Truly... Magizhchi!

Though it has been only 4 days, in the lifetime of a movie, it is eons.
I finally saw Kabali and I absolutely loved it. A lot has been said about this movie, but here is what I saw.
After a long time, I saw a movie where a huge (quite an understatement) star sat back and let his mere presence do the talking. Kabali isn't about lengthy dialogs, it is more about profound silences. The flick of his eyebrows, the tightening of his jaw and the shine in his eyes spoke volumes. Men and wine get better with age, and this movie showcases that brilliantly.
But what got me writing this piece is something entirely different. I finally saw a movie where female characters were not only given weightage, but were also given the freedom to be all that a woman can be.
Yogi is a hit woman. She shoots. She fights and she kills. But she isn't defined by this. Yogi is a daughter who is fiercely protective of her dad and other father figures. She is independent but never aloof. It is a thin line of difference between the two, and finally we have a movie that understands this. The father-daughter relationship is one of the best ever. The pride on Kabali's face when he realizes that this strong woman is his daughter and later, the amusement at watching his kid be so overprotective of him.. What brilliance! How blissfully far away we are from girls who A. give up their love B.nurse their sick but angry dad or C.be a pampered daddy's girl to show they are good daughters. The look on her face watching her parents together after a long separation is more than enough to get this point across.
Then we have Kumudhavalli. A faithful wife, someone whose face radiates pleasure as she sees her man succeed, yet someone who is giving him a little bit of womanly wisdom here and there. She doesn't want to take credit. He wants to give her credit. A proper partnership.
It was in those subtle touches. She doesn't wait for him to save her, she breaks free on her own. After they have lost each other, she isn't moping. She has made friends, all of whom celebrate their reunion. She weeps when she sees him, but that doesn't make her weak.
I loved every scene of the three of them as a family. That is how families are supposed to work. I loved it that in a gangster movie, the big man is ready to admit that his wife is his backbone, the don is ready to let his daughter lead him out of trouble.
Maybe, if more directors stopped trying so hard to "write a strong female character" and instead just let a woman be a woman, we'd have more movies we can relate to.

P.S Brownie points for no one saying "Nee avar ponnu ille, avar payyan mathiri"