An indie music artist from Tamil Nadu shot to fame in 2012 after the release of his first single that derided women for drinking, smoking and wearing short clothes. The song, ‘Club le Mabbu le’ by Adhi, also known as 'Hiphop Tamizha', not only calls out women for enjoying a few drinks at clubs, but also laments the ruin of Tamil culture because of such women. The release of his song has been a turning point in Tamil popular culture, because it encapsulated how men were trying to grapple with changing times as more women occupied public spaces that were traditionally reserved for men.
Nine years later, in 2021, Adhi released Sivakumarin Sabadham. The movie was written and directed by Adhi, who also starred as its hero and composed music for it. The movie makes a half-hearted attempt at redeeming Adhi from the misogyny-laced ‘Club le Mabbu le’ song. A scene from the movie shows Shruthi (Madhuri Jain), the female lead, frantically exiting a night club, only to be threatened by a group of men to return their phones. A few minutes later, it is revealed that the men had taken pictures of Shruthi without her consent. She had managed to steal their phones to delete them, but was caught before she could do it. One of the men ask why she was acting like a pathini (a good, modest woman) after coming to clubs for free drinks from men. This triggers Sivakumar (Adhi), who says that he too used to judge women for visiting clubs, but later realised that what other people do is none of his business. And like all Tamil movie heroes, he beats the men up and ‘saves’ Shruthi. Even though this scene downplayed Shruthi’s trauma by making it comical, the shift in Adhi’s/Sivakumar’s perspective is interesting.
While Tamil cinema has had movies like Magalir Mattum (1994), Viralukketha Veekam (1999) and Snegidhiye (2000) that show female solidarity and tackle challenges faced by working women, including sexual harassment at workplace, there have been little to no movies that show women occupying public spaces, especially for leisure or enjoyment. Even when places like clubs and discos were shown in Tamil cinema, it was difficult to spot a woman. Women who did visit these establishments were portrayed as ‘vamps’ and used as a foil to highlight, even exaggerate, the piety and adakkam (modesty) of the female protagonist. If not this, the women would end up being harassed by the men there and find themselves at the end of long lectures peppered with victim blaming. The Tamil movie Easan (2010) is an example of this trope. It begins with a song which shows a woman being chased by a group of men who spot her dancing at a club, which ends fatally for her. Throughout the movie, the nameless, fictional woman’s death serves as a warning for real life women.
Women in Tamil cinema are often shown as going to clubs to be ‘admired’ by the hero. In Kaathuvakula Rendu Kaadhal (2022), one of the female leads, Khatija (Samantha), is introduced in a club. She seems to have no reason to visit the club except to accompany her toxic boyfriend Mohammed Mobi (Sreesanth) and eventually, to catch the eyes of Rambo (Vijay Sethupathi), a bouncer in the club. If it were not to force a meeting between Khatija and Rambo, there was no reason for Khatija to go to a club, as she did not seem to be enjoying herself there.
In Thanga Magan (2015), when Tamizh (Dhanush) stalks Hema (Amy Jackson) to a club, it is evident that he is visiting a club for the first time. He and his friend are not wearing appropriate shoes and are shocked at the prices of the drinks. Hema and her friends, on the other hand, seem comfortable and are not out of place. Once again, like Khatija, there was no reason for Hema to be at the club. She does not have a good time with her friends. Instead, Hema is solely an object of Tamizh’s attention.
While some female leads in Tamil cinema are shown as club-going, the hero barely goes clubbing. If he does go to such an establishment, it is to highlight his naivete. He is also put on a pedestal for not harassing women who come to these clubs, i.e., for doing the bare minimum. Sivakumarin Sabadham is a fine example of this trope. In Pyaar Prema Kaadhal (2021), Shree (Harish Kalyan) and Sindhuja (Raiza Wilson) meet at a club. He does not break into a lament about the loss of Tamil culture only because Sindhuja goes to clubs and parties. He even accompanies her to clubs sometimes. But he climbs the moral high horse when Sindhuja refuses to be in a relationship with him despite their having sex. As he launches a tirade of character assassination against Sindhuja for ‘using’ him, his facade of being the ‘modern, tolerant’ man falls apart.
While portraying women going to clubs is touted as a progressive move by a significant part of the audience, this type of representation still largely panders to the male gaze. Unlike Meera (Trisha) from Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004), recent portrayals of women rarely show them simply having fun in clubs without being an object of male (both hero and the audience) desire. Showing women relaxing and unwinding is important. It shows that they are humans who have likes and dislikes that are not clouded by the hero’s overarching presence. And such fictional women become comfort characters because they are closer to real life.