Ajith's Nerkonda Paarvai, has kickstarted the much-needed healthy discussions on consent and gender bias among a majority of the audience. But, the film seems to have triggered the misogynist in a select section of the reviewers, who wish to project themselves as the crusaders of Tamil culture.
A few days ago, the insensitive and malicious discussion between three men on the women of Nerkonda Paarvai, in a popular YouTube channel, went viral. Now, a Tamil 'reviewer' - with almost a million followers - has made victim-blaming comments on the female characters of the film, and thrashed the film for encouraging immorality, clearly ignoring the message on consent and victim-blaming.
While Nerkonda Paarvai stresses upon the necessity of a non-judgemental attitude, throughout the review, the 'reviewer' keeps on insisting that he wasn't able to empathise with the trauma-struck women in the film as they drink and go to pubs. "They (the women) are the ones who invite trouble into their lives, how can we empathise for such characters, who stray? But, if I talk in-depth about it, people will start outraging against me, citing the concept of 'liberation'" he says, in the video.
Half way through the 'review', the self-proclaimed critic goes on to give a new definition of liberation and freedom. "If a person is under someone's control, he is a slave. The one who decides his/her own boundaries is an independent person. But, people, who dare to do whatever they wish claiming it's a free country are called rogues. There's nothing more for me to say," he adds, in a sarcastic and dismissive tone.
The 'review' reaches a whole new low when the 'reviewer' - who wields all the power to take the film to a wider audience - claims that he found the antagonist's character (played by Rangaraj Pandey) more relatable. "While watching the film, I started to wonder whether I am the only person feeling this way, but I was relieved when I heard the audience applauding Rangaraj Pandey's 'sensible 'points against the three women," he says.
The 'reviewer', who earlier spewed hatred with his insensitive comments on Ajith's previous film Vivegam, didn't forget to mock the actor's performance in his Nerkonda Paarvai review too.
The video, which was uploaded yesterday night, has sparked outrage all over in social media and people have started posting tweets condemning the reviewer.
We feel that Nerkonda Paarvai, in ways more than one, is the absolute need of the hour. Apart from touching upon the widely-misconstrued topics related to gender, it has also helped us identify the misogynists and victim-shamers, who have been 'in hiding' within the industry.