Solace in Cinema

Asian women are mostly the victims of its conservatism. I could not go back and check if the women far back were treated the same way as we are being, but now, yes, women do have complaints, but I am not going to discuss them. Though women here are enjoying their liberty more than before, like liberty in the participation of country affairs, liberty to shape their own future like men, still, there is a large percentage of women, though well-educated, are discriminated against and excluded from the family decisions. Women here are considered as goddesses of fertility and irrespective of their achievements, they are considered successful if they give birth to a healthy child within a year after marriage.  And between such complaints running in my mind, I started reading about issues women are facing and was searching for some documentaries to go through. That is when I came across this documentary directed by “Simonka De Jong” named “The Only Son” which changed my perspective. This d...

  Karuppu Durai, directed by Madhumitha and her team, is a story of the most unheard voices of this world, the old, which are represented by the protagonist of this film. The film begins with a voice introducing us to his village and his love for the village. He even casually shows us how women in his village have to walk miles in order to get not only the water but also education which tells how habituated the people in the countryside are with these issues. And then he comes to his house which is being renovated and gets to introduce his “Large Family” and his love for Biryani crowning his daughter taking over her mother in preparing it. Then he shows us a person in a coma lying still on his bed who is “Karuppu Durai”, the narrator himself. The story begins when the family summons to discuss their father, the head of the family, “Karuppu Durai” about him being in Coma for 3 months and how uncomfortable it is for the women to take care of him after looking after all t...

 There are a few delightful films that make us feel so alive and relatable. They teach us many things without being preachy about what they want to convey.  One of such films is “Julie & Julia” directed by Nora Ephron is a story of two women who never meet, but are bonded by their love for cooking and 524 recipes.  I sometimes imagine someone being in a similar situation to mine and handling it in a different way. I know, most of us have similar situations. But this is the first time I have seen a film where there is a vast difference in time, but the director perfectly managed it with an excellent screenplay that shuffles between the two stories.  The film starts in the year 1949 when Julia, who is an American, arrives in France with her husband Paul Child. Julia is a very lovely, accepting personality which we can determine by her smile, innocence, her hearty talks, and love for her husband. We never get what she actually meant as she always reacts by saying “I...