When the trailer for Kaatru Veliyidai released, I was so excited. Another beautiful looking movie from Mani Ratnam with music by A.R. Rahman. The perfect combination of talents. The music came first and it was soul touching and so amazingly melodious; so typical of A.R.R's magic. I watched the promotions, music videos and got more excited.
I couldn't watch the movie in the theaters and I was very sad. So imagine my joy when I finally got a chance to watch the movie. I sat in anticipation to watch this beautiful looking movie and the first few shots were so amazing.
Sadly, as the movie went on, I was thoroughly disappointed. I initially thought it was just VC's arrogance which made me dislike his character. He tells his first girlfriend that he would marry her only after the first child and soon after he rats her out to her dad and gets her sent of to Pune just so that he can pursue Leela, a doctor who's just moved to town. Soon his misogynistic ways started showing up. It started with a brush off of Leela by telling her that women and men are not equal and that women must be beautiful to join the Air Force. Slowly with every progressing scene, VC humiliates, belittles, and even physically abuses Leela. Each time, he returns with a "Sorry" and "I love you". Leela's friend and admirer once asks her colleague why Leela puts up with him abusing her, to which she says, "it's love". I call bullshit! Love is NOT abuse and belittling. There is a scene in the movie, where he almost gets it. VC admits that his father was abusive to his mother and that he didn't want to be a horrible husband, but funnily enough, in a scene where his pregnant sister in law has gone into labor and his father in the waiting room starts screaming, VC begins yelling at everyone and even snaps at Leela, belittling her in front of his entire family.
Now, Leela, who is a well educated doctor practicing in Kashmir, is simply smitten by VC. She does, to her credit, realize that she is being mistreated. In the beginning, she refuses to leave before a snow storm and when VC tells her that he would slap her and drag her off the mountain when she shows courage and sense by telling him to explain to her why he wants her to do something, rather than threatening her. He seems to understand temporarily, but forgets soon enough. Throughout the movie, you can see her struggle as she realizes she's being abused. She leaves several times, and each time she comes back to VC after he pleads with her for forgiveness. One time she even asks "Why do I keep coming back to you?". Just before the film's climax, she meets VC and tells him that she's leaving Srinagar and him and he yells back that he'll come searching for her (WTF?!) . Leela realizes that he's not good for her. Despite this, at the end of the movie, she welcomes him back with open arms with his child in tow- a child, he BTW wanted her to get rid of when she told him that she was pregnant.
This movie was just filled with WTF moments. Mani Ratnam can not possibly imagine that such a relationship is normal. What's worse, he romanticizes it. He makes it seem that a guy can be as abusive he wants to and he'll still get the girl at the end. The scenes I've mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. There are false promises of marriage, insulting of Leela's parents at, get this, her grandfather's funeral! Scenes that just make you squirm and wonder where the writer who wrote OK Kanmani is!
The movie has its share of great visuals and music, but the fact that the story and the characters were so terribly developed just made me absolutely hate it. It was nice to see a marriage where the bride was almost 8 months pregnant and talk of sex before marriage, but the abuse just stole the spotlight. I wish the movie had been different, that there could've been a redeeming factor, but there was nothing and it just left me feeling miserable that Mani Ratnam, a man whose movies are so popular, could possibly want to normalize an abusive relationship.
I couldn't watch the movie in the theaters and I was very sad. So imagine my joy when I finally got a chance to watch the movie. I sat in anticipation to watch this beautiful looking movie and the first few shots were so amazing.
** Spoilers ahead**
Sadly, as the movie went on, I was thoroughly disappointed. I initially thought it was just VC's arrogance which made me dislike his character. He tells his first girlfriend that he would marry her only after the first child and soon after he rats her out to her dad and gets her sent of to Pune just so that he can pursue Leela, a doctor who's just moved to town. Soon his misogynistic ways started showing up. It started with a brush off of Leela by telling her that women and men are not equal and that women must be beautiful to join the Air Force. Slowly with every progressing scene, VC humiliates, belittles, and even physically abuses Leela. Each time, he returns with a "Sorry" and "I love you". Leela's friend and admirer once asks her colleague why Leela puts up with him abusing her, to which she says, "it's love". I call bullshit! Love is NOT abuse and belittling. There is a scene in the movie, where he almost gets it. VC admits that his father was abusive to his mother and that he didn't want to be a horrible husband, but funnily enough, in a scene where his pregnant sister in law has gone into labor and his father in the waiting room starts screaming, VC begins yelling at everyone and even snaps at Leela, belittling her in front of his entire family.
Now, Leela, who is a well educated doctor practicing in Kashmir, is simply smitten by VC. She does, to her credit, realize that she is being mistreated. In the beginning, she refuses to leave before a snow storm and when VC tells her that he would slap her and drag her off the mountain when she shows courage and sense by telling him to explain to her why he wants her to do something, rather than threatening her. He seems to understand temporarily, but forgets soon enough. Throughout the movie, you can see her struggle as she realizes she's being abused. She leaves several times, and each time she comes back to VC after he pleads with her for forgiveness. One time she even asks "Why do I keep coming back to you?". Just before the film's climax, she meets VC and tells him that she's leaving Srinagar and him and he yells back that he'll come searching for her (WTF?!) . Leela realizes that he's not good for her. Despite this, at the end of the movie, she welcomes him back with open arms with his child in tow- a child, he BTW wanted her to get rid of when she told him that she was pregnant.
This movie was just filled with WTF moments. Mani Ratnam can not possibly imagine that such a relationship is normal. What's worse, he romanticizes it. He makes it seem that a guy can be as abusive he wants to and he'll still get the girl at the end. The scenes I've mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. There are false promises of marriage, insulting of Leela's parents at, get this, her grandfather's funeral! Scenes that just make you squirm and wonder where the writer who wrote OK Kanmani is!
The movie has its share of great visuals and music, but the fact that the story and the characters were so terribly developed just made me absolutely hate it. It was nice to see a marriage where the bride was almost 8 months pregnant and talk of sex before marriage, but the abuse just stole the spotlight. I wish the movie had been different, that there could've been a redeeming factor, but there was nothing and it just left me feeling miserable that Mani Ratnam, a man whose movies are so popular, could possibly want to normalize an abusive relationship.
