Kannammaa Writes

I heard about the Anna University sexual assault case. And I applaud the courage of the victim going to the police, leading to the arrest of Gnanasekaran, a porn addict cum sexual predator with 13 cases filed against him. Rightfully he should've been incarcerated long back. The scourge of our society has always been blaming women for their sexual assault, letting the perpetrators off the hook. Right now, the Anna University victim is being chastised for being intimate with a man in university premises. Apparently these type of activities among youngsters is causing moral decay.  How I feel when Indian society says what two young adults do consensually is moral decay while watching the millions of Indian rape videos on porn sites. I read a comment from a guy that if women behave well, not showing what is not supposed to be shown, then men will behave well. Me who was catcalled by men who knew where I lived from the road across my house, when I was at my table, by my window, as I was...

Dark skin color shaming of the lead male actors in Tamil movies have a bloody-minded format that's celebrated for all the wrong reasons. Scene: Fair skinned, non-Tamil heroine rejects the dark skinned Tamil hero in Tamil movies. 💅😈 Expectation: The dark skinned hero moves on, becoming more open to dark skinned women and ceasing white worshiping. 💪💀 Reality: The dark skinned hero/his sidekick talks highly about dark skin and then pursues the fair skinned, non-Tamil heroine who rejected him until she gives in. Or the hero, who's sidekick just glorified dark skin color as Dravidian stock's true color, vows to become fair skinned. 💢💩💦😓😡😤😩😒 This is me when I see such scenes. Apoplectic.  I need to ask... "Vekkamave illaiya? Maanam, rosham, soodu, soranai lam illaya?" I speak Tamil in a good flow when pissed. Mocking one's skin color is body shaming. If a guy rejects me for my skin color, my crooked nose, lip curve, sagging breasts, or whatever, no matt...

I searched for dark skinned heroines in Tamil cinema. But there are none. Since then, I have a beef with Tamil cinema.  While heroes in Tamil cinema have song lyrics and dialogues glorifying their dark skin, the heroines' fair skin is celebrated. "Were you washed clean with white steam? Were you raised without sunlight falling on you? I’m totally confused and floating in the air. I’m totally lost." That's how Dhanush describes Tapsee Pannu in Yathe, Yathe song from Aadukalam. Though resistant at first, she anyway falls in love with the darker Dhanush. Fair skin is a benchmark for higher status in Indian society. If that's wrong and blatantly classist and casteist, then glorifying fair skin on Indian women as the epitome of beauty is also wrong and blatantly classist and casteist.   Tapsee wallows to herself about Dhanush's appearance after he confesses his feelings for her - "Did he look at himself in the mirror?" That's wrong but men say that to...

We are in the midst of baffling times in terms of Tamil cinematic portrayal of dark skin as opposed to fair skin with different rules written for actors (heroes) and actresses (heroines).  There's a good balance of OG Tamil skin tones for the heroes, representing diversity and inclusion. The tones for the heroines are limited to shades of light skin - and none of them are Tamil, unlike the heroes. The representation of dark skin for men in Tamil cinema makes all the ordinary Joes feel "Raja nu pola undu." (You're kings.) And I am happy about it. Everyone deserves representation and dark skin is gorgeous AF.  But the plight of ordinary Janes in the Tamil community who are of the same color as the ordinary Joes is "Vidukathaiya intha vaalkai..." (Why is my life a riddle?) There's hardly any representation for the Tamil melanin queens in Tamil cinema as leading ladies. Their function is to boost the heroine's fair skin through juxtaposition in the bac...