The Bygone Era where Mani Ratnam's Gangster Movies Dignified Women
One of the reasons I respect Mani Ratnam's filmmaking is how he portrays women in his films, even in gangster films. In the former decade, however, Mani steadily succumbed to gangster movies where he normalizes gangsters having mistresses. I know that men will come and say that having affairs are a part of life for gangsters - Mani Ratnam is just showing "realism." But I grew up watching Nayagan and Thalapathy. In fact, I used Thalapathy for plenty of feministic referrals. Mani Ratnam proved previously that gangsters needn't use women as side chicks and have wives who tolerate their cheating to prove their "Thug Life" status. And quite frankly, the honoring of women in Mani's Nayagan and Thalapathy is what elevated the films to a whole new level. I do have a bone with the "item" songs in Nayagan and Thalapathy. Nonetheless, the movies hold women in a league where they needn't be a gangster's notoriety enhancers. They exist, as they ar...