Virginity - the curse of Tamil cinema

Today I chanced to watch the movie Azhagiya Thamizhmagan. I was surprised that I found myself liking it, when everyone who had spoken to me about this movie had trashed it. Even more surprising because I didn’t like the songs very much, yet basically everyone trashed my music review.

The movie reminds me of MGR’s Ninaithadhai Mudippavan, where MGR’s one role is as an honest man, and the other role is not, and they play cat and mouse. As the movie wore on, it had elements from another old movie - I don’t remember the name, but Karthik is the hero, and he essays two roles, both of whom are interested in the heroine, Sulakshana.

Vatsan correctly points out that the movie is 80s masala-ish. If it were Rajni playing the lead, it would definitely have been more enjoyable. However, given that and all its logical fallacies, I still liked it. (Of course, if you start accepting that a double act is indeed possible, then any subsequent logical fallacy shouldn’t put you off very much.)

What I hated about the movie is the last couple of minutes.

The bad guy, using his uruva otrumai to the good guy, impersonates him, convinces his parents, the heroine, all his friends that he is the real thing. He also gets physically intimate with an oversized Namitha on a one-night stand, before desiring the same with Shreya.

But then, when the director runs out of ideas how to finish him off, and it is already 170 minutes into the movie, he will let the heroine, fighting for her life in a hospital bed, utter some totally uncalled for tokenist dialogue about virginity, and suddenly our man is reformed!

For many decades, orphanhood was the curse of Tamil cinema. In the first hour, you’ll find the hero, a multi-billionaire with diverse business interests rejoicing with his friends, and romancing with his love interest(s). Then someone will reveal that he is an anaadhai, and he will feel gutted. And voila, he will reform himself suddenly - of course, those two second-half duets in the Swiss Alps notwithstanding. Now, karpu has taken that role. Long live!

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