Get. Ranjith: The game changer of Tamil cinema

Film producer P. Ranjith emerged on the scene 10 years ago, but Tamil cinema is still grappling with the unprecedented impact he continues to have on film narratives, culture and politics. Get. Ranjith has put anti-caste politics front and center in Tamil cinema in just 10 years, which had previously normalized the glorification of dominant and upper caste characters and the lives and culture of the feudal society in which they live.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Tamil cinema was churning out films that centered around a dominant caste – a male who had immense social power within the village. movies like ajaman, natmai, Chinna Gounder, thevar magni And others justified caste – the glory of the Hindu male and the power derived from the remnants of the feudal system, and narratives generally call on viewers to imagine the past in the present. These films have had a profound social and political impact, especially in the southern and western districts of Tamil Nadu, where each of the socially and politically influential castes had their own on-screen protagonists.

foreground dalit

Ranjith’s success in mainstream Tamil cinema has meant that Dalit culture, traditions and anti-caste politics have become an important part of the mainstream. Credit to Ranjith, today’s filmmakers – both young and old – are bound by a code of social justice and portraying Dalit characters, women, transgenders, homosexuals from underprivileged sections of society in a negative way on screen is no longer acceptable.

When producers were reluctant to fund these films, the success of Ranjith’s films opened up space for filmmakers from underprivileged sections to tell their stories.

from your movie attakathiAlthough not as harshly political or ideological as his other films, Pa. Ranjith has consistently portrayed Dalit characters who swear by their anti-caste politics inspired by BR Ambedkar and several other Tamil political symbols such as Ayothi Thass etc.

whereas attakathiA gripping film about a young man who repeatedly fails in his quest for love, showcased the colorful life and culture in the villages around Chennai, it went unnoticed for these reasons.

This was his second film, Madras, featuring actor Karthi, who put Ranjith on the map for his politics. It was a sharp criticism of Dravidian politics from the grassroots level. It featured ambitious and politically conscious Dalit characters and its narrative criticized mainstream Tamil politics for putting aside its libertarian ideals for little political gain. The film in particular re-imagined ‘North Madras’ as a place where software engineers and hip-hop artists flourished as a bastion of rowdy and drug peddlers.

mark key demands

Although his next two films were with actor Rajinikanth, who was the best-selling actor in Tamil cinema at the time, he still managed to raise the issue of land rights, which is one of the central demands of Dalits.

Based on the Emergency era, Ranjit’s Sarpatta Parambrai Focused on the boxing culture and traditions of northern Madras. In this film, he explored the impact of Dravidian politics and the impact the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) (in DMK and AIADMK) had on families and politics. Sarpatta… is one of Ranjith’s complete films, both politically and aesthetically. The Dalit hero’s journey from wide-eyed and diligent security to a misguided path and finally from self-motivation to redemption captures Ranjit’s Ambedkarite message and provides a complete character arc.

Despite working with mainstream actors with a huge fan base, Ranjith’s films revamped the ethos of the traditional hero. While Nayak used to discipline the women in his home in the 1990s and 2000s, Ranjeet’s Nayak often learned from the women in his life. from black Madrasby calculation black and from Kabylan Sarpatta Parambrai There were regular men who were shown as weak on screen. His politically aware and thoughtful protagonists do not derive their strength from toxic masculinity.

ranjit latest movie, Nachtiram Nagargiradhu, He is probably the boldest and most experimental he has ever done in his career. The film is a clash of different worldviews – an awakened progressive collective theater group is forced to deal with a deeply conservative aspiring film actor as they try to stage a play about love and when society’s traditional How does love interact when it steps outside social boundaries? In this film, he also boldly countered allegations of ‘Nadaga Kadhal’ by conservatives, Tamil Nadu’s version of ‘Love Jihad’, where Dalit boys were accused of deliberately choosing caste-Hindu girls to marry. Is.

interesting, Natchatiram Nagargirdhu It also looks inward – it criticizes progressive places for their ‘rigorous values’ of political correctness and forces them to question their own prejudices. While he has faced criticism that his politics in films and his speeches in real life are more debated in the press and elsewhere than his filmmaking craft, he has addressed this in his last two films – Sarpatta Parambrai And Natchatiram Nagargirathu,

Sarpatta Parambrai was a purely no-frills attached genre-film (a sports drama) and the latest film is an experimental film that tries to create a bridge between cinema and theatre.

Ranjith’s work over the past 10 years has opened up space for other filmmakers with similar political leanings to enter Tamil cinema. Ranjeet was not limited to films only; He has also founded the Neelam Panapattu Mayyam (Sapphire Cultural Centre), which promotes arts, education and culture centered on anti-caste politics.

Neelam Productions has produced some notable films such as pariyaram perumal, Irandam Ulgaporin Kadesi Gundu, Author, Seththuman, kuthiravali and others.

Filmmaker Mari Selvaraj has been one of the most promising filmmakers that has emerged from Neelam Productions. his movies, pariyaram perumal And KärnanThe film, which talks about the struggles and victories of Dalits living in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, received very good reviews and was a huge success at the box office.

One of the most recent movies, AuthorCreated by Franklin Jacobs, tells of the struggles that a Dalit-Christian youth had after being caught in a police conspiracy. Filmmaker Vetrimaaran’s recent smash hit, AsurniWhich told the story of a Dalit father fighting to keep his son safe, it is yet another reminder that Ranjith has irreparably changed the landscape of Tamil cinema.

push-back facing

The conservatives have also been shocked by Ranjit’s success. many movies like Draupati And rudra thandavami Dalit politics was against Dalit leaders and political parties, reiterating the political conspiracies put forward by conservative parties like ‘Nadga Kadhal’.

I have a scene Natchatiram Nagargirathu Where Rene (Nayak) takes a deeply orthodox dominant caste male, Arjun (Kalaiyarasan) for a meal and tells him, point blank, that she eats beef and is an Ambedkarite, making her uncomfortable and Almost tells him, “Why did you have to say this? Why can’t you keep quiet?”

This scene largely sums up Ranjit’s career; He makes straightforward, uncompromising and uncomfortably anti-caste films. And he is winning.