her. Parvathy isn’t defined in the film in relation to a man, and that, in itself, makes the character unique.
Sowmya Rajendran writes on gender, culture, and cinema. She has written over 25 books, including a nonfiction book on gender for adolescents. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her novel Mayil Will Not Be Quiet in 2015.