PS Vinothraj's Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl, Tamil), that had its world premiere and sold-out shows at the Berlin Film Festival last month, is a ferocious attack on many deep-rooted, misogynistic Indian traditions, including incest and child marriage, whose practice continues unabated. It is his second feature, following his absolutely compelling debut, Koozhangal (Pebbles, Tamil), that won the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s top Tiger Award. Kottukkaali features Pandi (Soori Muthuchamy, the Tamil actor who has done over 100 films, including Vetri Maaran’s Viduthalai (Liberation) 1 and 2, and Meena (the lovely Malayali actress Anna Ben, who has done about nine films, including Kumbalangi Nights—her Babymol is indelibly etched in our hearts—Helen and Kappela). 

Spoiler alert: In Kottukkaali, which played in the Forum section of the Berlinale, Vinothraj torpedoes the horrific practice common in South India, and elsewhere, of young girls being coerced/brainwashed into marrying their own maternal uncles (horrors!), with much of the town publicly celebrating the incest. Like Pebbles, Kottukkaali, too, is inspired by misogyny experienced by Vinothraj’s family. Soori’s and Meena’s relationship is explored under the weight of many forms of misogyny. Pandi (Soori), who was “promised” Meena (Anna Ben) in marriage when she was a kid, is furious that as a grown woman, she dares to fall in love with another man. The film is a road movie, during which Pandi’s and Meena’s families pile into a rickshaw and onto bikes, to visit a distant exorcist, in order to “exorcise” Meena’s lover and “delete” him from her life—so Pandi can presumably “insert” himself into her heart. A woman is merely a man’s mechanical toy, a plaything that can be “fixed”, and love is a replaceable battery. It’s Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind gone awry— but the attempt to “delete memories” of her lover is done forcibly and without her consent. Spoiler alert ends.