A woman actor in a supporting role, who is not a known face in Tamil cinema, stealing the show in a tautly strung and gripping stunt sequence, is hardly what we expect to see in a multi-starrer movie featuring bigwigs like Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil in the lead. Nested in the second half of the Lokesh Kanagaraj directorial Vikram (2022), there is an unpredictable action sequence where the makers disclose that the woman who played Valiamma, the domestic worker in the initial part of the movie is actually a secret agent who saves the members of the family, much like Kamal’s titular Vikram. It is revealed that the woman who went from being the understanding akka (elder sister) in the household to a black-ops officer fighting a group of men and hacking some of them to death with a fork, is Agent Tina.
Not only did the scene open to astounding applause in theatres, but the actor also managed to upstage actor Kamal Haasan in the scene. The role was played by Vasanthi, who assisted dance master Dinesh before her debut in Vikram. In the media interactions that were held post the release of the film, director Lokesh Kanagaraj revealed that the idea of introducing a female secret agent halfway through the film was a part of the script since its inception.
Interestingly, a few Telugu and Malayalam films from recent times have become part of this trend and have also opted to introduce fight sequences featuring women actors as a ‘twist’. This is new to South Indian commercial entertainers and specifically to Kollywood – a welcome departure considering that physically demanding action roles have been conventionally assigned to men.
It is also worth noting that even in our collective imagination, the act of a woman engaging in a physical tussle is not normalised, and is perceived as a rarity. Audiences are caught by surprise while seeing a woman fight, on-screen or otherwise, only because they are unfortunately thin on the ground. However, one cannot help but wonder whether, in the case of Lokesh Kangaraj’s Vikram, it was also the lack of well-written roles for other women actors appearing on screen (Gayathrie and Fahadh’s infantile ‘baby-baby’ romance, an unfunny montage featuring Vijay Sethupathi and his three wives, and Swathishta Krishnan as the seemingly unwitting mother) that left viewers astonished during the Agent Tina reveal.
As opposed to usual fight sequences in Indian cinema which are known for the grandeur and humongous scale in which they are shot, a number of films in recent times, especially the ones featuring women in action roles, have taken a more grounded and realistic approach. Flurries of slo-mo punches and swashbuckling stunts have been replaced with physically grueling sequences grounded in gritty realism.
Women appearing in more action-based roles has contributed to the evolving nature of action choreography. There is more emphasis on the stunt direction falling in line with the plotlines and characters on screen, rather than amplifying the hero or the lead male actor through the stunts. In Darshana Rajendran and Basil Joseph’s recent Malayalam movie Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey which was released in October this year, the fight put up by Jaya (Darshana Rajendran), a victim of domestic abuse against her husband Rajesh played by Basil Joseph (who is the abuser), is not just metaphorical but also takes shape when she engages in a physical brawl with him. In a hilarious role reversal, Jaya, who is slapped by Rajesh frequently, stands up against him.
Speaking about how the fight sequences were crafted in the black-comedy film, Darshana Rajendran said in an earlier interview with TNM, “I trained in Taekwondo for two months, only for the film. I had nothing to do with martial arts before. The training wasn’t actually that much but cinema aids you in ways that sometimes you are also amazed by. It looked like a lot of stunts because we had proper stunt choreographers, the camera crew, etc.” she said. The technical crew included Johnkutty as the editor, Felix Fukuyoshi Ruwwe as the action director, and Bablu Aju as the cinematographer.
Watch: The stunts of Jaya Hey were real: Deleted scenes from Darshana-Basil interview
In the web series Family Man 2 which premiered on Amazon Prime Video last year, Samantha plays Raji, a highly skilled rebel operative with LTTE. The visual grammar of the stunts greatly vary depending on Raji’s emotional arc. In the introductory episodes of the series, Raji is groped by a creep commuting on the bus. It happens at a time when Raji stays under the radar and works in a factory in Tamil Nadu. She suffers in silence so as to not draw any attention to herself. However, when the harassment persists and when the man stalks her, she ferociously fights him. A few whacks and punches later, we see the perpetrator laying on the ground, having sustained severe injuries. Raji is more unfazed and swift in a foot chase scene involving interconnected shots and intricate stunt choreography where she is followed by a team of intelligence officers and cops.
