Keerthy Suresh plays a fierce, bold, out-spoken and rebellious feminist; she rebels against her family, against her manager, against the society and against the patriarchal culture. She asks uncomfortable questions, but her feminism isn’t tokenistic or performative; Kayalvizhi Pandian (Keerthy Suresh) is quick-witted, complex, adamant and progressive.
The conflicts she raises seem trivial – feminism is more complex and intersectional than just increasing the age of consent or exercising the autonomy over what to wear but Director Suman’s ideals run deep and you understand that only when he contextualizes hindi imposition within the role of men, culture, family and the nation in patriarchy – which is why the film, that is set within the borders of a tiny village in the 70s, doesn’t feel alien or distant when you watch it now.
Raghu Thatha’s major drawback is its slow pace – it takes the entire first half to set the story, its character and dives into the conflict only by the interval. Post that too, the film fails to elevate itself to the next level and doesn’t really succeed in building tension among the audience anticipating the next scenes. But it keeps itself entertaining – thanks to its brilliant casting choices – Ravindra Vijay is very convincing and subtle and so is MS Baskar and Rajeev Ravindranathan. But what knocks it out of the park are the scenes of Keerthy, Ismath Banu (Kothai), and Devadarshini. Tamil cinema has given us a snarky and quirky female trio – who could’ve had more scenes together.
It’s also brilliant to note that women of Raghu Thatha are all adversaries to patriarchy, instead of making them follow the common accusatory notion that “women uphold patriarchy” – Devadarshini is an independent, working woman; Ismath Banu is boisterous and dominant; Ravindran’s mother calls out injustice as well. The film is mounted on Keerthy’s shoulders, and she has pulled it off effortlessly with her great dialogue delivery and very convincing retro outfits.
Be it the iconic and flawless performance of Keerthy in Mahanti or her as Kayal Vizhi, a feminist so daring that she can pull down a massive national organization, it’s really astonishing to see what she is actually capable of when she isn’t used as a hypersexualized doll for a couple of dances in a star-studded film.
It’s quite evident that the director has gone the extra mile to convince the audience that the film is retro and the one who understood him best would be Sean Roldan – he gives an Ilaiyaraja touch which is an added milieu for this film that’s set in the 70s. The art department too, have done a really convincing job in terms of wall painting of advertisements on family planning, bright coloured boards and others to reassure the retro vibe. The editing and cinematography which is very ‘Guns N Gulabs’ coded – also, written by Suman Kumar, in terms of both composition and camera placements is quite novel, apt and a compatible auxiliary to the screenplay.
Raghu Thatha offers a fresh opinion against all those who call themselves progressive and liberal but limit their reformism when it comes to gender equality. A necessary film of the hour for its satirical and rebellious tone – the arcs and psyches of all its characters are realistic, well-written and honestly, people you come across everyday – which is what makes it relatable too!
Rating – 2.75/5
