Paava Kadhaigal

Sudha Kongara’s segment is about equal relationships. It is centred on a transgender (Thangam) and his yearning to be loved like anyone else. Set in the 1980s, the film also deals with themes like inter-faith marriage and transphobia. This segment features Kalidas Jayaram, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj and Bhavani Sre. Kalidas Jayaram is a revelation in the role of Thangam, and he couldn’t have played the character more convincingly. He owns the role – usually considered a taboo in mainstream cinema -- with a rare degree of dignity and maturity. More importantly, you never find his performance dramatic; it’s measured and well essayed. Shanthanu and Bhavani also play their respective parts quite well. Vetrimaaran’s short explores the relationship dynamics between a father and his daughter, who is pregnant from a marriage to a boy of a different caste.

The film is good in parts and a few dialogues like how women are far superior work well.

Watching this, you feel a mix of emotions. On top is the sinking feeling which accompanies violence against women, whether it is tacit or in your face. There’s also a kind of weariness. How long will this brutal entitlement to women’s bodies and minds go on, in life and on screen? Some of the violence on display, stretched too far, is hard to watch. Redemption does come in two of the four segments, but at the cost of subtlety. A few subtle grace notes may have been more effective, overall.

But the unrequited love angle seems to be the only merit of the short. What we see in Thangam , which deals with an interfaith marriage, is the honour of a family that puts gender identity above everything else. In one of the cruel scenes, Sathaar’s mother (Vinodhini Vaidhyanathan) begs that she (Sathaar) rather die instead of putting them to shame. It is horrifying to think of the many real-life Sathaars who are “killed” without their families actually killing them. Vignesh Shivan is angry. He is angry at a society that doesn’t accept inter-caste marriages. He is angry at a society, for which LGBTQI + community is still an alien concept. He thinks he can vent out his anger through his characters in Love Panna Uttranum and through their liberal usage of expletives . But what Vignesh doesn’t understand is this: swear words don’t actually translate to emotions.