The action choreography in Yashoda, Samantha’s latest film which was released last month, also took the realistic route. Yannick Ben who was on board as the stunt choreographer for Yashoda says, “Usually, the task is to follow the vision of the director and bring it to life. In this film, Samantha plays a pregnant woman. So we had to be careful while showing how she moves or attacks because a pregnant woman will also have to care about the baby.”
Yannick, who also choreographed the stunts for The Family Man 2, notes that the actor’s commitment to her fitness regime made the job easier for his team. “Samantha had been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Myositis at the time of the shoot. But she is very committed and meticulously exercises. She is also naturally good with fight scenes,” he says.
Nivedha Thomas and Regina Cassandra’s Telugu film Saakini Daakini which was released earlier this year, tracks the story of two rivals-turned-friends Shalini and Damini from the police academy, taking charge of a police investigation to expose a human trafficking racket. Halfway through the film, we find a hilarious quarrel set in a restaurant, between the two leads and a gang involved in human trafficking. There are beards catching on fire, ponytails being snatched and heads smashing against tables in this berserk yet hilarious scene from the action entertainer.
This sequence stands out in comparison to the over-the-top and dramatic stunt work that plays out in the climax but actor Regina Cassandra tells TNM that they added layers to the script in their own ways. “It is the remake of an action comedy Korean film Midnight Runners. The film having fight sequences and the film showing two women in such a light made me more eager to do it. It is a commercial film at the end of the day, so it is not too dark or is not on the face when it comes to promoting the idea of women fighting, but that is the underlying theme,” she says. Regina also adds that both the actors trained in Jujutsu for a few months to get the basics right.
The reason behind films featuring women actors having a more grounded and realistic approach towards stunt work perhaps has to do with the fact that more often than not, filmmakers cast women actors in action roles only when it is absolutely essential for the script. The high-octane actioners listed in the filmography of leading men in cinema are a testament to the fact that the same cannot be said about their female counterparts. In fact, some of the male stars even have specific stunts and moves that are repeatedly used in movies owing to their ‘high’ recall value.
“I have done a number of action roles because it suits my physique and seems to go with my personality, but it is not the norm. We expect women actors to be trained in dance or music, and the heroes to be trained in martial arts or its equivalent. So it really comes down to how a filmmaker wants to portray the actor,” Regina says.
The actor who has also had a fair share of stunts in other films points out that it is an area that requires more focus. “The stunt team usually consists of men. Unless they consciously make an effort to think about how a woman would fight or consider the psychology of fighting itself, the choreography would only mirror how men fight. We don’t have a female stunt assistant even if the lead actor is training in stunts,” A lot of stunts we see in movies result from emulating the stunt performances of men. A few stunt choreographers tell TNM that women stunt choreographers are unheard of, as far as south Indian movies are concerned.
Yannick’s opinion differs on the subject. “Gender does not matter while choreographing a fight scene. We’d have to understand who the character is and the level of expertise they demonstrate in the film,” Yannick remarks.
In a number of films in the past, the male gaze seems to have manifested itself cinematically, not only through the action choreography but also through the costume choices and cinematography in films featuring women in stunt sequences. Unlike the aforementioned films, women ‘superhero’ characters such as DC’s Wonder Woman have been hypersexualised. This is exemplified by the logic-defying choice of clothes – blue star-covered shorts, and a red bustier top — donned by the actor playing the titular role in the 1975 Television series Wonder Woman. While any actor appearing in an action role, regardless of their gender, would be expected to look the part, we only see sleek women conforming to conventional beauty norms in action roles.
In some cases, Gothic fashion has been the go-to choice. However, Regina also says, “I have played a cop in a film where I was required to fight. The costumes were very similar to the ones worn by men because we found that even in real life, women cops avoid wearing clothes that are traditionally feminine, to avoid standing out and in order to survive in a male-dominated industry. So perhaps some of these depictions mirror reality,” the actor observes.
Nevertheless, with the success of recent films like Everything Everywhere All At Once globally, and movies like Yashoda and Vikram that are closer to home, both Regina and Yannick are hopeful about seeing more women actors in action roles in the future. “We had actors like Vijayashanthi who specialised in stunts. Ultimately it boils down to commercial viability. With the success of so many Hollywood films as well as more movies closer to home in recent times, we can be optimistic about seeing more roles along similar lines,” Regina observes.