Written by: JBR
The Tamilnadu College of Divinity in Madurai, held an international film festival on gender minority on April 22, 2007. The one day festival that took place from 9am to 7pm, featured 3 full length feature films and 1 short film.
Four films in one day.... Could one call it an international film festival? Nowadays, festivals span a week to 10 days and 50 to 100 films are screened. Amidst such festivals, the one day festival in Madurai where 4 films were screened is important.
The films were not about sex education or sex workers. These films were not about males or females, but about the third gender or araivanis / eunuchs. Efforts have been made overseas to feature films on eunuchs. As far as India is concerned, the festival at Madurai seems to be a maiden attempt. Now you can see the importance of this film festival.
In Tamil films, one sees an occasional depiction of araivanis here and there. Most references are of a sexual nature about how men make eyes at them and then withdraw in shock after knowing they are of the third gender, poke fun at a person about an araivani and so on. They are shown in a derogatory manner and not as an equal human being. There are umpteen depictions of them as sex objects. A recent release has a folk song sequence where araivanis are featured. One of them looks at the hips of a nadaswara vidwan and asks, "Are you blowing or shall I?" It looks as if such things take place in reality. This is actually no different from earlier depictions of araivanis with sexual connotations.
All these activities are not their own, but only a remnant of the dregs of society imposed on them. Their activities also affect us as a substantial part of the society.
The physical and non-physical changes that the person confronts by a man becoming a woman or vice versa, have never been portrayed realistically in Indian cinema. This is a drawback.
When man does not understand something, he either deems it a novelty or tries to destroy it. One result we can see is the derogatory comedy about araivanis in films and also the murder of many of them in Salem and other districts.
This international film festival held in Madurai is only an attempt to understand the part of our society which is a gender minority. The 4 films that were screened during the Film Festival are important. Everyone must watch them at lease once.
The first film screened was 'Navarasa' by cinematographer/director Santosh Sivan. Swetha is a 13 year old. She sees her uncle developing feminine traits and what troubles that bring him. He goes to the Koothandavar festival at Koovagam to pray that he becomes totally female. Swetha goes to the festival in search of him. She sees the festivities conducted by the eunuchs there. At this annual festival, people of the third gender regularly meet to marry Aravan whom they consider as husband, and also re-enact the story of Aravan, a character from the epic Mahabharata, how he is killed and they beat their chests and lament their loss. This was filmed at the actual festival with real characters and for this realistic portrayal, the film won the national award for 2005.
The 2nd film to be screened at the festival was 'Boys Don't Cry.'
This film is based on a true story that took place in 1993 at Twin Falls in Nebraska, USA. Teena Brandon is born a girl but she identifies herself more as a boy. She dresses up in masculine clothes. Teena falls in love with a girl Lana. It is revealed then that Teena is actually a female, but Lana accepts her love. Towards the end of the film, Brandon is eventually exposed as Teena, an act that triggers her brutal rape and murder by two convicts who are part of the crowd she runs around with.
Directed by Kimberly Peirce in 1999, the film won an Oscar for Hilary Swank who did the role of Teena Brandon. The film went on to win 40 more awards.
In the short film 'Achu Pizhai' directed by Vignesh, a school boy Chandran turns into a girl. Not able to understand this behavior, his father ill treats him, but later realizes the truth and accepts him. The film portrays all the travails that befall a eunuch. Like Teena, Chandra is also killed in the end.
The 4th film of the festival was Spanish film 'Bad Education,' written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The schoolboy Ignatio is taken advantage of sexually by the principal Father Manolo. Ignatio falls in love with his schoolmate Enrique. Ignatio blames the Father for his femininity and he blackmails the Father for money to have a sex change operation.
After a few years, Enrique becomes a film director. One day, a young man named Ignatio comes to meet him and asks for an opportunity. Enrique later comes to know he is not Ignatio but his younger brother. When Enrique tries to find the whereabouts of Ignatio, he comes to know that Ignatio is no more. To know what happened, Enrique meets the Father.
This film is still considered a classic for having presented a realistic portrayal of unnatural love.
In the Indian context, women as victims of suppression are given supportive schemes. People enjoy reservation benefits on basis of caste. More than anyyone, the eunuchs are bearing the brunt of many injustices. They have to deal with broken relations. They have no status to make use of help measures. Films will help if they are portrayed as equally human as others.
Even if you have missed seeing the films at the Madurai film festival, you can still seek them out and see them any time. Awareness through such films will promote brotherhood of man.
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-24.04.2007
